A top staffer to New York Governor Andrew Cuomo admitted to Democrat state lawmakers that the administration intentionally withheld their data on COVID deaths at nursing homes because they feared a Department of Justice investigation.
“The stunning admission of a cover-up was made by Secretary to the Governor Melissa DeRosa during a video conference call with state Democratic leaders in which she said the Cuomo administration had rebuffed a legislative request for the tally in August because “right around the same time, [then-President Donald Trump] turns this into a giant political football,” according to an audio recording of the two-hour-plus meeting.
“He starts tweeting that we killed everyone in nursing homes,” DeRosa said. “He starts going after [New Jersey Gov. Phil] Murphy, starts going after [California Gov. Gavin] Newsom, starts going after [Michigan Gov.] Gretchen Whitmer.”
In addition to attacking Cuomo’s fellow Democratic governors, DeRosa said, Trump “directs the Department of Justice to do an investigation into us.”
“And basically, we froze,” she told the lawmakers on the call.
“Because then we were in a position where we weren’t sure if what we were going to give to the Department of Justice, or what we give to you guys, what we start saying, was going to be used against us while we weren’t sure if there was going to be an investigation.”
DeRosa added: “That played a very large role into this.”
After dropping the bombshell, DeRosa asked for “a little bit of appreciation of the context” and offered what appears to be the Cuomo administration’s first apology for its handling of nursing homes amid the pandemic.”
For anyone who has followed the story, this is hardly a surprising development.
For months, Fox News’ Janice Dean has been has been trying to call attention to Cuomo’s failures. Dean lost both of her in-laws thanks to Cuomo’s policy.
Republican State Sen Tom O’Mara is demanding subpoenas and a full investigation. In a statement reported by ABC27, O’Mara says:
“this is a massive and unconscionable cover-up. We should not be finding out the truth of this tragedy in nursing homes through leaks of secret Democrat-only meetings. It becomes clearer by the day that subpoenas are warranted for all records pertaining to how Gov. Cuomo and his inner circle handled this crisis. These subpoenas need to move forward immediately. All of this needs to be aired, fully and forthrightly, in public.”
Even some Democrats are calling for a full investigation. Assemblyman Ron Kim says that it sounds like the Cuomo administration:
“admitted that they were trying to dodge having any incriminating evidence that might put the administration or the [Health Department] in further trouble with the Department of Justice. That’s how I understand their reasoning of why they were unable to share, in real time, the data. They had to first make sure that the state was protected against federal investigation.”
Of course, CNN can’t be bothered to report on any of this because they need to protect their anchor’s brother.