If the Department of Justice were to investigate the Cuomo administration’s refusal to release data on deaths in nursing homes, a major conflict would arise if the case were submitted to the powerful federal prosecutor in Manhattan.
This is because Audrey Strauss, the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District, is the mother-in-law of top Cuomo assistant Melissa DeRosa, the figure at the center of the emerging scandal.
The outcry calling for an investigation into the cover-up of thousands of deaths has escalated after The Post reported on DeRosa’s astonishing recognition that the Cuomo government withheld information from state lawmakers over the summer because it was concerned that federal prosecutors against us would use.
The Department of Justice began investigating deaths in nursing homes in New York and elsewhere in late August.
“And basically, we froze,” DeRosa, who is secretary to the governor and his closest confidant, admitted during a conference for state lawmakers.
“We were not sure if what we were going to give to the justice department or what we were going to give you, and what we were starting to say, would be used against us, and we were not sure if there was an investigation.” she told lawmakers during a conference call Wednesday.
The recognition of DeRosa led to one observer saying, “Did you freeze before or after you called your mother-in-law.”
Early in the pandemic, Cuomo was heavily criticized for his mandate that poorly equipped nursing homes accept coronavirus patients discharged from hospitals, even though the elderly are one of the deadliest diseases.
Among those who asked for a federal investigation on Friday was former Gov. George Pataki, who called the cover-up “reprehensible.”
Upstate Congresswoman Elise Stefanik, a classmate of DeRosa’s, said: “Governor Cuomo, the governor’s secretary, and his senior team must be prosecuted immediately – both by the Attorney General of the State of New York and the U.S. Department of Justice. “
Strauss, 73, became the chief prosecutor in Manhattan after President Trump said he fired Geoffrey Berman in June 2020 and agreed Berman to retire as long as Strauss, who was his deputy, would become the acting U.S. attorney general.
Berman calls her ‘the smartest, most principled and effective lawyer I’ve ever had the privilege of working with’.
DeRosa, 38, has been married since 2016 to Strauss’ son, Matthew Wing, 37, a former Cuomo spokesman.
While the Southern District prosecutes many sincere crimes, the case can be handled by the Northern District, which covers Albany.
Cuomo spokesman Peter Ajemian has been contacted by The Post and declined to comment on the possible conflict of interest, but rather gives a statement on the Cuomo government’s eventual disclosure of information to federal lawmakers.
“We informed the legislature that we had to interrupt their request for information while prioritizing a request from the federal DOJ,” he said. “We have provided the federal government with the full information they requested, after which we were able to begin responding to the request of the state legislature, to which we have now responded.”
DeRosa did not immediately return messages for comment.
Southern District spokesman James Margolin declined to comment.
Additional reporting by Dana Kennedy