Legal experts warn that Andrew Cuomo, governor of the New York government, could escalate alleged death tolls in nursing homes amid the COVID-19 pandemic into a criminal offense.
Cuomo found himself in the middle of a federal investigation into whether his government wanted to hide the true toll of the pandemic.
The New York Post reported earlier this month that Melissa DeRosa, Cuomo’s leading assistant, told lawmakers it withheld the numbers for fear they would be ‘used against us’.
MANAGEMENT: Governor Andrew Cuomo speaks at a news conference against medical supplies at the Jacob Javits Center, which will house a temporary hospital in response to the COVID-19 outbreak in New York.
(AP)
In a Wall Street Journal article, John B. Daukas, who served as acting U.S. Attorney General for the Department of Civil Rights at the Department of Justice, wrote that DeRosa’s acknowledgment reported that Cuomo’s government “was not merely negligent. but intentionally and perhaps criminally. ‘
Daukas said numerous federal statutes may apply, pointing out that Cuomo’s government accuses them of both making false statements to the federal government and trying to thwart an investigation.
‘Although it can not be proven that the Cuomo government knowingly provided false information to Justice and the (Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services), New York’s willful failure to provide information may itself constitute a criminal offense – especially if the intention was to conduct a federal investigation – which is allegedly exactly what Ms. DeRosa said the administration did, ‘Daukas wrote.
Fox News legal analyst Gregg Jarrett said on Saturday that DeRosa’s admission to lawmakers was a possible obstruction of justice. According to the federal statute, Jarrett noted that if a government official falsifies or conceals evidence to prevent an investigation from being initiated (or acts out of fear that such an investigation may take place), the official is still punishable under the law of obstruction . ‘
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The nursing home scandal has severely damaged the governor’s favor. Early in the pandemic, the governor went on television for daily briefings that were fatherly, almost philosophical and also sharply critical of the Trump administration. They have become an essential TV nationwide, helped in part by his brother from the CNN news host.
Despite his state’s death toll – according to Johns Hopkins University, more than 46,000 people in New York State died from COVID-19, Cuomo’s popularity skyrocketed. In October, Cuomo took an early victory and released a book entitled “American Crisis: Leadership Lessons from the COVID-19 Pandemic.”
But the issue of the nursing home has exploded with two recent revelations on the political scene. First, the Democratic Attorney General of the state chastised the government of Cuomo for reducing the death toll at nursing homes by excluding certain deaths from the count. Cuomo’s government then revealed that at least 15,000 people living in long-term care facilities had died from COVID-19, almost double the number Cuomo initially announced.
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“The story of the nursing homes has exposed a great deal of questions about his leadership style and the success of his leadership during COVID,” said Christina Greer, a political science professor at Fordham University. “The governor has written a book outlining his achievements, and we do not know if we are halfway out of the pandemic.”
Associated Press contributed to this report.