Cuomo referred to Trump DOJ by Home Republican for prison prosecution

[ad_1] Home Oversight and Authorities Reform Committee Chair James Comer, R-Ky., referred former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo to President Donald Trump's Justice Division for prison prosecution.

Cuomo – the Democratic scion now thought-about the current frontrunner within the New York Metropolis Democratic mayoral main in June – was first referred to the Biden Justice Division for prison prosecution in October 2024. Former Rep. Brad Wenstrup, then-chairman of the Home Choose Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic, mentioned Cuomo made "a number of criminally false statements" to Congress about his dealing with of the 2020 COVID-19 nursing dwelling dying scandal.

In a brand new letter to Legal professional Common Pam Bondi on Monday, Comer mentioned "to our data, the Biden Administration ignored this referral regardless of clear info and proof." He requested that Bondi evaluate the referral and "take acceptable motion."

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Gov. Andrew Cuomo throughout a Could 2020 information convention in Washington. (AP Picture/Jacquelyn Martin, File)

"Andrew Cuomo is a person with a historical past of corruption and deceit, now caught red-handed mendacity to Congress throughout the Choose Subcommittee’s investigation into the COVID-19 nursing dwelling tragedy in New York," Comer mentioned in a press release Monday. "This wasn’t a slip-up – it was a calculated cover-up by a person searching for to protect himself from duty for the devastating lack of life in New York’s nursing properties. Let’s be clear: mendacity to Congress is a federal crime. Mr. Cuomo have to be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the regulation. The Home Oversight Committee is ready to totally cooperate with the Justice Division’s investigation into Andrew Cuomo’s actions and guarantee he’s held to account."

Reached for remark by Fox Information Digital, Cuomo's spokesman, Richard Azzopardi, dismissed Comer's letter as "nothing greater than a meritless press launch that was nonsense final 12 months and is much more so now."

"Because the DOJ always reminds folks, this type of clear try at election interference and law-fare violates their very own insurance policies," Azzopardi mentioned. "Referrals like these – which have been additionally made in opposition to Deliberate Parenthood, Hillary Clinton and Anthony Fauci – don’t need to be resubmitted with a brand new administration, so the one level to doing that is politics."

Mayoral candidate Andrew Cuomo arrives to attend a Sunday service at First Corinthian Baptist Church within the Harlem neighborhood of New York Metropolis on April 13, 2025. (Charly Triballeau/AFP by way of Getty Pictures)

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The Cuomo administration issued a directive on March 25, 2020, mandating that nursing properties admit or re-admit probably COVID-19 optimistic sufferers "whereas concurrently prohibiting nursing properties from testing these sufferers earlier than admission or re-admission," Wenstrup wrote to former Legal professional Common Merrick Garland in October. The New York State Division of Well being (NYSDOH) issued a subsequent report on July 6, 2020, titled "Elements Related to Nursing Dwelling Infections and Fatalities in New York State Through the COVID-19 International Well being Disaster." The report alleged nursing dwelling workers – not the March 25 directive – brought about extra COVID-19 deaths in nursing properties.

Comer mentioned witness testimony and new paperwork revealed within the choose subcommittee’s referral confirmed Cuomo "personally drafted and edited parts of this purportedly impartial and peer-reviewed report."

New York state Legal professional Common Letitia James mentioned in a January 2021 investigative report of her personal that the Cuomo administration could have undercounted the overall variety of nursing dwelling deaths by as a lot as 50%

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The choose subcommittee launched its investigation in Could 2023. It issued a subpoena for Cuomo's testimony in March 2024 after months of delays.

Cuomo sat for a transcribed interview on June 11, 2024. He later testified in entrance of the choose subcommittee on Sept. 10, 2024.

Wenstrup famous that Cuomo claimed he was neither concerned within the drafting nor the evaluate of the July 6 report. Cuomo additionally testified that he didn't have any discussions in regards to the July 6 Report being peer-reviewed and that he didn't know whether or not the July 6 report was reviewed by individuals outdoors the NYSDOH. On all three accounts, Wenstrup mentioned paperwork obtained by the choose subcommittee exhibit Cuomo's statements to be false.

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It is unclear if the Justice Division, now underneath Trump's management, will pursue motion in opposition to Cuomo. Fox Information Digital reached out to the DOJ on Tuesday for remark.

The DOJ motioned to dismiss an indictment introduced underneath Biden in opposition to present New York Metropolis Mayor Eric Adams. A decide agreed to throw out the case with prejudice earlier this month. Adams is operating as an impartial within the mayoral main.

Danielle Wallace is a breaking information and politics reporter at Fox Information Digital. Story ideas could be despatched to danielle.wallace@fox.com and on X: @danimwallace .