by Eric Lendrum
On Monday, an explosive report by the New York State Assembly revealed that former Governor Andrew Cuomo (D-N.Y.) himself made direct edits to the initial report on how many senior citizens died of the Chinese coronavirus in New York nursing homes, as the Daily Caller reports.
The report from the Assembly’s Judiciary Committee is the culmination of an eight-month impeachment investigation against the disgraced former governor. The report says that Cuomo directed the New York Department of Health (DOH) to reduce the total number of fatalities by thousands so as to push back on criticism of Cuomo’s decision in March of 2020 to force COVID-positive patients into nursing homes, which infected and killed thousands of other senior citizens.
The original draft of the report prepared by DOH officials showed over 10,000 total nursing home deaths, but upon Cuomo’s insistence, it was reduced to about 6,500.
“The former Governor reviewed and edited the draft DOH Report on multiple occasions,” the report states, “and made edits to strengthen the defense of the March 25 Directive,” referring to his executive order on March 25th which first established the deadly nursing home policy; he rescinded the policy on May 10th.
“The evidence obtained in our investigation indicates that the former Governor and his senior staff were not fully transparent with the public regarding the number of COVID-19 deaths among nursing home residents,” the Assembly’s report continued. “The Committee is cooperating with law enforcement with respect to these issues.”
The nursing home scandal marked the beginning of the end for Cuomo, who up until that point had been widely praised by the mainstream media and the Democratic Party for his daily coronavirus briefings, with some considering him a potential 2024 presidential frontrunner.
But after comments from Cuomo’s senior aide Melissa DeRosa to New York Democratic Party leadership revealing the cover-up were leaked to the press, public opinion turned sharply on Cuomo. The increased scrutiny eventually led to multiple women coming out with sexual harassment allegations against him, leading to impeachment investigations as well as an investigation by New York Attorney General Letitia James (D-N.Y.). After James’s report revealed that Cuomo had sexually harassed at least 11 women in his office, there were nearly universal calls for Cuomo to resign, which he ultimately did in August.
Cuomo, who had planned to run for a fourth consecutive term as governor, was succeeded by his Lieutenant Governor Kathy Hochul (D-N.Y.), with James also announcing her bid for governor. Despite his ruined reputation, Cuomo has allegedly been considering a run for Attorney General in next year’s election cycle.
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Eric Lendrum reports for American Greatness.
Photo “Andrew Cuomo” by Andrew Cuomo.
