Covid Subcommittee Subpoenas Andrew Cuomo for Testimony about Nursing Home Deaths, Attempted Cover-up

A congressional panel investigating the handling of the Covid-19 pandemic is compelling disgraced former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo (D) to testify about his response to the outbreak.

The House Select Committee on the Coronavirus Pandemic subpoenaed Cuomo Tuesday to appear for a closed-door deposition in May about his order requiring nursing homes to take Covid-19 patients and subsequent coverup of the nursing home death total, the subcommittee said in a subpoena cover letter.

“This misguided decision effectively admitted thousands of COVID-19 positive patients into nursing homes, causing predictable but deadly consequences for New York’s most vulnerable,” the letter says of Cuomo’s order.

“In addition to the March 25 Order itself, there is also troubling evidence suggesting the Cuomo Administration at best downplayed its impacts and at worst covered them up.”

The subcommittee accused Cuomo of repeatedly refusing to cooperate with investigators attempts to schedule an interview over a seven month time frame dating back to August. Cuomo and his attorney appeared to dodge the committee’s attempts to schedule the interview over a dozen times prior to the subpoena.

“It is now clear that your strategy from the beginning has been to delay and undermine our investigation. You have repeatedly and consistently dismissed, deflected, or ignored all questions and requests from the Select Subcommittee related to your handling of nursing homes. Publicly, you and your spokesman have downplayed our investigation—characterizing it as a political attempt to weaponize people’s pain,” the letter reads.

Cuomo’s office appeared to conspire with the state’s health department on a report released in July 2020 in order to undercount the total nursing home deaths from the Covid-19 pandemic, the New York Times previously reported. New York Attorney General Letitia James (D) found the nursing home deaths were undercounted by as much as 50 percent resulting in thousands of deaths being hidden from the public. A separate report by the Empire Center for Public Policy, an independent think tank, concluded Cuomo’s nursing home order potentially caused over one thousand additional nursing home deaths.

He resigned from his post in August 2021 after numerous allegations of sexual harassment brought enormous pressure on Cuomo to step down. James conducted an investigation into the allegations and found Cuomo harassed eleven women. Cuomo defended himself against the allegations last year on HBO’s Real Time with Bill Maher, and he is rumored to be considering a political comeback by running for mayor of New York City.

“Former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo implemented nursing home policies that had deadly consequences for New York’s most vulnerable population. Not only did the former Governor put the elderly in harm’s way, but he also attempted to cover up his failures by hiding the true nursing home death rate,” said subcommittee chair Brad Wenstrup (R., Ohio) in a statement.

“It appears that politics, not medicine, was responsible for these decisions, and that while Mr. Cuomo is adept at seeking legal advice, he is not necessarily adept at seeking medical advice. Former Governor Cuomo owes answers to the 15,000 families who lost loved ones in New York nursing homes during the COVID-19 pandemic.”

Cuomo’s attorney, Rita M. Galvin, disputed the select committee’s obstruction allegations and requested Monday the subcommittee reconsider its subpoena, according to a letter obtained by National Review.

A spokesperson for Cuomo accused House investigators of participating in a “press charade” and urged them to support additional military aid for Ukraine in its war against Russia.

“This is an obvious press charade: they issue a subpoena as a press release,” Cuomo spokesman Rich Azzopardi told NR.

“The simple fact remains that this issue has been reviewed three times by the Department of Justice under Trump and Biden, as well as Congress and the Manhattan District Attorney who found no there there. New York followed the guidance put forth by the Trump administration in March of 2020 — as did other Democratic and Republican states. If they have a problem with that, they should look in the mirror. Congress knows this, but it’s not about the facts, this is about politics,” he added.

“Do your job: Ukrainian soldiers are throwing stones at Russian tanks because we haven’t sent ammunition and we still don’t have a budget. Instead, they continue to play politics with Covid and weaponize people’s pain and loss of loved ones”