House COVID panel to refer Andrew Cuomo for possible prosecution


A House subcommittee plans to refer former New York Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo to the Justice Department for possible prosecution on charges he lied to Congress about his involvement in the state's COVID report on nursing home deaths. Has been accused of speaking.

Mr Cuomo will be accused of engaging in a “conscious, calculated effort” to avoid accountability for his management of nursing homes, where thousands of people have died, according to a referral from the Republican-led House Select Subcommittee on the coronavirus pandemic. It's done.

The referral to Justice Department officials on Thursday was signed by the subcommittee chairman, Republican Representative Brad Wenstrup of Ohio. No other committee members, including the ranking Democrat, Representative Raul Ruiz of California, signed the referral letter, in a possible sign of political bias.

Mr Cuomo testified behind closed doors to the committee when he insisted he had not reviewed a state health department report that deflected blame for deaths in New York nursing homes in early 2020. Was.

The New York Times reported last month that Mr. Cuomo had reviewed the report and personally wrote parts of early drafts, according to a review of emails and congressional documents.

A representative for Mr. Cuomo did not immediately respond to a request for comment. But Wednesday night, his legal team sent its own letter to the Justice Department requesting a subcommittee investigation for possible abuse of power.

The referral comes at a critical moment for Mr. Cuomo, who is widely seen as a potential and formidable candidate for next year's New York City mayoral race, although it is unclear if Mayor Eric Adams will run in the race. If he stays, will he run or not?

Mr Adams was indicted by a federal grand jury on five counts of bribery and corruption, throwing New York City into turmoil and paving the way for Mr Cuomo, who resigned in August 2021 amid sexual harassment allegations. He had resigned from the post of Governor in 2010, which he denies.

The subcommittee's planned criminal referral of Mr. Cuomo has no legal significance; Congress has no enforcement power and the Justice Department has no formal authority over what it does. However, it could further complicate the story of the ambitious former governor, whose daily news conferences during the pandemic briefly brought him national praise.

But Mr Cuomo's handling of the pandemic has since been constantly re-evaluated.

He was ordered to return a $5 million advance on his memoir, “American Crisis: Leadership Lessons from the COVID-19 Pandemic,” after a state ethics board ruled he had used state resources to write it. Was. (Mr. Cuomo denied this and refused to repay the advance, successfully suing the Ethics Board on the grounds that it was structured in a way that violated the state Constitution. That decision is subject to appeal.)

And several state and federal entities, including the Justice Department, have taken note of March 2020 guidance from the New York State Department of Health directing nursing homes to readmit patients who tested positive for the coronavirus.

In testimony before Congress, Mr. Cuomo said the nursing home guidance followed federal guidelines, and rejected claims that his administration was responsible for nursing home deaths.

The state health department's report, released on July 6, 2020, was an early attempt to deflect blame. The Times reported in 2021 how top aides to Mr. Cuomo felt pressured to hide the number of deaths in the state's nursing homes during the early days of the pandemic.

Mr Cuomo has said data on coronavirus deaths was unreliable in the early stages of the pandemic in 2020, and his administration was focused on releasing numbers people could trust. If the number of deaths reported was later found to be incorrect, the state planned to correct the numbers and issue a clarification.

In his letter addressed to the attorney general, Merrick Garland, Mr. Wenstrup said the committee found evidence that Mr. Cuomo falsely said that “he had no discussion about peer review of the July 6 report” and “he Did not know whether the July 6 report was reviewed by individuals outside the state health department.

“Cuomo made false statements to the select subcommittee in what appears to be a conscious, calculated effort to shield himself from accountability,” Mr. Wenstrup wrote in the referral letter, which was reviewed by The New York Times. “To the Justice Department “Mr. Cuomo’s prior alleged misconduct should be considered when evaluating whether to charge him with the false statements described.”

In Mr. Cuomo's letter to the Justice Department, he accused the subcommittee of “misusing government resources to 'investigate' a matter beyond its jurisdiction, apparently in service of a private lawsuit.”

Mr Cuomo's lawyer Sarah A. Sulkowski accused Mr Wenstrup and other committee members of colluding with Fox News personality Janice Dean, whose husband was among those suing Mr Cuomo over his handling of the nursing home crisis. The lawsuit was dismissed earlier this month.

luke broadwater Contributed to the reporting.

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