Congressional Democrats Tuesday scolded Andrew Cuomo, saying the former governor and his top aides were less than candid about the number of nursing home deaths in the state during the pandemic.

While most Democrats generally agree with the former governor that President-elect Donald Trump botched the country’s COVID-19 response, those House Democrats investigating the pandemic don’t have Cuomo’s back when it comes to his defense of how he tabulated nursing home deaths.


What You Need To Know

  • Congressional Democrats agreed with Republicans that Andrew Cuomo and his top aides were not transparent about how they counted nursing home deaths during the pandemic

  • A new report endorsed by all Democrats sitting on the House’s Select Subcommittee for the Coronavirus Pandemic concludes that Cuomo interfered with the Department of Health’s data reporting, was not transparent about nursing home deaths and the state’s controversial March 25 order to put COVID patients back in nursing homes “arguably contradicted” federal guidance

  • House Republicans accused Cuomo of lying to Congress, referring the report to the Department of Justice

A new report endorsed by all Democrats sitting on the House’s Select Subcommittee for the Coronavirus Pandemic concludes Cuomo interfered with the Department of Health’s data reporting, was not transparent about nursing home deaths and the state’s controversial March 25 order to put COVID patients back in nursing homes “arguably contradicted” federal guidance.

“This isn’t about politics, as much as the former governor wants the public to think that this is a Trump-ian political agenda. Both Republicans and Democrats see what he did was wrong,” Queens Democratic state Assemblyman Ron Kim, who is also a Cuomo critic, said. “We had a whole slew of other Democrats who saw what the former administration did was wrong and we want to take it as far as impeach him.”

It follows a broader, 557-page analysis released by the GOP-led committee reviewing how the nation handled the pandemic.

“It certainly didn’t start as a partisan attack, it became partisan in part because of Cuomo’s own actions,” Bill Hammond of the Empire Center for Public Policy said.

A large part focused on Cuomo and the panel interviewed many of his ex-aides — deciding that their handling of data led to a severe under counting of nursing home deaths.

Democrats argue some decisions made sense, but they don’t excuse Cuomo’s repeated refusal to release data.

“The Democrats were not willing to defend the specifics of what Cuomo did, especially when it came to the problems with transparency around data,” Hammond said.

The report also determined that “any public official who sought to evade transparency or mislead the public about the COVID-19 pandemic should be held accountable.”

“The Manhattan [district attorney] and others looked at the nursing home issue and found no wrongdoing, while the meritless civil lawsuit launched by the very same people who have been working arm and arm with this committee was tossed out of court,” Rich Azzopardi, a spokesman for the former governor said.

Meanwhile, Republicans accused Cuomo of lying to Congress, referring the report to the Department of Justice. They think he should be prosecuted.

“It would actually probably help Cuomo more than hurt him. It would help him portray what’s being done as a political vendetta,” Hammond said.

Cuomo is also reportedly considering a political rebirth, in the form of a mayoral run.

“Whatever seat he may want to pursue will be summarized in five words: Cuomo lied and people died,” Kim said.