Defiant Cuomo accuses media, lawmakers of spreading 'misinformation'
FOX News correspondent Bryan Llenas has the latest on New York nursing home scandal on 'Special Report'
New York politicians are hovering ravenously over Gov. Andrew Cuomo, like vultures circling a mortally wounded stallion. Mocked as Governor Granny-killer, Cuomo’s fellow Democrats now attack him for covering up the needless coronavirus deaths of fragile seniors.
The grand dame of the far Left is just the latest to prey on Cuomo, as his political position looks increasingly precarious.
"I support our state’s return to co-equal governance and stand with our local officials calling for a full investigation of the Cuomo administration’s handling of nursing homes during COVID-19," Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., stated Friday. "Thousands of vulnerable New Yorkers lost their lives in nursing homes throughout the pandemic."
Referring to Cuomo’s top aide, Melissa DeRosa (about whom more shortly), AOC added: "Their loved ones and the public deserve answers and transparency from their elected leadership, and the Secretary to the Governor’s remarks warrant a full investigation."
AOC CALLS FOR 'FULL INVESTIGATION' OF CUOMO'S HANDLING OF NURSING HOMES AMID CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC
Cuomo created the toxic disaster that could send him to Sing Sing:
•Last March 25, Cuomo’s Department of Health ordered nursing homes (NH) as follows: "No resident shall be denied re-admission or admission to the NH solely based on a confirmed or suspected diagnosis of COVID-19."
•Despite relentless pleas for coronavirus tests, Cuomo further mandated that day: "NHs are prohibited from requiring a hospitalized resident who is determined medically stable to be tested for COVID-19 prior to admission or readmission."
•Cuomo waited until April 30 — Day 48 of this national emergency — to ban COVID-19-positive personnel from nursing homes.
No lack of hospital capacity explains Cuomo’s edict, even after nursing-home administrators visualized body bags.
The corona-positive elderly could have been quarantined in Samaritan Purses’ 68-bed field hospital in Central Park as early as March 28. The 1,000-bed USNS Comfort medical ship and the Javits Convention Center’s 2,910-bed pop-up hospital, both supplied by President Donald J. Trump, opened March 30.
Long before Cuomo unplugged his deadly decree on May 10, these underused facilities could have treated seniors until they either yielded to or overcame COVID-19. After a fortnight, those no longer contagious could have entered nursing homes without endangering others.
CUOMO DEFIANT AS NURSING HOME SCANDAL EXPANDS, VOWS TO ‘AGGRESSIVELY’ TAKE ON ‘LIES’
But that made too much sense. So, as these seniors teemed with lethal microbes, Cuomo forced them straight into eldercare facilities. No surprise, COVID-negative residents contracted the virus and perished.
According to Cuomo, these deaths totaled 8,711.
But this number was a lie.
The Associated Press surmised in May that Cuomo’s underreporting whitewashed the devastation of his nursing-home diktat. Cuomo’s fellow Democrats recently confirmed this fact and now target the catastrophically inept governor.
Democrat Attorney General Letitia James swooped down on January 28 and took the first bite out of Cuomo’s hide. Her 76-page report concluded that Cuomo’s nursing-home data "may have been undercounted by as much as 50 percent."
CUOMO SILENT AS DAMNING WATCHDOG REPORT SAYS POLICY MAY HAVE LED TO OVER 1,000 NURSING HOME DEATHS
Cuomo’s death toll excluded seniors who left nursing homes and expired at medical centers. These bogus "hospital fatalities" did not bloody Cuomo’s hands.
Soon after James’ devastating findings, Cuomo’s Health Department finally uncooked the books: COVID-related nursing-home deaths through January 19 totaled 12,743. That’s 46.3 percent higher than the 8,711 that Cuomo previously claimed.
Team Cuomo also confessed that the 6,327 COVID-19-positive seniors whom they steered from hospitals into eldercare centers excluded 2,729 "readmissions" of infected patients returned to the facilities from whence they came. This tally of 9,056 such individuals is 43.1 percent higher than Cuomo’s phony figure.
"Who cares?" the ice-hearted Cuomo said January 29. "Died in a hospital. Died in a nursing home. They died."
CLICK HERE TO GET THE OPINION NEWSLETTER
As the New York Post reported, Secretary to the Governor Melissa DeRosa told Democrat state lawmakers on a February 10 conference call that Team Cuomo concealed nursing-home deaths because they might reach the Justice Department and "be used against us…"
DeRosa’s smoking-gun sent the buzzards hovering over Gotham and Albany.
State Senator Jessica Ramos, D-Queens, wrote via Twitter on February 12 that Cuomo’s "emergency powers must be rescinded, he & his admin must be subpoenaed, and a full investigation must result in justice for our grieving families."
Nine Democrat State Assembly members demanded Tuesday that Cuomo lose his emergency powers to rule by fiat during the COVID crisis. "It is now unambiguously clear that this governor has engaged in an intentional obstruction of justice, as outlined in Title 18, Chapter 73 of the United States Code," the lawmakers wrote their colleagues. "This is a necessary first step in beginning to right the criminal wrongs of this Governor and his administration."
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
Andrew Cuomo immediately should apologize to the families and loved ones of the thousands of seniors whom his utterly boneheaded decisions needlessly exposed to COVID-19.
Next, he should resign and be handcuffed.
Best of Opinion
Get the recap of top opinion commentary and original content throughout the week.
By entering your email and clicking the Subscribe button, you agree to the Fox News Privacy Policy and Terms of Use, and agree to receive content and promotional communications from Fox News. You understand that you can opt-out at any time.