Former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo is facing a criminal referral for allegedly making “criminally false statements” about a July 2020 report that downplayed the number of COVID-related nursing home deaths.
On Wednesday, the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic referred Cuomo to the Department of Justice, arguing that he lied about his involvement in the New York State Department of Health’s report. However, the subcommittee’s formal referral does not compel the DOJ to move forward with further investigation.
‘The Department of Justice should consider Mr. Cuomo’s prior allegedly wrongful conduct.’
According to a draft of the subcommittee’s criminal referral, the report undercounted the number of deaths by 46%.
Cuomo repeatedly claimed he did not recall seeing the report before its public release, Blaze News previously reported. However, evidence uncovered by the subcommittee allegedly revealed that Cuomo personally made edits to the document.
The referral, signed by Representative Brad Wenstrup (R-Ohio), accused the former governor of making a “conscious, calculated effort” to skirt responsibility for the nursing home death scandal.
“Mr. Cuomo provided false statements to the select subcommittee in what appears to be a conscious, calculated effort to insulate himself from accountability,” Wenstrup wrote in the referral letter. “The Department of Justice should consider Mr. Cuomo’s prior allegedly wrongful conduct when evaluating whether to charge him for the false statements described.”
A June 2020 email from Cuomo’s former assistant allegedly revealed that he had made edits to the report before its release. He requested that it include language emphasizing how “community spread among employees or possibly visitation by family and friends were relevant factors” in the deaths. His edits were included in the final version of the report.
Additionally, congressional documents allegedly uncovered that Cuomo’s aides requested “two copies” of the report be sent to his residence before its release.
Cuomo fired back at the criminal referral by filing his own against the subcommittee.
The former governor’s criminal referral reads, “This interrogation far exceeded the Subcommittee’s jurisdiction and appears to have been an improper effort to advantage the interests of private litigants against Governor Cuomo, warranting investigation by the Department of Justice.”
Richard Azzopardi, a spokesperson for Cuomo, stated, “This taxpayer-funded farce is an illegal use of Congress’s investigative authority.”
“The governor said he didn’t recall because he didn’t recall. The committee lied in their referral just as they have been lying to the public and the press,” Azzopardi stated.
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