Federal Investigation Launched into Gov. Cuomo, who NY State Senate Leaders Move to Strip of His Emergency Powers

By Yehudit Garmaise

   The FBI and the U.S. attorney's office in the Eastern District of New York in Brooklyn have just launched an investigation into the actions of Gov. Andrew Cuomo's coronavirus task force for its handling of nursing homes and other long-term care facilities during the pandemic, the Times Union reported today.

    Although the criticism of the governor’s March 25 directive to send 9,000 nursing home patients who were still contagious with COVID back into their facilities had seemed to pass in recent months, the complaints of those who feared they lost loved ones unnecessarily returned to the fore on Jan. 28, when Attorney General Letitia James issued a shocking report that concluded that the governor’s ill-advised directive may have increased the risk of COVID-19 infections at the state’s long-term care facilities.

   James’ report also revealed that Cuomo's administration had under-reported by as much as 40% of nursing home residents who died.

   Although Gov. Cuomo had originally reported 9,154 nursing home deaths, after a federal judge ordered the governor to report the death toll in its entirety, the Department of Health updated the number of nursing home patients who passed away from COVID-19 to 15,049 patients.

   In a press conference two days ago, Gov. Cuomo continued to attempt to dismiss intensified allegations of wrongdoing, while he repeatedly insisted that he did nothing wrong but provide a “void of information” that led to what he called “conspiracy theories.”

   “We were dealing with managing the pandemic, but we told the state legislature, we would get to the request,” the governor said.

   Although state lawmakers insist they were left in the dark. 

   Assemblymember Ron Kim, who has said that the governor had yelled at and threatened him after his public criticism of the nursing home debacle, continues to say that Cuomo’s administration was “just telling lie after lie” about its handling of COVID deaths in long-term care facilities.

   “It’s not safe to have someone like Cuomo have extraordinary powers,” Kim said. “He cares more about his own political and personal well-being than the most vulnerable members of our community.”

  Yesterday, in a letter seeking support to refuse the governor’s COVID-19 emergency powers, nine Democratic members of the New York State Assembly joined Kim in accusing Gov. Cuomo of federal obstruction of justice.

   The New York Times reported today that the Senate’s measures, which could be voted on as soon as next week, underscore the deepening division between Mr. Cuomo and state lawmakers now that the governor has admitted that he withheld crucial data that was requested by the Legislature.

   The Times called the New York State Senate Democratic leaders’ move to strip Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo of his unilateral emergency powers during the pandemic, “a remarkable rebuke for the governor from members of his own party.”

 (Darren McGee- Office of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo)