Two of the most prominent cable news networks ignored a bombshell report that New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s office admitted to hiding coronavirus fatality data in nursing homes out of fear of being investigated.
A search of transcripts showed that the term “nursing home” was not used on either CNN or MSNBC on Thursday broadcasts between 8 p.m. and 11 p.m. after the story on Cuomo broke, according to Fox News.
The story was mentioned on CNN digital, but all prime-time anchors on both CNN and MSNBC, including Rachel Maddow and the governor’s brother Chris Cuomo, reportedly spiked the story.
The report, published by the New York Post around 7 p.m. Thursday, detailed how top Cuomo aide Melissa DeRosa privately admitted to Democratic lawmakers in a phone call that the governor withheld nursing home death numbers out of fear of political retribution and an investigation by former President Donald Trump’s Justice Department.
“Basically, we froze,” DeRosa said 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. That played a very large role into this.”
Cuomo has long been criticized over his directive last March that forced senior living facilities in his state to accept thousands of coronavirus patients. Many believe this contributed to at least 11,000 deaths.
At least one New York state legislator has called for impeachment proceedings to be pursued against Cuomo in light of the report.
“We’ve been calling for subpoenas and a hearing for quite a while,” said Michael Montesano, a Republican state assemblyman and member of the Assembly Oversight, Analysis, and Investigation Committee. “This news of the last several days is extremely troubling to me, and I’m going to be asking today for his resignation. And I’m also going to be asking the Legislature to look into, to explore filing articles of impeachment against the governor if he doesn’t resign.”
MSNBC and CNN did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the Washington Examiner.
