New York Mayor Bill de Blasio has called for an inquiry into the head of Governor Andrew Cuomo’s vaccination program, who allegedly called governors to see if they supported Cuomo during his multiple scandals.
According to The Washington Post, ‘vaccine tsar’ Larry Schwartz made the calls that made at least one provincial official fear that their response could jeopardize the country’s ability to vaccinate and affect the vaccine supply.
CUOMO VACCINE CZAR QUESTIONS OF COUNTRY OFFICERS FOR ENTRY TO THE SLAUGHTERED GOVERNMENT OF NY: REPORT
“What we have heard from the governor and his team trying to link the supply of vaccine to political support is the definition of corruption,” de Blasio told a news conference on Monday. “It’s disgusting, it’s dangerous. There are lives at stake, and it can not be tolerated.”
The mayor then asked to investigate what happened to Schwartz’s calls, in addition to the multiple investigations Cuomo faces.
“There must now be a full investigation into it, in addition to the investigation into nursing home scandal, the investigation into sexual harassment and molestation,” de Blasio said. “It needs to be investigated what happened to the Tappan Sea Bridge, but now it needs to be investigated why a senior official in the governors’ office clearly tried to link vaccine supply to political support.”
Fox News contacted Cuomo’s office for a response to the mayor’s comments, but we did not return immediately.
COMMANDMENTS, HARRIS REFUSES TO CALL CUOMO AS SUPPORT GOVERNMENT IN NEW YORK, NATIONAL
The governor is embroiled in one controversy after another. First, there were allegations that his March 2020 directive, which requires nursing homes to take in residents who tested positive for coronavirus, led to thousands of deaths. State lawmakers then began turning on the governor when an assistant from Cuomo conceded that the government was deliberately withholding data on the number of deaths in the nursing home. This was followed by several allegations of sexual misconduct, ranging from inappropriate remarks to employees to a report that he had touched a current female employee.
In addition, Cuomo is under pressure after an investigation by the Albany Times Union that the construction of a new bridge named after Cuomo’s father, former governor Mario Cuomo, has problems with ‘structural security’ and that the private construction company is working on the project may have covered problems with broken bolts.
De Blasio had long been at odds with Cuomo and was an outspoken opponent of him during the recent scandals. The report on Schwartz’s calls to provincial officials prompted a NY1 reporter to ask if he feared his city could face retaliation during the vaccination.
CUOMO STAFF SET UP TO WORK AS SCANDAL MOUNTAIN, SOURCE TELLS NYP
“I’ll tell you something, he better not call me, because I’ll tell him what he can do about it,” de Blasio said. “No, that’s unacceptable and we are not going to stand for it. And if we consider any attempt to reduce vaccine supply to New York as political retaliation, we will succeed in public.”
Schwartz, meanwhile, admitted calling officials but insisted he had done nothing wrong.
“I have held talks with a number of governors from across the state to determine whether they maintain their public position that there is an ongoing investigation by the Attorney General and that we should wait for the findings of the investigation before we make any conclusions., “Schwartz told The Washington Post.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
“No one indicated that they were uncomfortable or that they did not want to talk to me,” he said.
One official who spoke to the Post Office allegedly filed a notice of an impending ethical complaint with the Public Prosecutor’s Unit for Public Integrity. Other officials did not share the same concern, but some acknowledged that Schwartz ‘was not the best person’ to make the call, and that it was easy to see how anyone would fear that the call could lead to problems with the vaccine supply. lead.
Fox News’ Peter Aitken contributed to this report.