The Department of Justice last month opened a criminal investigation into former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo amid allegations he lied to Congress about his role in a report on nursing home deaths in the state during the COVID-19 pandemic, The New York Times reported Tuesday night.
House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer, R-Ky., sent a criminal referral to the DOJ in April, recommending that Cuomo be charged with making false statements to Congress.
Comer charged that Cuomo “knowingly and willfully” lied to the House Select Subcommittee about his knowledge and involvement of a 2020 report regarding the COVID-19 “nursing home disaster” and “the ensuing cover-up.”
Cuomo is polling as one of the top Democrats in New York’s mayoral race. The election is Nov. 4.
“We have never been informed of any such matter, so why would someone leak it now?” Cuomo spokesman Rich Azzopardi told the Times. “The answer is obvious: This is lawfare and election interference plain and simple — something President [Donald] Trump and his top Department of Justice officials say they are against.”
At issue is that on March 25, 2020, Cuomo issued a directive that New York nursing homes and long-term care facilities admit COVID-positive and potentially COVID-positive patients.
But when the New York Health Department report came out on July 6, 2020, it alleged that nursing home staff — not the March 25 directive — caused excess COVID-19 deaths in nursing homes.
“According to witness testimony and new documents revealed in the Select Subcommittee’s referral, Mr. Cuomo personally drafted and edited portions of this purportedly independent and peer-reviewed report,” Republicans wrote.
Cuomo, however, told the committee that he “was neither involved in the drafting nor the review of the July 6 Report. Documents establish that statement to be false.”
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.
