New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo is the "worst governor in America" with his handling of the COVID-19 crisis and should face prosecution for his actions, particularly after a key aide admitted to withholding the true numbers of nursing home deaths in the state to mislead federal prosecutors, according to Rep. Elise Stefanik.
"Last week was an absolute bombshell," the New York Republican said on Fox News' "The Faulkner Focus." "You have both Democrats and Republicans calling for an independent investigation ... the state Senate and state Assembly should issue subpoenas immediately and I want the Department of Justice to launch an independent investigation."
Secretary to the Governor Melissa DeRosa told lawmakers in a private admission about the numbers being misreported, and Stefanik said that a partial transcript that was released by DeRosa to the governor shows there was "obstruction of justice."
"This is not about politics, but people's lives," she said. "President [Joe] Biden needs to keep to his promise the Department of Justice will be independent from political pressure."
Stefanik also said Cuomo has not answered why COVID-19 positive people were sent to the state's nursing homes, resulting in healthy residents dying from the disease, rather than using beds at two military hospital ships that were docked in Manhattan or the Javits Center, which was fitted with equipment to treat patients.
"The other thing was that [the Cuomo administration] was not following CMS [Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services] guidance," she said. "It was very clear from the Trump administration and CMS that the nursing homes should only accept positive COVID patients if they have adequate PPE [personal protective equipment] and if they were able to isolate those individuals. New York state ignored that and this is why we need an investigation."
She also said the "dam is breaking" when it comes to the bipartisan outcry over Cuomo.
"Everyone knows Gov. Cuomo is a bully," she said. "They bully people within their own party. This is more important. We are talking about lives that were lost here so these Democratic state senators and the Democratic congressional delegation need to grow a spine and grow some political courage and stand up for what's right."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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