A Michigan prosecutor warned that Gov. Gretchen Whitmer could face charges over nursing home deaths related to the coronavirus pandemic.
Macomb County Prosecutor Peter Lucido said if his office finds that the governor engaged in “reckless endangerment,” it would proceed to file charges. The governor has denied any allegations of wrongdoing.
“If we find there’s been willful neglect of office if we find there’s been reckless endangerment of a person’s life by bringing them in then we would move forward with charges against the governor,” he said. “Of course, we would. Nobody’s above the law in this state.”
Lucido, who started looking on the claims in 2020 while he was a state senator, is asking citizens to go back to their loved ones’ nursing homes to gather information surrounding their deaths and to take it to a local police station to file a wrongful death report.
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“Why did my mom or why did my dad, brother, sister, or aunt die? Was it because of the policy by bringing in COVID-infected patients that spread to my mom that killed my mother?” Lucido asked.
The attorney general declined to open a criminal investigation in May 2020, according to the prosecutor.
Whitmer called Lucido’s comments “shameful political attacks” that were “based in neither fact nor reality” and noted that his “colleagues have publicly rebuked this politically motivated waste of taxpayer dollars. Michiganders are tired of these petty partisan games, and we won’t be distracted by them either.”
“Our top priority from the start has been protecting Michiganders, especially seniors and our most vulnerable,” she added. “The administration’s policies carefully tracked CDC guidance on nursing homes, and we prioritized testing of nursing home residents and staff to save lives. Early in the pandemic, the state acted swiftly to create a network of regional hubs with isolation units and adequate PPE to prevent the spread of COVID-19 within a facility. In addition, we have offered 100 percent of nursing home resident priority access to the vaccine. Both the former head of AARP, as well as an independent U-M study, praised our work to save lives in nursing homes.”
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New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo is facing similar accusations regarding the deaths of nursing home residents from COVID-19. He has been accused of underreporting nursing home deaths by as much as 50%, and a handful of Democrats have called for an investigation, which is being conducted by the FBI and the U.S. attorney’s office.
