Former Gov. George Pataki has been slammed by Governor Andrew Cuomo, calling the COVID-19 nursing home death a “covert” scandal ‘one of the worst things I’ve seen in the state government.’
During an interview on AM 570 WMCA radio, Pataki called Cuomo’s old age home policies and actions ‘inhuman’, ‘reprehensible’, ‘outrageous’, ‘despicable’ and ‘beyond the pale’.
He called for a criminal investigation by the Department of Justice, State Attorney General Letitia James and independent investigation conducted by the legislature.
“This is one of the worst things I’ve seen in the New York government, and I’ve been following it for a long time,” Pataki said of the cover-up of the nursing home.
“This is one of the worst things I’ve seen in the New York government, and I’ve been following it for a long time.”
He also said that the legislature should limit Cuomo’s emergency forces, which would speed up the COVID-19 vaccination and end Albany’s “micro-management”.
CUOMO AVOID REPORTERS DURING WHITE HOME VISIT AS NEW YORK NURSING GROWTH SCANDAL GROWS
“You will not worry people about the fine of a million dollars or the loss of your license if you give someone in category 2CW a vaccine as opposed to category 2AB. It is vinegar micro-management,” he said.
There is growing support among fellow Democrats who control the state assembly and the senate to deprive Cuomo of the powers they granted him last year to respond quickly to the deadly COVID-19 outbreak. These powers expire on April 30th.
Pataki said Cuomo and his health department only began dying with the deaths of nursing homes after Attorney General Letitia James released a stinging report finding that they were misleading the public by 50 percent coronavirus deaths among residents of sign the facility – all by excluding people who have died after being transported to hospitals.
A state judge also recently ordered Cuomo to release more complete data on deaths across nursing homes after ruling that the government had illegally withheld the information from the Empire Center for Public Policy for months. The watchdog group submitted a legitimate request for the figures.
PELOSI IS ‘RARE REBUKE’ AFTER CUOMO FEDS REQUESTS TO TRY SHORT CHANGE IN NY IN CORONAVIRUS ACT: REPORT
“We know they hid the number of deaths. It’s just despicable,” Pataki said.
Last May, Pataki criticized the State Health Department’s mandate to order nursing homes to admit or re-admit coronavirus patients discharged during the pandemic.
Critics have noted that the policy contributed to the spread of the killer bug in the facilities for frail elderly people.
“Just a few weeks ago we were told there were a little over 8,000 deaths. Now we are told the number is over 13,000,” Pataki said Friday.
Pataki also describes Cuomo’s selfish decision to publish a book about his COVID-19 leadership lessons, just a few months into the pandemic.
TUCKER CARLSON: FROM ANDREW CUOMO TO THE LINCOLN PROJECT, MEDIA PROTECTS THE LATEST POLITICS
‘To write a book about how great your leadership was when you were actually aware that you were concealing thousands of deaths … Then you continue this charade about what a tremendous response there was. That’s incomprehensible, ‘said the former Republican governor.
“To write a book about how great your leadership was when you actually knew you were concealing thousands of deaths … That’s incomprehensible.”
The New York government, Andrew Cuomo, on the left, has drawn sharp criticism from a Republican predecessor, the former government of George Pataki.
Pataki, who led the state in the wake of the 2001 terrorist attacks in 2001, said: ‘I was not out there two months after the 9/11 attacks, waving the flag and saying what I did well. .
“It was not about me. It was about everyone – the firefighters, the construction workers, the first responders, the people of New York.”
Pataki also slammed Melissa DeRosa’s comments from Cuomo’s chief assistant of a private meeting with state lawmakers Wednesday about the refusal to release a total number of deaths in the nursing home due to an ongoing federal investigation.
The damning numbers would be ‘used against us’ by Trump’s Department of Justice, she said. The Post only reported DeRosa’s explanation after receiving an audio tape of the Zoom chat.
FEEDBACK: NEW GOV. CUOMO DISSOLUTES ITS OWN ETHICAL WATCHDOG COMMISSION
Pataki calls her comments’ a cover-up to avoid a possible criminal investigation. It definitely smells like obstruction of justice. ‘
He also apologized to DeRosa against Democrats, who complained about the stone walls over the death of the nursing home.
“The fact that the government has apologized to democratic politicians for their inconvenience, but never apologized to the people or families of those who died – it is inhumane,” said Pataki, who ruled from 1995 to 2006.
In a statement Friday morning, DeRosa claims that in her remarks: “I explained that when we received the DOJ investigation, we had to temporarily set aside the Legislature’s request.”
In response to Pataki, Governor’s Office The Post referred to a statement issued by DeRosa earlier Friday.
CLICK HERE FOR FULL CORONAVIRUS COVERAGE
‘I explained that when we received the DOJ inquiry, we had to temporarily set aside the request of the Legislature [for nursing home death data] to handle the federal request first. We informed the houses about this at the time, ‘said DeRosa.
“We were comprehensive and transparent in our responses to the DOJ, and then immediately had to focus our resources on the second wave and vaccination of vaccines. As I said during a call with legislators, we could not request them so quickly. comply with what someone would have liked not liked.
“But we are committed to being better partners in the future because we share the same goal of keeping New Yorkers as healthy as possible during the pandemic.”