New York state senators accused Gov. Andrew Cuomo of covering up the true number of deaths due to COVID-19 in nursing homes in 2020 with the goal of waiting for more lenient treatment under the Biden administration.
“I think it's hard to come to a different conclusion” than that Gov. Cuomo and his aide Melissa DeRosa withheld the actual number of nursing home residents who have died of COVID-19 from the Trump administration, choosing instead to hold out for preferential treatment from the Biden administration, New York state Senate Minority Leader Rob Ortt told the Washington Examiner.
Charges of a cover-up come after a report that DeRosa told state Democratic leaders in a clandestine phone call that Cuomo administration officials “froze” out of fear that the actual number of fatalities would “be used against us.” The Department of Justice under former President Donald Trump launched an investigation in August into the possible conspiracy to conceal the true death toll, which DeRosa admitted, “played a very large role into this.”
“She also said in that article … they are told the investigation is done and that that's not a problem anymore, and that's why now they can be forthcoming,” Ortt said.
DeRosa’s admission came just two weeks after New York Attorney General Letitia James, a Democrat, charged the administration with undercounting the deaths of nursing home residents by the thousands, by as much as 50%. State Health Commissioner Howard Zucker confirmed in a defensive report that the state withheld data showing 3,829 additional deaths within hospital settings, deaths that had previously been excluded from the tally of deaths in long-term care facilities. The tally has ballooned to nearly 15,000 deaths.
New York state Sen. Thomas O’Mara, a Republican, told the Washington Examiner, “I have no doubt” Cuomo’s office wanted to forestall investigations under the Trump DOJ, hoping for preferential treatment from President Biden.
“For several years, the Cuomo administration has used Trump and his unpopularity in New York state as a shield to any criticism of his fiefdom,” O’Mara said.
Republicans and Democrats in the state Legislature are now pushing for Cuomo’s sweeping emergency powers granted to him at the start of the pandemic to be rescinded.
“This is a betrayal of the public trust,” Sen. Andrew Gounardes, a Democrat from Brooklyn, said late Thursday. “There needs to be full accountability for what happened.”
Meanwhile, Sen. Jessica Ramos, a Democrat from Queens, said Cuomo “allowed his ego and his donor base to dictate the response to this pandemic” and called for him to be stripped of his expanded pandemic powers.
Republicans in Washington have also urged the Justice Department to launch a new, comprehensive investigation into the scandal. Congresswoman Elise Stefanik, who represents portions of northern New York state, characterized the secret call between DeRosa and Democrats “a public admission of federal crimes” and “a stain [that] will remain on the entirety of the Biden administration.”
“I also call for a full transcript to be released of President Biden's meeting with Governor Cuomo at the White House, so the American people can be assured that President Biden is not complicit in this apparent criminal coverup and admitted obstruction of justice," Stefanik said in a written statement. Cuomo was scheduled to meet with Biden Friday.
Congressman Tom Reed, a Republican who represents portions of western New York state, likewise has pressed the Justice Department to investigate the cover-up. In a written statement provided to the Washington Examiner, Reed’s communications director, Nathaniel Sizemore, said his office is “pursuing every legal avenue available, including filing criminal complaints, issuing subpoenas, and demanding investigations to hold Secretary DeRosa accountable.”
Ortt said he is optimistic that Cuomo and officials in his administration will be held accountable, given the support from many Democrats in the state Legislature.
“If you're the attorney general, if you’re the Department of Justice, how could you not look into this?" Ortt said.
O’Mara, however, was less optimistic about the prospect of a thorough investigation backed by both parties.
“Democrats are now witnesses in this investigation, based upon participating in that [phone call with DeRosa], and then covering up what was said at that meeting,” he said. “The Democrats in the Legislature have had months and months to conduct investigations and have failed to do so.”
