Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) said she will compel former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo to testify before Congress over nursing home deaths under his leadership if the Republican Party takes the House after the midterm elections.
Stefanik spoke outside of a nursing home in Rensselaer County on Monday, pledging to bring Cuomo forward so he can explain his methods of handling nursing homes during the coronavirus pandemic.
“We will not hesitate to follow the facts wherever they lead and really uncover the important data, the decision-making process, and the absolute corruption,” Stefanik said.
ANDREW CUOMO ACCUSER FILES FEDERAL SEXUAL HARASSMENT COMPLAINT
Cuomo’s ordinance compelling nursing homes to accept coronavirus-positive residents was linked to over 1,000 deaths, a 2021 report found. The ordinance, which was announced on March 25, 2020, was quickly rescinded by Cuomo on May 10, 2020.
In March of this year, an audit released by New York State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli found that the state’s Health Department failed to account for 4,100 nursing home deaths and undercounted the coronavirus death toll in nursing homes by as much as 50% from April 2020 to February 2021.
Stefanik said House Republicans have asked the former governor to testify before Congress, but he has refused, meaning a GOP-controlled House would be prompted to subpoena him to obtain his testimony.
The representative knocked Gov. Kathy Hochul’s review of Cuomo’s work during the pandemic. Hochul said in May she would conduct an independent review of all decisions made by state officials during the pandemic to create a blueprint for future governors.
“It is not a real investigation,” Stefanik said. “If it were a real investigation, they would be subpoenaing Gov. Cuomo. They would be turning over the data.”
Cuomo has previously argued that his office was just following guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. His spokesman, Rich Azzopardi, said in a statement to Fox News that investigations by both the Department of Justice and Manhattan district attorney have not been fruitful.
“Weaponizing people’s pain for the sake of scoring political points is ghoulish enough, but I’m sure she has plenty of questions about Jeff Clark, the insurrectionist Trump put in charge of the politically suspect DOJ investigation into blue state nursing home policies before he was reassigned to help overturn the election,” Azzopardi said.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
Former President Donald Trump asked the DOJ to open an investigation into Cuomo’s nursing home policy in August 2020, but the department closed it in July 2021. Cuomo had called the investigation “politically motivated” and said it distracted the government from looking into COVID-19’s transmission in nursing homes.
Cuomo resigned on Aug. 24, 2021, after New York Attorney General Letitia James released her report indicating he sexually harassed 11 women. He has teased his intent to make a political comeback, insisting he never engaged in inappropriate touching.
