Washington DC – A new report from the New York Times says former Governor Andrew Cuomo has been referred to the Justice Department for possible prosecution by a Republican-led House subcommittee over the state's COVID-19 report on nursing homes. He has been accused of lying to Congress about his involvement. Deaths.
The referral comes a month after a federal judge dismissed a lawsuit that would have held the former governor responsible for undercounting pandemic-era nursing home deaths in New York state.
According to the New York Times, the referral center claimed in closed-door testimony given to the committee by the former governor that he had not reviewed a state health department report detailing the number of deaths in New York's nursing homes in the early days. The blame was deferred. 2020. However, the Times also reported that Cuomo had reviewed the report and personally wrote parts of the early draft.
The referral, which was sent to the Justice Department on Wednesday night, was signed by the subcommittee chairman, Representative Brad Wenstrup, (R) of Ohio.
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Cuomo resigned from office in August 2021 amid sexual harassment allegations, which he denied.
Cuomo was widely seen as a confident figure in the early months of the pandemic, but his reputation suffered after revelations that his administration incompletely accounted for the number of deaths in nursing homes and assisted living facilities. The account was released.
Critics have also focused on a directive issued in March 2020 that initially barred nursing homes from refusing to admit patients because they had COVID-19.
The order was issued to prevent hospitals from becoming overwhelmed with COVID-19 patients who were no longer sick enough to require hospitalization, but needed nursing home care for other conditions and could easily He could not be discharged or sent home.
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