House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R., Ky.) is asking the Department of Justice to criminally prosecute former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo for lying to Congress about his handling of the Covid-19 pandemic that resulted in the deaths of many nursing home patients.
Comer renewed the criminal referral to U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi after her predecessor, Merrick Garland, had declined to act on the congressional request filed in October. The committee chairman wrote in a letter that the Biden administration “ignored” the referral, despite clear evidence of Cuomo’s false statements.
The referral stated that Cuomo allegedly helped draft and review the New York State Department of Health’s July 2020 report that undercounted the total number of deaths in nursing homes by 46 percent, citing documents and testimony from other witnesses proving so. Cuomo testified that he was involved in neither the drafting nor the review of the report — testimony that the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic said amounts to a lie.
“Andrew Cuomo is a man with a history of corruption and deceit, now caught red-handed lying to Congress during the Select Subcommittee’s investigation into the COVID-19 nursing home tragedy in New York,” Chairman Comer said in a statement. “This wasn’t a slip-up — it was a calculated cover-up by a man seeking to shield himself from responsibility for the devastating loss of life in New York’s nursing homes.”
Cuomo also lied about not having any discussions about the July 2020 report’s being peer-reviewed and not knowing whether the report was reviewed by people outside New York’s health department, according to the 107-page referral.
“Let’s be clear: lying to Congress is a federal crime. Mr. Cuomo must be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law,” Comer said. “The House Oversight Committee is prepared to fully cooperate with the Justice Department’s investigation into Andrew Cuomo’s actions and ensure he’s held to account.”
The referral was originally signed by former Representative Brad Wenstrup (R., Ohio), who previously served as chairman of the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic. Wenstrup is now a member of President Donald Trump’s Intelligence Advisory Board.
Cuomo’s “must admit” directive led to more than 9,000 recovering coronavirus patients to be admitted or readmitted into nursing homes. The order was meant to relieve pressure on overloaded hospitals in the early days of the 2020 pandemic, but it only endangered the health of senior citizens already susceptible to the virus.
The state government’s report at the time, however, concluded that infected nursing home staff — not the Cuomo administration’s order — caused excess deaths in senior care facilities.
After overseeing the nursing home scandal and undergoing allegations of sexual harassment, Cuomo resigned in August 2021. He is now trying to make a political comeback, this time in New York City.
Monday’s request comes as Cuomo seeks to replace Eric Adams as mayor. Cuomo is vying for the top spot in the Democratic primary, while Adams is running for reelection as an independent candidate.
When he launched his campaign in March, Cuomo failed to acknowledge the nursing home policy and bragged about his response to the pandemic as governor.
“We faced Covid, which was an historic life-and-death challenge, and we had it first and worst with no warning,” Cuomo said. “We were on our own, and we were pushed to our limits, but we got through it together and we led the nation.”
Cuomo spokesman Rich Azzopardi said the House GOP’s renewed referral “is nothing more than a meritless press release that was nonsense last year and is even more so now,” adding that the only reason for Trump’s Department of Justice to bring criminal charges against the former governor and mayoral hopeful is motivated by politics.
It remains to be seen whether Bondi will green-light the prosecution.