Cuomo camp blasts DOJ's COVID cover-up investigation as election meddling

The Department of Justice has reportedly kicked off an investigation into disgraced former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D).

Sources familiar with the matter told the New York Times that the inquiry was initiated a month ago by the U.S. attorney's office in Washington, around the time that the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) referred Cuomo to the DOJ for criminal prosecution.

In his referral — a rehash of a previous criminal referral filed by former Ohio Rep. Brad Wenstrup (R) in October then ignored by former Attorney General Merrick Garland — Comer alleged that Cuomo provided false statements to Congress regarding his manipulation of a supposedly independent report concerning New York's COVID-19 nursing home tragedy.

"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," Comer said at the time.

"This wasn't a slip-up," continued Comer. "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. Let's be clear: Lying to Congress is a federal crime."

Comer underscored Tuesday, "Cuomo must be prosecuted."

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Following news that the DOJ had opened an investigation, Cuomo's campaign and the liberal media rushed to insinuate election interference on the part of the Trump administration. After all, Cuomo is running as a Democrat in New York City's mayoral race and is likely to go head-to-head with Mayor Eric Adams, whose corruption case the Trump DOJ moved to dismiss earlier this year. A judge permanently dropped the case in April.

'I'm not going to do to him what others did to me.'

"We have never been informed of any such matter, so why would someone leak it now? The answer is obvious: This is lawfare and election interference plain and simple — something President Trump and his top Department of Justice officials say they are against," Rich Azzopardi, a spokesman for Cuomo, said in a statement obtained by multiple outlets.

"Governor Cuomo testified truthfully to the best of his recollection about events from four years earlier, and he offered to address any follow-up questions from the Subcommittee — but from the beginning this was all transparently political," added Azzopardi.

Melissa DeRosa, a former key aide for Cuomo and a Democratic strategist, tweeted, "Trump wants a mayor who will bend the knee. ... Andrew Cuomo is his nightmare come true ... enter law-fare ... and a galvanized democratic base."

The Times clearly ran with this framing, writing:

Mr. Trump routinely calls for criminal inquiries of political foes and people who have crossed him, often based on what legal experts say are flimsy claims of wrongdoing. His appointees at the Justice Department have increasingly signaled a willingness to use their investigative and prosecutorial powers to carry out Mr. Trump's wishes.

When pressed for comment, Adams' press secretary Kayla Mamelak Altus directed Blaze News to Adams' Wednesday address, where the mayor reiterated his disappointment with how the pandemic was handled and noted "the investigations must take their course."

"I'm not going to do to him what others did to me," said Adams. "I'm going to allow the investigation to take its course."

The Times noted that a spokesman for the DOJ and a spokeswoman for the FBI declined to comment, citing a policy of neither confirming nor denying ongoing investigations.

While Azzopardi, the Times, and others are keen to characterize the investigation as a political exercise in "lawfare," Comer and Wenstrup have provided what appears to be fairly damning evidence of Cuomo's false statements in his June 12, 2024, closed-door interview with congressional investigators.

In March 2020, the Cuomo administration issued a directive stating, "No resident shall be denied re-admission or admission to [a nursing home] solely based on a confirmed or suspected diagnosis of COVID-19. [Nursing homes] are prohibited from requiring a hospitalized resident who is determined medically stable to be tested for COVID-19 prior to admission or readmission."

This directive resulted in the admission of thousands of COVID-positive patients to nursing homes around the state. According to a February 2021 study undertaken by the Empire Center for Public Policy, this in turn led to a "statistically significant increase in resident deaths."

This was not the narrative Cuomo alternatively tried to advance.

Congressional investigators indicated that Cuomo "personally drafted and edited portions" of a New York State Department of Health report that blamed the resultant spike in nursing home deaths on nursing home staff rather than on his directive.

Wenstrup alleged in his original criminal referral that during his 2024 interview with congressional investigators, Cuomo lied about being involved in the drafting of the NYSDOH report in any capacity; engaging in any discussions regarding the report being peer reviewed; and about knowing whether people outside the state agency were involved in the drafting or editing of the report.

'The wheels of justice are finally beginning to turn.'

Cuomo also told congressional investigators that he was unaware of his devastating March 25, 2020, nursing home directive and suggested that nursing homes were not actually forced to admit COVID-positive patients.

Wenstrup told Garland last year that "Mr. Cuomo provided false statements to the Select Subcommittee in what appears to be a conscious, calculated effort to insulate himself from accountability."

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Spencer Platt/Getty Images

Voices for Seniors, an advocacy group founded by a pair of sisters whose mother was among those who succumbed to COVID-19 in a New York nursing home, expressed hope over the prospect that Cuomo might face accountability over the surge in nursing home deaths.

The group said of the investigation, "After years of silence, deflection, and political spin, the wheels of justice are finally beginning to turn."

"This investigation is not just justified; it's overdue," continued Voices for Seniors. "The evidence paints a damning picture of a leader more concerned with image than integrity. Grieving families have waited long enough. This isn't about partisan lines or media spin. It's about accountability. It's about justice for thousands of silenced seniors."

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