“Justice that is long overdue”: Andrew Cuomo referred for prosecution by COVID Select Committee
- November 1, 2024
Matthew Foldi, Washington Reporter
Ex-Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D., N.Y.) has been referred to the Department of Justice (DOJ) for criminal prosecution by the COVID Select Committee, the committee announced this week.
The disgraced former governor “knowingly and willfully made materially false statements about New York’s COVID-19 nursing home disaster and the ensuing cover-up,” the select committee said, regarding his testimony under oath about his administration’s policies the committee noted “forced New York nursing homes and long-term care facilities to admit COVID-19 positive patients.” Now, the committee said, “the Department of Justice must immediately charge Andrew Cuomo with making false statements to Congress.”
Cuomo, for his part, has pushed back on the accusations from the COVID Select Committee, but the allegations from Republicans are nearly air-tight. In one instance, they cite his hand-written edits on a document he claimed under oath to have never seen. That specific document low-balled nursing home deaths and was used to combat criticism of his administration’s pandemic-era policies
One watchdog praised the COVID Select Committee’s work to try and hold anyone “in government, at any level, is held accountable for mendacity related to COVID-19.”
“The committee’s evidence indicates the governor was seeking cover for his decisions as early as June 2020 and it’s a safe bet that others, especially in the public health bureaucracy, were doing the same,” Michael Chamberlain, the director of Protect the Public’s Trust (PPT), told the Reporter. “PPT and others have uncovered evidence of breaches of scientific integrity and civil service ethics during the pandemic very high up in HHS. Mr. Cuomo’s nursing home decision had tragic consequences, and there is no excuse for dodging blame and ultimately lying to Congress.”
While many feel that Cuomo’s potential comeuppance is a long time coming, Chamberlain cautioned that there is much more to do. “The governor was far from being the only one abusing and losing the public’s trust,” he said.