Janice Dean: DOJ won't investigate COVID nursing home orders – here's what I think will happen next

PROGRAMMING ALERT: Watch Janice Dean discuss this topic and more on "Hannity" on Monday, July 26, at 9 p.m. ET. 

When Rep. Steve Scalise, R-La., messaged me on Friday afternoon that he had received word via a letter that the Biden administration’s investigation into the nursing home tragedy in New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Michigan was being dropped I was incredibly sad, but not surprised.   

Scalise has been helping me and other families behind the scenes in Washington to try and get answers about why Democratic governors ordered COVID-infected patients into nursing homes in spring 2020. 

Scalise sent me the letter and gave me permission to post about it on social media:

A terrible day for thousands of families. In a letter to @SteveScalise @TheJusticeDept wrote that they were dropping the nursing home investigations in all states including New York. There will be no justice for our loved ones, and it feels like we’ve lost them all over again.

It was in August 2020 that the U.S. Justice Department Civil Rights Division requested information from New York in connection with the controversial March 25 order from the state’s Department of Health that required nursing homes to admit COVID-19 positive patients who were discharged from hospitals.

DOJ WON'T INVESTIGATE 2020 NURSING HOME ORDERS IN NEW YORK, OTHER STATES

It also asked for records from Pennsylvania, Michigan and New Jersey – states that had the same mandates that "may have resulted in the deaths of thousands of elderly nursing home residents."

The reason? Here’s what Deputy Assistant Attorney General Joe Gaeta wrote last week: "We have reviewed the information provided by these states along with additional information to the Department, and based on that review, have decided not to open a CRIPTA investigation of any public nursing facility within New York, Pennsylvania, or Michigan at this time."

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For months we were waiting for answers. As we waited, several sources were telling me the investigation was being swept under the rug.

In January of this year, a senior Justice Department official confirmed to me that New York state had failed to provide ANY data as of their October request.

Not only did Gov. Andrew Cuomo and his administration fail to provide any information to the Justice Department, lawmakers or countless reporters and grieving families who have asked it be disclosed, he blamed others for his disastrous mandate and instead says all of it is politically motivated.

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But I will forever be grateful to former Attorney General William Barr and the Trump administration for launching the investigation because this was the springboard to the potentially more politically damaging investigation here in New York by the FBI and the Brooklyn U.S. Attorney’s Office.

I have to believe our governor will be held accountable in the end.

People have asked me if, after last week’s terrible news from the DOJ, the other investigations will hold up. My answer is I have to believe our governor will be held accountable in the end. 

There is another report coming out in the next few weeks from New York Attorney General Letitia "Tish" James that I hear will not be favorable. And if Cuomo continues to hang around until the election next November, there’s always the hope that he will be voted out.

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As for the other states that had similar tragedies in nursing homes, where is the accountability for their leaders’ deadly decisions?

Now more than ever, it’s up to us, the people in these states, to use our voices and demand answers from our elected officials. We must hold them accountable on behalf of our families. Especially those who have been silenced forever.

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