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The New York Post reported that Cuomo’s top aide, Secretary to the Governor Melissa DeRosa, told Democratic state legislators in a meeting this week that the administration “froze” when asked to release data about the number of nursing home residents who had died from the virus.
It has been alleged that Cuomo’s administration withheld the information due to former President Donald Trump’s administration’s attempts to make the pandemic into “political football.”
“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,” she reportedly said.
On Friday, Feb. 12, DeRosa issued a new statement attempting to explain the administration’s actions and her previous words.
“I was explaining that when we received the DOJ inquiry, we needed to temporarily set aside the Legislature’s request to deal with the federal request first,” she stated. “We informed the houses of this at the time.
”We were comprehensive and transparent in our responses to the DOJ, and then had to immediately focus our resources on the second wave and vaccine rollout,” the statement continues. “As I said on a call with legislators, we could not fulfill their request as quickly as anyone would have liked, but we are committed to being better partners going forward as we share the same goal of keeping New Yorkers as healthy as possible during the pandemic.”
Following the report in the Post, Republicans in New York pounced to call for the ousting of Cuomo.
Dutchess County Executive Marc Molinaro, who sought to unseat Cuomo in the 2018 gubernatorial election as the state's Republican challenger, called the governor hypocritical following months of daily COVID-19 briefings without telling the truth about nursing home deaths.
“In the coming days he will cynically try to convince us that it was for our own good — that it was someone else's fault,” Molinaro said.”This is another lie. What is true, is Andrew Cuomo has proved himself unworthy of our trust, and unfit for public office.”
Republican Congresswoman Elsie Stefanik, who has been a constant combatant of Cuomo’s administration, issued a statement calling for an investigation into his office both locally and federally.
“Governor Cuomo, the Secretary to the Governor, and his senior team must be prosecuted immediately – both by the Attorney General of New York State and the U.S. Department of Justice,” she said.
“This bombshell admission of a coverup and the remarks by the Secretary to the Governor indicating intent to obstruct any federal investigation is a stunning and criminal abuse of power.”
Stefanik continued: “I have said from the beginning that this is more than a nursing home scandal, this is a massive corruption and coverup scandal at the highest level of New York State Government implicating the Governor, the Secretary to the Governor, the New York State Health Commissioner and the Governor’s staff.
"The families who lost loved ones, New Yorkers, and all Americans deserve accountability from the U.S. Department of Justice that will be independent and not swayed by the desperate political pressure from Governor Cuomo.”
Former Westchester County Attorney Rob Astorino, who recently ran for a State Senate seat after running against Cuomo in the 2014 gubernatorial election, took to Twitter to call for Cuomo’s job.
“Over 13,000 seniors were killed due to Cuomo’s Nursing Home order,” Astorino posted. “He then spent close to a year covering it up and obfuscating. Today his top aide admitted to the coverup and said they feared the DOJ. Andrew Cuomo is unfit for office. He needs to resign.”
New York State GOP Chair Nick Langworthy said that impeachment discussions should begin “right away,” while Congressman Tom Reed said that there should be an “independent and thorough investigation by the Biden Department of Justice into Governor Cuomo and New York State.”
Scorn for the governor came from both sides of the aisle, with Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins saying that “crucial information should never be withheld from entities that are empowered to pursue oversight.”
“This was always about getting the truth and allowing information to guide our response. That is why we had multiple hearings and another hearing scheduled for this month,” she said. “And why we requested this information in the first place.
“Politics should not be part of this tragic pandemic and our responses to it must be led by policy, not politics. As always, we will be discussing the next steps at a conference.”
“This is a betrayal of the public trust,” State Sen. Andrew Gounardes, a Brooklyn Democrat said on Twitter. “There needs to be full accountability for what happened.”
In response to the New York Post report, Cuomo’s top advisor Rich Azzopardi responded on social media.
“We explained that the Trump administration was in the midst of a politically motivated effort to blame (Democratic) states for COVID deaths and that we were cooperating with Federal document productions and that was the priority and now that it is over we can address the state legislature.”
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