New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s (D) aides hid the Empire State’s death toll in its nursing homes for at least five months as the coronavirus pandemic raged, according to a new report.
The New York Times reported Wednesday:
Mr. Cuomo’s most senior aides engaged in a sustained effort to prevent the state’s own health officials, including the commissioner, Howard Zucker, from releasing the true death toll to the public or sharing it with state lawmakers, these interviews and documents showed.
A scientific paper, which incorporated the data, was never published. An audit of the numbers by a top Cuomo aide was finished months before it became publicly known. Two letters, drafted by the Health Department and meant for state legislators, were never sent.
The Times said the alleged cover-up occurred as Cuomo was authoring his book, American Crisis: Leadership Lessons from the COVID-19 Pandemic, with the help of top advisor Melissa DeRosa. The New York Post first reported in February that DeRosa revealed in a call with Democrat lawmakers that Cuomo officials did not publish data on the coronavirus death toll in nursing homes due to fears that the figures were “going to be used against us” by federal prosecutors.
“Basically, we froze,” DeRosa said, claiming that then-President Donald Trump directed the “Department of Justice to do an investigation into us.”
The governor is now under federal investigation for his handling of the nursing home data and faces a state-led impeachment probe into allegations of sexual harassment and unwanted touching brought forth against him by multiple women.
Leading New York Democrats, such as Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler, have called on Cuomo to resign over the sexual misconduct claims.
Thus far, Cuomo has defied calls for his resignation and repeatedly denied all allegations go wrongdoing.
“I never harassed anyone, I never assaulted anyone, I never abused anyone,” Cuomo has stated. “I’m not going to resign. I was not elected by the politicians, I was elected by the people.”
Last month, Rep. Lee Zeldin (R-NY) announced a bid for governor, declaring the time has come to end New York state’s “one-party Democrat rule” under Cuomo.
“[Cuomo] is under multiple investigations. There is a very weakened state of the governor, right now, that is leading to even worse policies getting passed in Albany because he has an inability to fight back. This Assembly has the leverage over him because they have the impeachment investigation on top of it all that’s being launched, right now,” Zeldin told Breitbart News.
This story is developing. Check Breitbart News for updates.
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