The Justice Department reportedly launched a criminal investigation into former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo after allegedly lying to Congress about the death of a home in the Imperial state during the Covid-19 pandemic.
The investigation into the New York City frontrunner was launched by the U.S. Lawyer's office in Washington, D.C. about a month ago, The New York Times reported Tuesday, citing two people familiar with the issue.
At the time, the office was led by Ed Martin. Ed Martin was replaced by Janine Pillo earlier this month.
The Republican-led House Oversight and Government Reform Committee asked Attorney General Pam Bondy to interview the House Covid Subcommittee on June 11, 2024, to pursue criminal charges against Democrat Cuomo in order to make “criminally false statements.”
House Oversight Committee Chairman James Kommer (R-KY.) accused Cuomo, 67, who was the main side on July 6, 2020, of “overwhelming evidence” that increased the total number of deaths in senior care facilities in New York by 46% during the pandemic.
In his testimony, the former governor asserted that he had never drafted, reviewed, discussed or consulted people for a “peer review” in a nursing home report issued by the New York State Department of Health.
Comer previously introduced Cuomo to the prosecutors last year, but his request was rejected by Attorney General Merrick Garland, President Joe Biden.
Former governor spokesman Rich Azopaldi posted that he was unaware of the investigation.
“We've never been informed of such an issue, so why would someone leak it now?” he said in a statement. “The answer is clear. This is law and election interference, simple and simple. President Trump and his Supreme Judicial Office officials say they are against it.
“Governor Cuomo gave true testimony about his memories of events four years ago and offered to address follow-up questions from the subcommittee, but from the start this was all transparently political,” he added.
“The wheels of justice are finally beginning to change,” an older person's voice said in a statement from X.
“This investigation is not only justified, it's expired. The evidence depicts a terrible picture of a leader who is more interested in image than integrity. The grieving family has waited long enough.”
“Thank God that our fight is not in vain,” said mom Anna Martinez, who passed away in Covid after a stint at West Islip Nursing Home in 2020.
She said the nursing home families sent three letters to Bondi.
“We're just going through this research, which is a long and long victory for nursing home families and their loved ones,” Zayas added.
Daniel Arbeeny, co-founder of We Care Memorial Wall for Covid Nursing Home victims, also praised the probe.
“Cuomo should be responsible, and it's very simple,” said Irbiney, whose father Norman died in Covid.
“We need to know if Cuomo is lying about following federal guidelines. He forced nursing homes to accept positive symbiosis patients, causing thousands of nursing home residents to die unnecessarily.”
Cuomo has been accused of lying to Congress about disregarding the infamous March 25, 2020 results, and will force Covid patients to recover into senior care facilities without checking whether they could infect others without a mandatory test.
By May 10th, thousands of sick New Yorkers were either recognized or readmitted to nursing homes when Cuomo revoked the order.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had acknowledged the risk of asymptomatic spread six days ago, but media outlets have been reporting the possibility of such a infection since early April.
Cuomo told lawmakers last year that he “doesn't even remember” seeing a report about a nursing home in July 2020 before it was published.
However, emails obtained by subcommittee staff indicate that Cuomo Aides discussed participation in drafting the audit. The former governor's own handwritten edits were also presented as evidence of the DOJ.
These compilations included notes that by the date that the nursing home mandate “already was in the nursing home,” the word “death” was erased to replace the word “death” with an approximate timeline that it took for the infection to die.
“Is New York 6,600?” Cuomo scribbled at the margin of one draft page. The final report cited just 6,432 deaths.
Piro, who is in charge of the investigation, is a former political rival of Cuomo, who is publicly critical of the former governor's pandemic nursing home policy.
According to the New York Times, former Fox news host Pirro “can't escape the consequences of intentional and reckless acts.”
“We cannot escape intentional cover-up,” she added, claiming that Cuomo gave his senior a “death sentence.”
Piro further argued that New York prosecutors should consider manslaughter and negligent murder charges against Cuomo in his nursing home policy.
Piro ran a failed campaign against Cuomo in the 2006 race for the New York Attorney General.
The mayor's frontrunner's investigation report comes a day after Cuomo unveiled a new campaign ad promoting his leadership during the pandemic.
“It was the biggest health crisis in our history. Andrew Cuomo was delivered when New Yorkers were desperate for leadership,” the narrator entitled “Crisis” in a 30-second place.
“He wasn't just providing information to the daily Covid briefing. He acted, built an emergency hospital and deployed his first responders,” the ad continues.
Cuomo defended his nursing home policy on Tuesday in an interview about his “honest and honest” podcast with Bali Weiss.
“You go back now and see the facts, and everything New York has followed federal leadership,” he insisted.
Cuomo dismissed the claim that he made up for the death of a nursing home as “very untrue” and “politics.”
“I got politics, I understand why they were doing it, why they repeated their outlets over and over, and amplified by the nursing home families who just bought all this conservative rhetoric,” he said.
The mayor's hopes argued that “only 12 states have been better than New York” in terms of preventing deaths during the pandemic.
Democratic Socialist Queens Congressman Zoran Mamdani – running behind Cuomo in the race – denounced the former governor and Trump in a statement.
“Andrew Cuomo's career is defined by corruption and deception, and lying to Congress about his community's reaction is no exception. But Donald Trump can't trust him to pursue justice.
Other candidates quickly joined the fight, with mayor Brad Lander writing to X that “New Yorkers can't afford a compromised mayor kissing Trump's ass for another four years.”
The DOJ did not immediately respond to requests to post comments.
