Comer refers disgraced former NY Gov. Cuomo to DOJ for criminal prosecution: 'Caught red-handed'

Andrew Cuomo resigned as New York governor in August 2021 after a report by the state attorney general corroborated 11 women's sexual harassment claims against him. Investigators said that by groping employees and "making numerous offensive comments of a suggestive and sexual nature," the Democratic leader created a workplace "filled with fear and intimidation."

Cuomo, likely counting on New Yorkers to forgive or forget, now has his sights set on Gracie Mansion, the home of the mayor of New York City.

While currently fighting socialist Assembly Member Zohran Mamdani for dominance in the lead-up to the Democratic primary election in New York City's mayoral race, Cuomo may soon also have to fight federal criminal charges.

House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) referred Cuomo to the Department of Justice for criminal prosecution on Tuesday, evidently hoping Attorney General Pam Bondi will take the matter more seriously than her predecessor, who ignored the October referral of former Rep. Brad Wenstrup (R-Ohio).

'It was a calculated cover-up.'

In his October criminal referral to former Attorney General Merrick Garland, Wenstrup, chair of the now-disbanded Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic, noted, "Mr. Cuomo provided false statements to the Select Subcommittee in what appears to be a conscious, calculated effort to insulate himself from accountability. The Department of Justice should consider Mr. Cuomo's prior allegedly wrongful conduct when evaluating whether to charge him for the false statements."

Comer again seeks to hold the former governor accountable for allegedly making criminally false statements 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 in a statement.

"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."

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."

The House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic noted in a September report that as a result of this directive, over 9,000 COVID-19 patients were readmitted or admitted to nursing homes between March 25, 2020, and May 8, 2020, "causing predictable but disastrous consequences."

A February 2021 study undertaken by the Empire Center for Public Policy concluded that Cuomo's March 25 guidance "was associated with a statistically significant increase in resident deaths" — deaths Cuomo and his administration were later found to have undercounted.

"Statewide, the findings imply that COVID-positive new admissions between late March and early May, which numbered 6,327, were associated with several hundred and possibly more than 1,000 additional resident deaths," said the study.

'What difference does it make in any dimension to anyone about anything?'

Adding insult to injury, congressional investigators determined that Cuomo "personally drafted and edited portions" of a Feb. 11, 2021, New York State Department of Health report that blamed the spike in nursing home deaths on nursing home staff rather than on his directive.

"An analysis of the timing of admissions versus fatalities shows that it could not be the driver of nursing home infections or fatalities," said the report.

Last year, Cuomo testified before Congress in a seven-hour closed-door interview. The Democrat claimed 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.

When asked about the real death count, Cuomo channeled another controversial Democrat's callousness, telling congressional investigators, "Let's say there's a 3,000 differential, 2,500. Who cares? What difference does it make in any dimension to anyone about anything? Do you know what I'm saying?"

While evidently prickled by this and other comments, House Republicans took issue with the former governor's claims that "(1) he was not involved in the review or drafting of this Report, (2) he did not have any discussions about a peer-review of the Report, and (3) he did not have any knowledge of individuals outside the NYSDOH reviewing the Report."

All three claims are, according to the Comer, "demonstrably false."

"Mr. Cuomo must be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law," Comer said in his Monday statement.

Cuomo spokesman Rich Azzopardi said in a statement obtained by NBC News, "This is nothing more than a meritless press release that was nonsense last year and is even more so now. As the DOJ constantly reminds people, this kind of transparent attempt at election interference and law-fare violates their own policies."

"Referrals like these — which have been also made against Planned Parenthood, Hillary Clinton, and Anthony Fauci — don't have to be resubmitted with a new administration, so the only point to doing this is politics," added Azzopardi.

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