|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
Covid Victims’ Families Call for New Probe of Ex-Gov. Cuomo After Nursing Home Records Were Edited
By: Benyamin Davidsons
Former Governor Andrew Cuomo may face a new investigation and charges after a recent bombshell report that he lied to the congressional panel about a report on nursing home deaths following the COVID-19 pandemic. As reported by the NY Post, families of nursing home COVID-19 victims, including Peter Arbeeny, Vivian Zayas, and Janice Dean, are asking the US Department of Justice to open a new investigation against Cuomo, arguing he lied to congressional investigators about a state report that underestimated deaths in nursing homes during the pandemic. Cuomo had claimed that he had not seen the report, but a new report, based on recently surfaced emails, seems to indicate that the former governor not only had seen the report but had edited it himself.
Peter Arbeeny, Vivian Zayas, and Janice Dean are asking the US Department of Justice to probe Cuomo, arguing he lied to congressional investigators about a state report that lowballed deaths in nursing homes at the height of the pandemic. pic.twitter.com/dueOmqGmEd
— News News News (@NewsNew97351204) September 22, 2024
“We call on the Department of Justice to launch a full and fair investigation into Andrew Cuomo’s statements to Congress, his coordination with other witnesses and his role in covering up the nursing home death toll,” the three wrote in a statement, obtained by The Post. “If it is found that he knowingly misled Congress and the American people or interfered with the congressional inquiry, he must be held accountable under the law,” the statement went on. “The families who lost loved ones deserve the truth, and the public deserves to know that no one is above the law, especially those entrusted with public office.”
Per the Post, when questioned by the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic, Mr. Cuomo had downplayed his involvement in a state Department of Health report released in July 2020, which had grossly undercounted the number of nursing home deaths. Cuomo had not been sworn in under oath for his testimony, but officials had warned him he could be prosecuted if he knowingly made false statements, as per a transcript of the closed-doors session. Late last week, the NY Times first reported uncovered emails showing that Cuomo had been suggesting edits to the report before it was even release—including adding wording that blamed nursing home staff and visiting families for spreading the virus and fueling the pandemic deaths.
And then my friend Peter Arbeeny who lost his dad to Covid in a nursing home also went up to @andrewcuomo to ask a question when he was addressing reporters and @RichAzzopardi shut down the whole thing because they were cowards and wouldn’t talk to families. pic.twitter.com/0Q8lhQ99xM
— Janice Dean (@JaniceDean) September 11, 2024
In Aug. 2021, Cuomo had resigned as governor, amid multiple allegations of sexual harassment, as well as the nursing home COVID-19 deaths investigation.
Newly released bombshell reporting reveals that Corrupt Cuomo and his most senior aides ordered, directed, and executed the fatal nursing home executive order that killed more than 15,000 vulnerable New York seniors.
The disgraced former governor and his circle of sycophants… pic.twitter.com/VGZSugvubz
— Elise Stefanik (@EliseStefanik) September 10, 2024
The new report comes as Cuomo is mulling a run for NYC mayor in the upcoming Nov. 2025 Democratic Primary to contend for Mayor Eric Adams’s seat. Following the new report, Democratic politicians have been bashing Cuomo. City Councilman Lincoln Restler wrote in a statement that it’s clear Cuomo’s testimony before the House was “misleading and inaccurate.” “Time and again, he reveals himself to be someone New Yorkers cannot trust and who does not belong in public office,” Restler said.
Trump didn’t sign the order to force over 9,000 Covid positive patients into New York nursing homes that impacted my family. https://t.co/qKCc1dd8Yj
— Janice Dean (@JaniceDean) September 22, 2024
A spokesperson for Mr. Cuomo said all the latest criticism was a ploy to politicize the pandemic. “We are long past the point of absurd,” Cuomo spokesperson Rich Azzopardi told The Post in a statement Sunday. He also asserted that Cuomo had later told House investigators during the same interview that he did not recall the details of the surrounding editing the report, and maintained that Cuomo has been cooperating with the House investigation. “We sympathize with every one of the 1 million-plus families who lost loved ones, but the continued attempts to purposefully distort and politically weaponize this pandemic are both transparent and sad.”
Newly released bombshell reporting reveals that Corrupt Cuomo and his most senior aides ordered, directed, and executed the fatal nursing home executive order that killed more than 15,000 vulnerable New York seniors.
The disgraced former governor and his circle of sycophants… pic.twitter.com/VGZSugvubz
— Elise Stefanik (@EliseStefanik) September 10, 2024
–
