The U.S. Attorney in Brooklyn and the FBI have begun a preliminary investigation into the way New York government’s Andrew Cuomo handles information about deaths in the nursing home in Covid-19.
After early praise for his leadership when his state became the American epicenter of the pandemic, the governor now faces accusations of reports of deaths in the nursing home.
Last week, the administration revealed that 15,000 long-term residents had died, compared to the 8,500 previously announced.
Spokesmen for the U.S. Attorney in Brooklyn and the FBI declined to comment Wednesday night.
The Albany Times Union first reported on the investigation.
‘As we have said in public, DOJ has been watching it for months. “We have worked with them and we will continue to do so,” senior adviser to Governor Rich Azzopardi said Wednesday night.
Last month, Attorney General Letitia James released a damning report saying the state health department underreported the Covid-19 death toll at nursing homes by as much as 50 percent.
Last week, Melissa DeRosa, Cuomo’s leading aide, said the state had withheld the release of the total death toll in August for fear that President Donald Trump would use the information against Cuomo.
The governor acknowledged on Monday that “things had to be done differently” and insisted that “lessons have been learned”.
“Should we later give more priority to enabling information requests? In my opinion, yes. And that’s what created the gap,” Cuomo said. “I just want to make sure people know these are the facts: everything that could have been done was done.”
It is now reported that Democratic and Republican lawmakers in New York are reconsidering their decision to grant Cuomo emergency powers to challenge the Covid-19 crisis.
New York was hit hard in the early days of the pandemic, and until recently, the state led the country in Covid-19 deaths. According to the most recent data from NBC News, it was 47,301 as of Wednesday, the second place after 47,670 deaths in California.
Most deaths in New York occurred in the early days of the pandemic when public health officials tried to find out how the coronavirus spread.
The U.S. Eastern District is likely to file this investigation in part because U.S. Attorney Audrey Strauss for the Southern District is the mother-in-law of Cuomo’s associate DeRosa and will have to repay herself and the office.
A spokesman for the U.S. District Attorney’s Office declined to comment Wednesday night.
