Andrew Cuomo faces criminal referral for alleged COVID-related cover-up



Former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo is facing a criminal referral for allegedly making "criminally false statements" about a July 2020 report that downplayed the number of COVID-related nursing home deaths.

On Wednesday, the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic referred Cuomo to the Department of Justice, arguing that he lied about his involvement in the New York State Department of Health's report. However, the subcommittee's formal referral does not compel the DOJ to move forward with further investigation.

'The Department of Justice should consider Mr. Cuomo's prior allegedly wrongful conduct.'

According to a draft of the subcommittee's criminal referral, the report undercounted the number of deaths by 46%.

Cuomo repeatedly claimed he did not recall seeing the report before its public release, Blaze News previously reported. However, evidence uncovered by the subcommittee allegedly revealed that Cuomo personally made edits to the document.

The referral, signed by Representative Brad Wenstrup (R-Ohio), accused the former governor of making a "conscious, calculated effort" to skirt responsibility for the nursing home death scandal.

"Mr. Cuomo provided false statements to the select subcommittee in what appears to be a conscious, calculated effort to insulate himself from accountability," Wenstrup wrote in the referral letter. "The Department of Justice should consider Mr. Cuomo's prior allegedly wrongful conduct when evaluating whether to charge him for the false statements described."

A June 2020 email from Cuomo's former assistant allegedly revealed that he had made edits to the report before its release. He requested that it include language emphasizing how "community spread among employees or possibly visitation by family and friends were relevant factors" in the deaths. His edits were included in the final version of the report.

Additionally, congressional documents allegedly uncovered that Cuomo's aides requested "two copies" of the report be sent to his residence before its release.

Cuomo fired back at the criminal referral by filing his own against the subcommittee.

The former governor's criminal referral reads, "This interrogation far exceeded the Subcommittee's jurisdiction and appears to have been an improper effort to advantage the interests of private litigants against Governor Cuomo, warranting investigation by the Department of Justice."

Richard Azzopardi, a spokesperson for Cuomo, stated, "This taxpayer-funded farce is an illegal use of Congress's investigative authority."

"The governor said he didn't recall because he didn't recall. The committee lied in their referral just as they have been lying to the public and the press," Azzopardi stated.

Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

Victims' families want Andrew Cuomo to face justice over COVID nursing home deaths following bombshell report



The families of victims who died from COVID while residing in New York nursing homes are urging the United States Department of Justice to open an investigation into former Governor Andrew Cuomo.

The New York Post reported that the loved ones are pushing for charges against Cuomo after recently surfaced emails and congressional documents suggested that the disgraced governor personally altered a report that downplayed the state's nursing home deaths.

'He must be held accountable.'

In a letter to the DOJ, Peter Arbeeny, Vivian Zayas, and Janice Dean argued that Cuomo lied to members of Congress when he claimed during two separate hearings that he did not recall seeing the 2020 New York State Department Health report, let alone reviewing or editing it, before its release.

"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 letter to the DOJ read.

"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," it continued. "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."

Emails recently released by the New York Times revealed that Cuomo may have been more involved with the report than he told lawmakers.

A June 23, 2020, email from Cuomo's then-assistant, Farah Kennedy, suggested that the then-governor personally made edits to the report.

The email stated, "Governor's edits are attached for your review."

"The smaller text in the beginning is from your original document. He replaced your paragraph on page 3 beginning with 'But, like in all fifty states, there were Covid-positive cases,'" the email added.

"The larger text," Kennedy wrote, "is what he added."

Cuomo's alleged suggested edits included adding language that emphasized how "community spread among employees or possibly visitation by family and friends were relevant factors" in the nursing home deaths.

The Times also released congressional documents that revealed that the report had apparently been sent to his home, at his aide's request, before it was released.

The news outlet found that some of Cuomo's requested edits were included in the final report, which understated the nursing home deaths.

Vivian Zayas, co-founder of Voice for Seniors, told the Post, "He said he had nothing to do with the report."

"If he lied to Congress, he committed a crime. He should definitely be investigated," Zayas added. "We're going to see this through to the end. Cuomo needs to be held accountable."

Rich Azzopardi, a Cuomo spokesperson, told the Post on Sunday, "We are long past the point of absurd."

"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," he told the Post.

Following the Times' report, Azzopardi stated, "Governor Cuomo was fully cooperative with the committee over two separate days, relayed everything he remembered about events that happened four years ago in the midst of a once-in-a-century pandemic, and nothing this MAGA committee has uncovered undermines that New York followed [then-President Donald] Trump's CDC nursing home policies or the DOH report's conclusion that COVID was spread in nursing homes by asymptomatic staff."

Some Democratic politicians have also pushed for Cuomo to be held accountable.

Assemblyman Ron Kim (D-Queens) recently stated, "I've stood with the families of nursing homes and will continue to stand with them to hold the former governor accountable."

"Andrew Cuomo has consistently lied and gaslit the public in pursuit of his book deal and political ambitions," Kim continued. "Now, we must hold him accountable and seize this opportunity to fix our broken long-term care system."

City Councilman Lincoln Restler (D) accused Cuomo of providing "misleading and inaccurate" testimony.

"Time and again, he reveals himself to be someone New Yorkers cannot trust and who does not belong in public office," Restler said.

Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

Andrew Cuomo PERSONALLY edited report downplaying COVID nursing home deaths, email reveals: 'Governor's edits are attached'



Former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo recently and repeatedly claimed that he does not recall seeing the 2020 New York State Department of Health report before its release. However, emails and congressional documents revealed that Cuomo may have been much more involved in the report than previously admitted.

Cuomo testified at a private hearing in June and a public hearing this month as part of a congressional subcommittee investigation into New York for its COVID response, including the more than 15,000 reported COVID-related nursing home deaths.

'He should be prosecuted.'

The disgraced governor was asked multiple times about the Health Department report, which deflected blame for the deaths. He claimed he did not remember seeing the report, let alone reviewing or editing it, before it was released.

However, a June 23, 2020, email from his then-assistant, Farah Kennedy, suggested Cuomo was far more involved in the report than he had previously admitted, the New York Times reported.

"Governor's edits are attached for your review," read Kennedy's email, which was sent to members of Cuomo's senior staff.

"The smaller text in the beginning is from your original document. He replaced your paragraph on page 3 beginning with 'But, like in all fifty states, there were Covid-positive cases,'" Kennedy's email explained.

Cuomo requested adding language to the report that emphasized how "community spread among employees or possibly visitation by family and friends were relevant factors" in the nursing home deaths.

"The larger text," Kennedy wrote, "is what he added."

Additionally, the Times also uncovered congressional documents that suggested one of Cuomo's aides had requested on June 29, 2020, that the report be sent to the former governor's home.

"Please print two copies and drop at mansion," it read.

A week after the aide's request, the report was published, and some of Cuomo's edits were included, according to the Times report.

Tracey Alvino, director of Voices for Seniors, whose father passed away after contracting COVID while residing in a New York City nursing home, accused Cuomo of lying to Congress, the New York Post reported.

"It's a crime. It's proven by the emails," Alvino stated. "Absolutely, he should be prosecuted. I would love to see him in an orange jumpsuit."

Vivian Zayas, co-founder of Voice for Seniors, whose mother died after contracting COVID in a New York City nursing home, also accused Cuomo of lying.

"He said he had nothing to do with the report," Zayas remarked. "If he lied to Congress, he committed a crime. He should definitely be investigated."

"We're going to see this through to the end. Cuomo needs to be held accountable," Zayas added.

A Cuomo spokesperson, Rich Azzopardi, stated, "Governor Cuomo was fully cooperative with the committee over two separate days, relayed everything he remembered about events that happened four years ago in the midst of a once-in-a-century pandemic and nothing this MAGA committee has uncovered undermines that New York followed [then-President Donald] Trump's CDC nursing home policies or the DOH report's conclusion that COVID was spread in nursing homes by asymptomatic staff."

Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

Audit finds New York's health department under Andrew Cuomo 'misled the public,' undercounted at least 4,100 COVID nursing home deaths



Under former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, the state's health agency undercounted at least 4,100 COVID-related nursing home deaths, according to a state audit. The audit conducted by state comptroller Thomas DiNapoli claimed that the Department of Health "misled the public" about nursing home deaths during the pandemic to fit a "narrative."

The 58-page report said the New York Department of Health "was not transparent in its reporting of COVID-19 deaths at nursing homes."

"While the Department’s duty is to act solely to promote public health, we determined that, rather than providing accurate and reliable information during a public health emergency, the Department instead conformed its presentation to the Executive’s narrative, often presenting data in a manner that misled the public," the report stated.

"Whether due to the poor-quality data that it was collecting initially or, later, a deliberate decision, for certain periods during the pandemic, the Department understated the number of deaths at nursing homes by as much as 50%," the report declared.

Nearly 14,000 people died in nursing homes due to COVID-19 between March 2020 and May 2021, according to the audit.

The report also stated, "Persistent underinvestment in public health over the last decade may have limited the Department’s ability to prepare and respond in the most effective way."

DiNapoli said in a statement, "The pandemic was devastating and deadly for New Yorkers living in nursing homes. Families have a right to know if their loved one’s COVID-19 death was counted, but many still don’t have answers from the state Department of Health."

"Our audit findings are extremely troubling," DiNapoli said. "The public was misled by those at the highest level of state government through distortion and suppression of the facts when New Yorkers deserved the truth."

The report found that the New York Department of Health failed to meet federal directives to inspect for infection control problems, reporting on only 20% of facilities between March and May 2020 – compared to over 90% for other states.

Cuomo's spokesperson – Rich Azzopardi – tried to discredit the audit.

"As the number of out of facility deaths were reported last January this is not news, however what is peculiar is the Comptroller's release of this audit now — but no one has ever accused him of being above politics," Azzopardi said.

New York State Attorney General Letitia James said the audit supported her own January 2021 investigation into allegations of the Cuomo administration undercounting COVID nursing home deaths.

"This audit affirms many of the findings that we uncovered last year about the state’s response to COVID, most notably that DOH and the former governor undercounted the number of deaths in nursing homes by as much as 50%," James said in a statement. "I am grateful to Comptroller DiNapoli for bringing much needed transparency to this critical issue. My office will continue to monitor nursing home conditions and ensure the safety of our most vulnerable residents. If anyone has concerns about nursing home conditions, I urge them to contact my office."

In August 2020, Cuomo told the public to "look at the basic facts on where New York is versus other states." The disgraced Democratic ex-governor bragged at the time, "You look at where New York is as a percentage of nursing home deaths. It's all the way at the bottom of the list of states."

In February 2021, Cuomo proclaimed that he "fully reported" deaths and blamed nursing home staff for spreading COVID-19.

In February 2021, Cuomo's top aide privately told Democratic lawmakers that his administration took months to release data on COVID nursing home death because they "froze" in fear that the data was “going to be used against us."

"Basically, we froze 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 and what we start saying was going to be used against us, and we weren’t sure if there was going to be an investigation," Melissa DeRosa told state Democratic leaders, according to the New York Post.

In November 2020, Cuomo was selected to receive an International Emmy Founder's Award "in recognition of his leadership during the COVID-19 pandemic and his masterful use of television to inform and calm people around the world."

In August 2021, the award was rescinded "in light of the New York Attorney General's report, and Andrew Cuomo's subsequent resignation as Governor."

In December 2021, the state's Joint Commission on Public Ethics ordered Cuomo to pay New York the $5.1 million in profits from his book, "American Crisis: Leadership Lessons from the COVID-19 Pandemic."

Cuomo resigned due to sexual harassment allegations against him by 11 women.

Study: Federal reporting of COVID-19 fatalities in nursing homes missed at least 16,000 deaths



Government estimates of the coronavirus deaths in U.S. nursing homes may have missed more than 16,000 COVID-19 deaths, a new study finds.

A peer-reviewed study published Thursday in JAMA Network Open, a publication of the American Medical Association, found that up to 14% of the true COVID-19 death toll in nursing homes was unreported nationally.

Also, researchers estimated that as many as 68,000 coronavirus cases were missed in the federal National Healthcare Safety Network reporting system because the government did not require reporting until late May 2020.

The study arrived at its findings by comparing COVID-19 cases and deaths reported by U.S. nursing homes to the NHSN with those reported to 20 state departments of health in late May 2020. This comparison found that 4 in 10 COVID-19 deaths that occurred before the federal government implemented reporting requirements were never reported.

"These findings suggest that federal NHSN data understate total COVID-19 cases and deaths in nursing homes and that using these data without accounting for this issue may result in misleading conclusions about the determinants of nursing home outbreaks," the researchers wrote.

Extrapolating for the nation, the study suggests there were as many as 592,629 COVID-19 cases and 118,335 related deaths in nursing homes by the end of 2020.

"We did not find differences in nonreporting by facility characteristics (i.e., region, ownership, chain affiliation, or star rating) as of May 24," the researchers said. "This implies that facilities of all types omitted previous cases and deaths in the first NHSN submission. This may demonstrate a widespread inability of nursing homes to reliably collect data early in the pandemic or that pressures to report fewer cases and deaths were common to all facilities."

According to the study, there was a "clear regional correlation" in the percentages of cases and deaths that were unreported, with states in the northeast having the highest percentages. This means that delays in reporting affected states like New York most.

"Using the raw NHSN data would imply that similar numbers of nursing home residents died in New York and California in 2020," the researchers explained.

Federal data suggests there were 5 deaths for every 100 beds in New York and 4.8 deaths per 100 beds in California. But after adjusting for the unreported deaths, the researchers estimate there were actually 8.1 deaths per 100 beds in New York compared to 5.5 deaths per 100 beds in California.

The bottom line is that federal reporting of COVID-19 cases and deaths in nursing homes is likely understating the true number of each. It's possible the true number of people who died of COVID-19 in those facilities will never be known.

Media Ignores New Details of Cuomo Nursing Home Scandal | Janice Dean | POLITICS | Rubin Report

Media Ignores New Details of Cuomo Nursing Home Scandal | Janice Dean | POLITICS | Rubin Report

'People died because of what the governor did': Rep. Jeff Van Drew demands probe into New Jersey COVID nursing home deaths



A New Jersey congressman is calling for an investigation into that state's scandal that mirrors the coronavirus nursing home controversy in New York.

Rep. Jeff Van Drew (R) said on Newsmax Wednesday that a probe into New Jersey nursing home deaths would be appropriate.

"Really, many of us never understood at the time why we would take people that are already debilitated, who are already somewhat sick, who already have problems, mix them with other people who are very weak and aren't doing well," said Van Drew.

"You know that you're gonna have issues if you do that, that's, even then we knew that much about COVID, and we know that much about diseases in general, and we know about the aging process," he added.

"So it always seemed like a bad idea, and it's strange how it happened, and people were very uncomfortable with it. And we saw that in the beginning, the huge number of deaths that we had in New Jersey, the majority of them were from that very situation," Van Drew continued.

"A lot of people died because of what the governor did," he said.

Van Drew said that many in New Jersey were wondering why New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) was being investigated but New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy (D) was not, despite giving the same order to house coronavirus patients in nursing homes.

On Tuesday New Jersey Advance Media obtained a recording of a health official saying that "patients will die" as the result of the order given by Murphy in March 2020.

Van Drew has also made headlines when he released an audio recording of a columnist making threats against him over his decision to change from a Democrat to a Republican to support former President Donald Trump.

Here's the video of Van Drew's comments:

3.17.21 | Newsmax | Rep. Van Drew: NJ Nursing Home Deaths "Deserves a Thorough Investigation"www.youtube.com

‘Patients will die’: NJ governor was warned in March about nursing home policy’s deadly consequences



It's not only New York Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo who is justifiably in hot water for implementing a deadly policy that forced nursing home facilities to accept coronavirus-positive patients who had been discharged from the hospital, against admonitions from long-term care directors. Now, Cuomo's tri-state counterpart, New Jersey Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy, is facing mounting scrutiny for implementing a similar policy and ignoring warnings, as well.

Last week, TheBlaze highlighted that a medical director in New York attempted to sound the alarm about the inevitable consequences of the state's dangerous policy on March 26 — the day after it was issued — desperate to get word out. But despite her best efforts, she couldn't get through to the governor's office. Thousands of elderly New Yorkers would tragically die as a result of the policy. But to many nursing home leaders, that sad outcome was entirely avoidable.

According to NJ Advance Media, a similar situation played out in New Jersey. The outlet noted that on March 31, following in New York's footsteps, the state's health department issued an order requiring nursing homes to "accept non-critically ill residents who had been discharged from the hospital, but who were still recovering from the coronavirus."

The policy was reportedly announced in a tense conference call with hundreds of long-term care facility directors, a recording of which was recently obtained by the outlet. During the call, as New Jersey Health Commissioner Judith Persichilli laid out the directive, her words were reportedly met with palpable exasperation and pushback from facility directors.

"Patients will die," an unidentified administrator declared. "You understand that by asking us to take COVID patients, by demanding we take COVID patients, that patients will die in nursing homes that wouldn't have otherwise died had we screened them out."

But the warnings were not heeded. In April, the Society of Licensed Nursing Home Administrators of New Jersey penned an op-ed claiming nursing home directors "screamed from the rooftops to deaf ears" and ultimately "were an afterthought" amid the early stages of the pandemic. The policy's implementation brought a "storm" of deaths and infections, the group stated.

In May, Sidney Greenberger, CEO of AristaCare Health Services, which operates six nursing home facilities in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, said plainly, "Those officials ordered COVID-positive patients into those long-term care facilities without providing necessary support."

According to the COVID Tracking Project, New York and New Jersey have two of the highest state totals for virus-caused nursing home deaths.

Audio: NY medical director sounded the alarm to Mark Levin about Gov. Cuomo's deadly nursing home policy in March, but was ignored



A medical director in New Rochelle, New York, attempted to sound the alarm about the dangerous consequences of New York Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo's deadly nursing home policy in late March, but was ignored by the governor's office.

Dr. Elaine Healy, vice president of medical affairs and medical director for the United Hebrew retirement community, called into BlazeTV host Mark Levin's radio program on March 26 — the day after Cuomo's nursing home policy was issued — desperate to get word out about the hazardous measure.

The policy forced nursing homes in the state to accept coronavirus-positive patients who had been discharged from the hospital and is estimated to have directly led to the deaths of thousands of elderly New Yorkers. Amazingly, it remained in place for more than a month, despite it being common knowledge even at the point that nursing home patients were among the highest-risk individuals suffering from the pandemic.

On March 26, Healy told Levin, "I want to bring to your attention and to the listeners' attention what is about to happen in New York with respect to nursing homes. The governor has ordered that all nursing homes must accept COVID-positive patients that are actually potentially still infectious into their facilities and this will put our residents, our long-term care population, at risk."

"Wait, wait, wait," Levin responded, cutting in. "Are you pulling my leg? Seriously. Why would you send somebody who has this virus into a population that can kill people?"

Part 2Nursing home medical director calling into @marklevinshow on March 26th 2020 desperate to warn people about… https://t.co/LqZTvZcqqp
— Sara (@Sara)1615478692.0

"I'm looking at a directive from Andrew Cuomo and [New York Health Commissioner] Howard Zucker, dated March 25, that is ordering nursing homes ... it says that nursing homes 'must comply with the expedited receipt of residents returning from hospitals' ... they are deemed appropriate to go into the nursing homes from the hospitals and we cannot discriminate based on the presence of COVID," Healy continued.

She went on to claim there had been "no coordination on the ground level" from the governor's office to local health officials, but rather the governor was managing the crisis through edicts and orders.

"You can't get through to anybody down here," she said. "You can't talk to anybody, there's nobody coordinating the response at this level."

Healy passed on the information to her overarching group, the Society for Post-Acute and Long-Term Care Medicine, which issued a statement condemning the action the same day. That statement was covered in the Wall Street Journal.

"Admitting patients with suspected or documented Covid-19 infection represents a clear and present danger to all of the residents of a nursing home," the group said.

Yet Cuomo and the state Department of Health either refused the advice or ignored it and thousands of elderly New Yorkers died as a result.

Michigan prosecutor says Gov. Whitmer could face criminal prosecution over nursing home policies



Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) is facing increased scrutiny over a policy that may have contributed to increased nursing home deaths related to the coronavirus pandemic.

Now, a Michigan prosecutor says that Whitmer could face criminal charges.

What is the background?

Whitmer issued an executive order last year that prohibited nursing homes and other long-term care facilities from turning away "residents who tested positive for COVID-19 regardless of whether they were contagious," WJRT-TV reported.

The problem, of course, is that such facilities typically house society's most medically vulnerable people.

The exact number of long-term facility residents who died of COVID-19 in Michigan is not known, and state Republican lawmakers say Whitmer's administration is not disclosing critical data. As of the end of February, state data indicated that more than 5,500 Michiganders had perished from COVID-19 in long-term facilities, WDIV-TV reported, or about one-third of all COVID-19 deaths in Michigan.

What are the details?

Macomb County prosecutor Peter Lucido (R), who was recently elected to the position, said Monday that he is open to prosecuting Whitmer if crimes regarding her pandemic response are uncovered.

"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. Of course, we would. Nobody's above the law in this state," Lucido told WXYZ-TV.

In fact, Lucido is instructing Michigan residents "who lost loved ones to COVID as residents or staff inside nursing homes should go back to get the vital information about the circumstances of their death and take that to local police and make a complaint as a wrongful death," WXYZ reported.

Are there investigations?

Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel (D) is reportedly looking into Whitmer's COVID-related long-term facility policies, but suggested she believes an investigation into Whitmer is unnecessary.

"If you can give us some evidence that there's been violations of the law, and you can give us some evidence that there was not just conduct that, again, is bad policy, but conduct that violates state or federal statutes, let us know about it for certain. But if not, I get weary of the constant calls for our department to investigate things that are not crimes," Nessel said recently.

Meanwhile, state Republicans are urging the Department of Justice to investigate.

Eight Michigan Republicans wrote to the Justice Department last week asking federal authorities to determine whether Whitmer's policies were congruent with federal law.

"The governor employed a misguided policy that placed positive patients in the same facility as healthy residents, increasing the spread of the virus and ultimately having fatal consequences," state Rep. Phil Green (R) said. "The people deserve to know the reasoning behind the governor's decisions that put Michigan seniors needlessly at risk."

How did Whitmer react?

The Democratic governor called Lucido's remarks "shameful political attacks based in neither fact nor reality" and defended her actions.

The full statement says, according to WXYZ:

Our top priority from the start has been protecting Michiganders, especially seniors and our most vulnerable. 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.

Mr. Lucido's comments are shameful political attacks based in neither fact nor reality. Even his former colleague, Republican Sen. Ed McBroom, has said they "have not seen any evidence or testimony that says that a nursing home was forced to take someone against their will." And there's a reason why Mr. Lucido's 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.