A House of Representatives panel created to investigate the COVID pandemic has referred disgraced former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) to the Department of Justice (DOJ) to investigate “multiple criminally false statements” made to lawmakers during his testimony.
🚨The Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic is referring Former New York Governor Andrew M. Cuomo for criminal prosecution.
Evidence suggests Andrew Cuomo knowingly and willfully made materially false statements about New York’s COVID-19 nursing home disaster and the… pic.twitter.com/kJrOQpXHLn
— Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic (@COVIDSelect) October 31, 2024
The criminal referral was made by Rep. Brad Wenstrup (R-OH), chairman of the Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic. The Republican congressman has accused Cuomo of lying to the committee about his handling of COVID — specifically citing Cuomo’s lies about his knowledge of a report that the New York state government used to defend policy that put COVID patients in nursing homes, directly causing the deaths of numerous senior citizens.
The report that Cuomo lied about knowing was a New York State Department of Health report published on July 6, 2020 — which was used to explain a New York policy telling nursing homes they were not allowed to deny admission to people who had either a confirmed or suspected case of COVID.
Evidence now shows what we’ve known all along: Governor Andrew Cuomo willfully lied to Congress about New York’s COVID nursing home disaster.
Referring him for criminal prosecution is the critical next step to finally holding him accountable.
If the DOJ doesn’t immediately… https://t.co/7KCWuty5VE
— Steve Scalise (@SteveScalise) October 31, 2024
Cuomo’s policies caused 15,000 deaths from COVID in nursing homes, a much greater number than New York initially reported. House investigators reported that Cuomo lied about his role in reviewing and editing that report, and also lied about discussing parts of the report in an interview with House lawmakers on June 11.
“Mr. Cuomo made multiple criminally false statements, including that he was neither involved in the drafting nor the review of the July 6 Report. Documents establish that statement to be false,” Wenstrup wrote in a letter to the DOJ. “Mr. Cuomo also testified that he did not have any discussions about the July 6 Report being peer reviewed. Documents show that statement to be false. And Mr. Cuomo testified that he did not know whether the July 6 Report was reviewed by persons outside of the NYSDOH. Documents again demonstrate that statement to be false.”
Meanwhile, Cuomo’s spokesman Richard Azzopardi has denied all allegations of wrongdoing against the former New York governor in a statement to the New York Times.
“This taxpayer-funded farce is an illegal use of Congress’s investigative authority,” Azzopardi told the outlet. “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.”
Wenstrup denied this desperate defense, pointing out that witnesses and documented evidence backed up the panel’s accusations against Cuomo.
“Andrew Cuomo repeatedly lied to Congress, and he must be held accountable to the fullest extent of the law,” the Republican congressman said. “This deliberate and self-serving attempt to avoid accountability for the thousands of lives lost in New York nursing homes during the pandemic will not stand.”
