28 February 2021: Governor Cuomo Responds to New Sexual Harassment Allegation

Statement From Andrew Cuomo Regarding Sexual Harassment Allegations

This tweeted item contains Governor Cuomo's statement, which came as breaking news late on Sunday evening, as Governor Cuomo goes fully into damage control mode.

NEW: In statement, @NYGovCuomo says:

"I now understand that my interactions may have been insensitive or too personal and that some of my comments, given my position, made others feel in ways I never intended."

Read here: pic.twitter.com/ZIIkPfonqg

— Luis Ferré-Sadurní (@luisferre) February 28, 2021

28 February 2021: What NY Dem Lawmakers Really Care About

Multiple Democrats call for Cuomo to resign over sexual harassment allegations. Here are several excerpts from the article:

This article confirms the Democrat party's effort to oust Governor Cuomo by pushing the sexual harassment allegations levied against him by former aides:

Several Democratic lawmakers in New York are calling on Governor Andrew Cuomo to resign after a second former aide claimed that he had sexually harassed her....

"Our governor is a manipulative, controlling, abusive, power obsessed, predator," State Assemblymember Yuh-Line Niou tweeted Saturday night. "Please resign."...

"We cannot allow this behavior to continue and go unchecked," tweeted Assemblymember Harvey Epstein. "If we do not act now, we become complicit in his actions. With this in mind, I am joining the call for Governor Andrew Cuomo to resign."

To their credit, both Yuh-Line Niou and Harvey Epstein haven't let Governor Cuomo's multiple nursing home scandals pass unnoticed, though they are taking the path of expediency in pushing for Governor Cuomo's resignation on the basis of sexual harassment allegations.

28 February 2021: Governor Cuomo's Faces New Sexual Harassment Allegations

Cuomo Is Accused of Sexual Harassment by a 2nd Former Aide

The New York Times has been largely absent from delivering any breaking news related to Governor Cuomo's policies that resulted in hundreds, if not thousands, of additional COVID-19 deaths in New York' nursing homes or the Cuomo administration's coverup in reporting the full extent of those deaths, but when it comes to new sexual harassment claims, they're on it. Since the NYT is overly fond of paywalls, we recommend USA Today's coverage of their article. Like the Governor's multiple nursing home scandals, officials are calling for an independent investigation of the sexual harassment claims of former Cuomo aide Charlotte Bennett.

28 February 2021: Governor Cuomo Okays Independent Investigation of Sexual Harassment Claims

Cuomo, facing pressure from Democrats, agrees to independent probe of sexual harassment allegations

This article reports Governor Cuomo has been forced to abandon his plan to appoint a crony to investigate the new sexual harassment allegations involving him that are now coming to light. Although not mentioned, Governor Cuomo's refusal to any and all independent investigations of his administration's COVID-19 nursing home scandals is one reason why they have snowballed into the Governor's current political crisis.

28 February 2021: President Biden Still Mostly Okay with Cuomo COVID Nursing Home Deaths, But Maybe Not With Sexual Harassment Allegations

Independent investigation of Cuomo sexual harassment allegations in works as pressure mounts from White House

This article reveals the calls for an independent investigation of Governor Cuomo's sexual harassment scandals are now also coming from the White House.

Since President Biden and his administration have been largely quiet on the topic of Governor Cuomo's nursing home scandals, this report suggests the Democrat party establishment will make a concerted element to use the sexual harassment allegations to force Governor Cuomo from office. That effort would come at the expense of fully investigating Governor Cuomo's nursing home scandals, in which many administration and party supporters have been effectively complicit. For them, such a strategy would be a path to minimize the political damage to themselves by using the sexual harassment charges to offer up Governor Cuomo as a sacrificial goat.

27 February 2021: Is NY DOH Investigating Claims of Hidden COVID Deaths at Long Island Nursing Home?

NY officials quiet on probe into nursing home's suspiciously low COVID death count

This article reveals that New York's Department of Health is refusing to confirm whether they are probing allegations of additional underreported COVID-19 deaths at a nursing home on Long Island that first made headlines on 21 February 2021.

27 February 2021: Frustrated New Yorker Buys "Impeach Cuomo" Billboard Ad

'Impeach' billboard vents fury over Gov. Cuomo nursing home scandal

We'll let this story speak for itself:

An Albany gun-store owner is venting his fury over Gov. Andrew Cuomo's nursing home scandal with a giant highway sign calling for his impeachment.

"The purpose is to demand that he be held accountable for the mass deaths at the nursing homes," Brian Olesen told The Post. "Our original message was 'He lied, they died,' but the billboard company rejected it."

The stark message — the word "Impeach!" in blood-red capital letters, next to a photo of the embattled governor — has been flashing on an electronic billboard along Interstate 787 just north of the state capital since Tuesday, Olesen said.

"I can't believe nobody defended these people that passed away and their families," he said. "Where were our elected officials? How did they let this go on?"

The article notes that Governor Cuomo's administration has a history of targeting businesses owners who criticize them, using their power over licensing and regulation enforcement to punish dissent. The "Impeach Cuomo" billboard story is also being reported in the U.K..

27 February 2021: Former Cuomo Officials Turning on Governor Cuomo

Miscalculations, Cuomo's style led to nursing home controversy, insiders say

Articles delving into the impact that Governor Cuomo's scandals are having on his political career are starting to read like political obituaries. It's interesting that the material for these stories is often coming from former Cuomo administration officials. Here's an example:

The controversy over Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo's handling of COVID-19 in nursing homes has been public and often ugly, with legislators -- including fellow Democrats -- accusing the governor of delaying information on the number of nursing home deaths and bullying them when they questioned his approach.

But six former aides who have worked for Cuomo say the governor's plight is the result of missteps, the bullish, must-win drive that served him well but made many enemies, and the historic difficulties elected officials face in their third terms.

"It was arrogance," said one former close aide. "And, 'What we say goes' that kind of led to a lot of self-inflicted injuries and this issue in particular."

This article is interesting because it is the first that provides a rationale for why the "third term" angle being mentioned as a contributing factor to the scandals may be something more than a hand-waving distraction.

In 2011, Cuomo, like most newly elected officials, started with his A-team. They were confidants who had his trust over decades. They could tell him, "No," said former top aides who worked with Cuomo early in his career.

By the third term, those early advisers have moved on and Cuomo now has what the former aides describe as a talented, loyal and hard-working but less seasoned staff.

"It helps to have someone you can bounce things off," one former aide said. "There was none of this stuff … he's been at the highest level (of politics) for 40 years, so he trusts his own instincts a lot. Sometimes that's a good thing, sometimes not."

Another former staffer: "There is no one to keep him out of the tailspin."

Governor Cuomo's multiple nursing home scandals would seem to reinforce the assessment of his former staffers that he has become an autocrat surrounded by incompetent toadies.

26 February 2021: Payback Time For Cuomo's Legacy of Political Power Abuse

Amid the Scandals, Cuomo's Enemies Are Ready to Unleash a Decade of Resentment

The article addresses how the scandal has weakened Governor Cuomo politically. Here's an excerpt:

"He is the most damaged he has ever been," said one senior capitol aide. The Legislature is threatening to claw back the emergency powers Cuomo was granted to deal with the pandemic, something that the governor has likened to extortion. Progressives and Republicans have teamed up to call for his impeachment.

One Democratic senator told me that their conference is divided between those who hate the governor and those who are willing to tolerate him. None, though, supports him. They have a supermajority in both chambers now, one Cuomo did little to help them achieve. It is time, many feel, to bring the Big Dog back on the porch to, at least, restore normal checks and balances, if not reengineer the way Albany works so that the governor responds to their initiatives, not the other way around.

At minimum, lawmakers are ready to unload a decade's worth of resentments. "We are heading into budget negotiations," said one progressive trying to get a tax on the rich passed in Albany. "A weakened Andrew Cuomo is very good for us."

There is currently an idea floating around the capitol that if lawmakers can just make Cuomo's life unpleasant for the next year, with investigations and hearings and by blocking his initiatives, he will just go away, declining to run for a fourth term. People who know him say that is ridiculous. "This guy is 63 years old, and he is driven to eclipse his dad. He realizes there is nothing else he can really do other than be governor of New York," said one adviser.

If nothing else, this article reveals how different the incentives are for politicians in choosing their courses of action. Sane people need not apply.

26 February 2021: First Draft of Governor Cuomo's Political Obituary

The meteoric rise and rapid collapse of Andrew Cuomo: A tragedy of his own making

Columnist Mike Kelly's opinion piece is the first obituary we've seen for Governor Cuomo's political career. Here's an excerpt:

Let's start with Cuomo's biggest mistake — his inexplicable decision not to properly report on nursing home patients in New York who died from COVID-19.

The mistake is multi-faceted. And so is Cuomo's own failure to face it.

First, Cuomo's administration embraced a completely ridiculous policy of allowing elderly nursing home patients who had been hospitalized with COVID-19 to return to their nursing homes and the vulnerable population there. Infections spread. Nursing home deaths skyrocketed.

Cuomo's critics raised concerns at the time. So did doctors, nurses — even relatives who watched their elderly parents die.

But the swaggering Cuomo routinely dismissed these questions, claiming they were meaningless tirades from Trump supporters or two-bit stories in right-wing media. The truth is that the criticism was entirely valid.

We think Kelly's premature obituary errs in identifying the coverup of COVID-19 nursing home deaths as Governor Cuomo's biggest mistake. Governor Cuomo's biggest mistake was the panicked decision to force New York's nursing homes to blindly admit COVID-19 patients. Everything he and members of his administration have done in the months since has been aimed at avoiding responsibility for the consequences of that disastrous policy choice.

26 February 2021: Other Cuomo Scandal and NY Nursing Home News

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo denies former aide's sexual harassment allegations

We're presenting this item since we recently referenced the allegation as it appears in the context of Governor Cuomo's COVID-19 nursing home scandals. This report covers Governor Cuomo's denial of Lindsay Boylan's sexual harassment allegations, delivered through a statement by the Governor's press secretary Caitlin Girouard. Here's the statement.

COVID-19 infections keep falling in New York state, Cuomo says – in email, not briefing

This article indicates Governor Cuomo is adopting a much, much lower profile than he has throughout the coronavirus pandemic, which minimizes his personal risk of being asked questions he doesn't want to answer. In effect, he's gone from being New York's trusted public face for managing the coronavirus pandemic to hiding his face from the public.

New York Nursing Homes Reopen To Visitors, As Questions Continue About Cuomo Administration

At long last, some family members are being allowed to visit their sick, elderly relatives at New York's nursing homes, as the state is lifting a number of restrictions it had imposed. That action still falls short of what many families have been demanding. The state-imposed forced separation is one of the more underaddressed tragedies of the coronavirus recession in New York.

26 February 2021: Editorial - Time for Howard Zucker to Own Up to Role in COVID Nursing Home Deaths

Editorial: Zucker's defiance an insult to families

This editorial slams Howard Zucker, Governor Cuomo's appointed Director of the New York Department of Health, for failing to fully come clean in responding to questions from New York lawmakers. His evasive performance did not go unnoticed by the editors of a small media outlet in New York's Hudson Valley.

25 February 2021: Team Cuomo's Problems in Counting COVID Nursing Home Deaths

Gov. Cuomo says N.Y. couldn't report nursing home deaths in hospitals. But other states did.

This report describes how different New York's policy for fully counting nursing home resident deaths from COVID-19 was from every other state in the U.S.:

When New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo was first accused of undercounting nursing home deaths from Covid-19, his administration offered a simple explanation:

The state did not include nursing home residents who died in the hospital in the publicly posted tally of coronavirus deaths linked to long-term care facilities, officials said, because it wanted to avoid a "double count" of those deaths in the statewide total.

But New York stands apart from other states in taking this approach to counting nursing home deaths, research experts said — a decision that made New York's tally of nursing home deaths appear lower than it was, and that is now under federal investigation.

"It's tricky to compare state-level data, but New York is the only state that explicitly stated that they were excluding hospital-based deaths," said Priya Chidambaram, a senior policy analyst at the Kaiser Family Foundation, a nonprofit research organization.

By contrast, officials in other states, including Minnesota, Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont, said in recent interviews that they found ways to total all nursing home deaths, including residents who died at hospitals, without counting them twice, by cross-referencing the reports from nursing homes with other data sources. Research experts, including Chidambaram, said they were not aware of any other state that counted nursing home deaths as New York did.

That has left both policymakers and researchers wondering why New York didn't find a similar workaround to avoid leaving out thousands of nursing home deaths from its reported total.

"New York is an outlier of sorts when it comes to this issue," said David Grabowski, a long-term care expert and policy professor at Harvard Medical School.

The simplest explanation is that the Cuomo administration didn't want the public or federal authorities to know the full extent of COVID-19 deaths among New York's nursing home residents. The reason for that can be traced to 25 March 2020 directive that forced nursing homes to blindly admit patients without testing to verify if they were potentially contagious, including patients who had been treated for coronavirus infections, because it would expose them to the risk of facing criminal charges for negligent homicide or manslaugher under state and federal statutes.

This article is worth reading in full because it also reveals New York's Department of Health was explicitly collecting data from nursing homes for the number of residents who died of COVID outside their facilities. They had the information, Governor Cuomo and members of his administration knowingly covered it up.

25 February 2021: Former PA Health Commissioner Grilled on Missing COVID Nursing Home Data

Levine questioned on missing Pa. nursing home data in federal confirmation hearing

Pennsylvania may also have systematically underreported COVID-19 nursing home deaths, although not to the same degree as New York, which other reports describe as an "outlier" among all states. This article describes how the issue came up at Biden Health Secretary nominee Rachel Levine's confirmation hearing in the U.S. Senate, which indicates Governor Cuomo's COVID-19 nursing home scandals are creating a ripple effect.

Separately, politicians in Michigan are calling for an investigation in that state. Along with Pennsylvania, New Jersey and New York, these four states implemented similar policies as Governor Cuomo's 25 March 2020 directive forcing nursing homes to admit patients without testing to determine if they carried coronavirus infections. California did as well, but unlike these other states, abandoned its directive within a few days of it going into effect. These were the only states to implement policies similar to those of Governor Cuomo's 25 March 2020 directive in New York, which is why these specific states became a focus of interest by Trump DOJ officials during 2020.

25 February 2021: Miscellaneous Cuomo Scandal Headlines

We're grouping a representative sampling of the day's headlines here because, well, there are so many.

Former Secretary to the Governor speaks on DOJ investigation

This article describes the statements of Steven Cohen, who formerly served as Secretary to the Governor in New York, who defends Governor Cuomo's administration and blames the Trump DOJ for the Governor's current scandals.

Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis: Timeline of the Cuomo Cover-Up

This timeline was put together by Republican committee members in the U.S. House of Representatives, which accounts for its unfortunately slanted title. The timeline itself appears non-partisan, referencing many events and organizations that played a role in initiating the federal probes that Governor Cuomo's administration now faces under the Biden administration.

Psaki: Cuomo sex harass charge 'should be reviewed,' backs off 'gold standard' praise

This article presents a clear indication that Governor Cuomo's COVID-19 nursing home and other scandals are gaining traction. There would be no need for the White House press secretary to distance President Biden from Governor Cuomo otherwise. The open question of how seriously the Biden administration will investigate the Cuomo administration however remains unaddressed.

25 February 2021: NY Lawmakers Want to Know How Many Cuomo's Deadly Directive Killed

Lawmakers probe if Cuomo's policy fueled nursing home deaths

This report describes New York Department of Health Director Howard Zucker's testimony before a committee in the New York state assembly. In the testimony, Zucker denied the Cuomo administration's 25 March 2020 directive forcing nursing home to blindly admit coronavirus patients discharged from hospitals played any role in spreading coronavirus infections among nursing home residents in the state. Pay close attention to how the question was set up for Zucker to answer below:

Sen. Dan Stec, a Republican, asked Zucker if he'd rather have his grandparent in a room of 20 out of 50 people infected with COVID-19, or a room with one out of 50 infected.

Zucker said he'd be equally concerned in either room: "Because the disease is ... already in the facility."

When asked whether the March directive contributed to outbreaks, Zucker said: "No."

Zucker added there could have been "that random person" who spread it, but said: "This memo was not the driver of nursing home fatalities."

We think Zucker contradicted himself with this particular testimony, as his denial does not follow the logic he affirmed in stating the risk that would exist for spreading COVID infections.

Meanwhile, other reports indicate Zucker remained silent on the status federal investigations involving New York's nursing home scandals, including whether subpoenas had been issued.

24 February 2021: Media Cheerleaders Learning Heroes of Their Narratives Are Really Monsters

The Media Have Finally Realized That Cuomo and Newsom Are Terrible. Will Voters?

This analysis reviews how the positive narrative promoted by highly partisan and biased media organizations boosted the political fortunes of Governor Cuomo while enabling the more disastrous portions of his policies to go unchallenged.

Though Cuomo's blameworthy nursing home directive has been an open secret for many months, the national news media largely averted their glance from this story while people like Fox's Janice Dean sounded the alarms alone. (Locally, journalists at the Newark Star-Ledger were ripping the policies of New Jersey and New York as far back as May 2020, but national media outlets took fairly little notice.) Of late, they've taken a gruffer stance, even examining Cuomo's past and present of strongman bullying. A New Republic headline reads, "The Andrew Cuomo Show Has Lost the Plot"; New York Times headlines declare "Uprising Grows Over Andrew Cuomo's Bullying" and "Cuomo Faces Revolt After Handling of Nursing Home Deaths" and even "As Outcry Over Nursing Homes Grows, Cuomo Lashes Out at Critics"; The Wall Street Journal bluntly asks if Cuomo did the same thing to disabled people that he did to the elderly in "Another Cuomo Cover-Up?"

Another Times article notes that Cuomo has for years "berated aides and elected officials, brought people to tears and threatened to fire them or end their careers. People outside the governor's direct control who have clashed with him said he told them they would be subject to negative news stories or political challenges or, in one case, would be publicly likened to a 'child rapist.'" Most recently, Ron Kim, a New York state assemblyman (and fellow Democrat), has come forward with stories of Cuomo calling him to threaten him after Kim called the nursing home cover-up an "obstruction of justice." Kim has also declared his intention to pursue impeachment proceedings in a scathing piece in Newsweek.

We're among the few, independent news outlets that have regularly provided analysis of Governor Cuomo's COVID-19 nursing home scandals from almost the beginning, with our active coverage extending back to April 2020. In the months since, we have regularly updated and curated this now lengthy timeline of the main scandal, providing a hopefully useful resource that also helps ensure that neither the media nor the Cuomo administration can continue sweeping the scandal under the rug.

24 February 2021: NY Lawmakers Question Motives in Cuomo's Gift of COVID Legal Immunity to Nursing Homes

Some NY lawmakers question Cuomo's motive with nursing home legal protections

This article reviews some of the pay-for-play allegations between Governor Cuomo and New York's nursing home industry that go hand-in-hand with the special protection from legal liability in COVID-19 deaths they were awarded. The article includes a substantial response from the Greater New York Hospital Association denying it unfairly benefited from the arrangements it sought.

As has been widely reported, GNYHA advocated for the State's COVID-19 immunity law. We continue to believe, given the extraordinarily challenging circumstances facing hospitals and other providers during this pandemic, that it is right to protect health care facilities and their staff from liability except in cases of gross negligence and intentional wrongdoing. Our communications with the State on this issue included submitting immunity language for consideration by the Governor's office and the State Legislature. (It is common practice for advocacy organizations to submit draft legislative language for consideration). Our primary advocacy focus was on protecting hospitals and their staff. The final version that passed in April differed in certain significant respects from our proposed language.

Which is a weird way of claiming that Governor Cuomo and the state legislature are responsible for the form of the protection from legal liablity for COVID-19 deaths they received, because they asked for something slightly different.

24 February 2021: Governor Cuomo Accused of Sexual Harassment

Former aide charges Cuomo kissed, sexually harassed her

A new day, another new scandal for Governor Andrew Cuomo. This report details some of the allegations of sexual harassment that former Cuomo administration staffer Lindsey Boylan has previously raised, but which were relatively unreported by the media.

While not directly related to his multiple COVID-19 nursing home scandals, those scandals have contributed to removing some of the protection Governor Cuomo previously enjoyed from the New York and national news media, which had allowed his questionable ethical conduct in other areas to remain hidden from public view.

23 February 2021: Polls Bad, Subpoenas Served?

Majority of New Yorkers think Cuomo botched COVID-19 in nursing homes: poll

This report indicates that 61% of New Yorkers responding to a Marist College poll believe Governor Cuomo has mishandled COVID in the state's nursing homes. This report also indicates Governor Cuomo's job approval rating has dropped below 50%, down from a 66% approval rating in July.

Cuomo dodges subpoena question on nursing home probe

Has Governor Cuomo or members of his administration been served with subpoenas by authorities investigating the allegations surrounding his policies and actions related to the deaths of nursing home residents from COVID-19?

This report indicates Governor Cuomo doesn't want to make the answer to that question public.

Gov. Cuomo refused to say whether he or his top officials have received or responded to subpoenas as federal prosecutors probe New York's handling of nursing homes during the COVID crisis.

It's as if Governor Cuomo believes the people do not have a right to know anything about his or his administration's actions and conduct.

22 February 2021: Bullied NY Lawmaker Says Time to Consider Impeachment for Governor Cuomo

NY Assemblyman Ron Kim says Cuomo impeachment should be discussed over nursing home deaths

This report indicates Governor Cuomo's recent threats aimed at New York Assemblyman Ron Kim in a phone call to him has backfired badly. Instead of backing down, Kim is now calling for Governor Cuomo's impeachment and removal from office.

22 February 2021: NY Dems Try to Head Off Cuomo Impeachment With Censure; Is There Another Cuomo Coverup?

Democrats Introduce Resolution to Censure N.Y. Gov. Cuomo Over COVID Nursing Home Controversy

This report covers the efforts of members of Governor Cuomo's political party in the New York legislature to preserve his tenure in office by formally rebuking his conduct in office. We interpret this action by his supporters as an indication of how far the pendulum has swung against the Governor.

Another Cuomo Cover-Up?

This op-ed by James Freeman considers whether Governor Andrew Cuomo's administration has engaged in a second coverup of COVID-19 deaths, this time of New York residents with disabilities who live in residential group homes. The article brings to mind the old saying about hygiene: you either have it, or you don't. Which is to say that once people realize you were covering up a problem, every other problem you have becomes visible, because they can no longer be ignored.

22 February 2021: Cuomo Cheerleader CNN "Haunted" by Massive Ethics "Blunder"

CNN's Cuomo Brothers 'Blunder' Comes Back to Haunt Network Amid Nursing Home Scandal

Another article describing how CNN's editorial policies of allowing Governor Cuomo free platform to present a one-sided view of his performance during the coronavirus pandemic has severely damaged the news network's credibility.

CNN is facing criticism for its coverage of New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo amid his administration's handling of COVID-19 deaths at nursing homes, with experts saying that the network committed a "major blunder" by allowing Chris Cuomo to regularly interview his own brother on his show Cuomo Prime Time.

Earlier this year, CNN aired regular primetime banter between the New York governor and his brother, anchor Chris Cuomo. But has the network had its reputation damaged now that hindsight shows such lighthearted segments may have represented a conflict of interest that led to blinkered coverage of the politician?...

DePauw University professor and media critic Jeffrey McCall feels that the press establishment "made a mistake last spring by actively creating a narrative that Governor Cuomo was a national hero in the COVID challenge."

Speaking to Newsweek, McCall said CNN got on the Gov. Cuomo "bandwagon" as it fit with the network's Donald Trump programming strategy but "committed a major blunder from a journalism ethics standard in letting brother Chris go on night after night to interview his own brother."

"All major journalism codes of ethics warn specifically about conflicts of interest, and interviewing your brother for news purposes is a clear-cut violation of these professional codes," McCall explained.

In a sense, CNN made itself an accessory to Governor Cuomo's scandals by concealing them, creating a positive narrative around the governor to distract from his shortcomings.

22 February 2021: Andrew Cuomo's PR Blunders

Cuomo's Crisis Lessons in Failed Leadership

This is an interesting take on Governor Cuomo's nursing home scandals, from the perspective of public relations and marketing industry expert Fraser Seitel:

The New Yorker's dizzying fall from grace—from first to worst among U.S. governors—provides a cautionary tale not only for public figures, but also for those who advise them.

The reason, in a word, for the once-respected Governor's rapid decline in esteem, trust and credibility is "hubris," i.e., excessive pride, conceit or arrogance.

And Gov. Cuomo's unbridled hubris—demonstrated over nine months of preening, preaching and self-promoting followed by three months of back-pedaling, blaming and alibiing—has landed the erstwhile Democrat darling squarely in the middle of an untenable, unwinnable and, for Andrew Cuomo himself, "unimaginable," public relations disaster.

Seitel goes on to cite the Governor Cuomo for violating the following PR rules: 1. Taking full credit. 2. Believing his own publicity. 3. Feigning empathy. 4. Accepting no blame.

Call us crazy, but we would also add knowingly implementing policies that would lead to hundreds, if not thousands, of additional COVID deaths and trying to cover them up to the list of PR rules the Cuomo administration violated.

22 February 2021: What Federal Crimes May Team Cuomo Have Committed?

Gov. Cuomo nursing home scandal could merit criminal charges: prosecutor

Former acting attorney general for the Civil Rights Division of the DOJ John Daukas describes how Governor Cuomo and members of his administration may have violated federal law in a WSJ op-ed. Since that article is behind a paywall, here is a summary of those laws from another report:

"Numerous federal criminal statutes could apply," he warned.

"It's a crime to make false statements to the federal government. It's also a crime to conceal information and otherwise obstruct government investigations.

"New York may have engaged in a conspiracy to defraud the U.S. and its agencies and possibly obstruct justice, among other crimes," he stressed.

"Even if it cannot be proved that the Cuomo administration knowingly provided false information to Justice and [Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services], New York's willful failure to provide information may itself constitute a criminal offense — particularly if the intent was to thwart a federal investigation — which, after all, is exactly what Ms. DeRosa reportedly said the administration did," he wrote.

21 February 2021: President Biden Still Seems Okay with Cuomo COVID Nursing Home Deaths

Psaki sidesteps questions on Cuomo's leadership during pandemic

This article demonstrates the difficulty the Biden-Harris administration is having in honestly addressing Governor Cuomo's scandals.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki avoided answering questions on Sunday on whether President Biden still believes New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) represents the "gold standard" when it comes to leadership during the coronavirus pandemic.

On ABC's "This Week," host Jonathan Karl played a tape from last April of Biden saying Cuomo was "sort of the gold standard" as New York battled with skyrocketing cases in the early months of the pandemic, adding that the governor "has done one hell of a job." Cuomo's office's handling of coronavirus outbreaks in the state's nursing homes is now the subject of a federal investigation by the FBI and the U.S attorney in Brooklyn, who is probing unidentified members of Cuomo's administration.

When asked if Biden still believes Cuomo represents the "gold standard," Psaki insisted that Biden would continue to work with Cuomo, as he would with all governors....

When Karl pressed again whether Biden still believes Cuomo is the gold standard on leadership during the pandemic, asking her to answer "just a yes or no," Psaki said, "It doesn't always have to be a yes or no answer, Jon."

Psaki's less-than-forthright responses suggest, at a minimum, that she is less than capable of communicating the Biden-Harris administration's position regarding Governor Cuomo's nursing home fatality-related scandals. At worse, her comments suggest the Biden-Harris administration may be tolerant of them.

21 February 2021: Cuomo COVID Nursing Home Death Toll May Be Bigger

NY nursing home resident: State tally of 1 COVID death at my facility is BS

This article calls the New York Department of Health's latest tally of COVID-19 deaths at nursing homes into question:

As COVID-19 ravaged nursing homes, killing thousands of elderly residents, state tallies showed one Long Island home experienced something of a miracle — just a single death.

Even when the Cuomo Administration, under court order, this month released more complete data to include nursing home residents who died in hospitals, the tally for the Grand Rehabilitation and Nursing at South Point rose by just three.

But a resident of the Nassau County home claims that even four deaths is baloney, insisting two or three residents died each day at the height of the pandemic — making for so many victims, the facility's beauty parlor was turned into a makeshift morgue.

"The people just disappeared," said Jeffrey Fischler, 51, who has been at the 185-bed home for two years. He said his roommate died — although he does not know the cause — and the corpse sat in their room for eight hours because there was no place to put the body.

The village of Island Park, where Grand Rehabilitation is located, issued 35 death certificates for those who died at the home from March 1, 2020, through May 31, 2020. That is compared to just three during the same period in 2019, according to records obtained by The Post.

To the extent that such undercounting exists at other New York nursing home and assisted care facilities, the number of COVID-19 nursing home resident deaths may be worse than the Cuomo administration has acknowledged.

20 February 2021: Cuomo's Main Defense in COVID Nursing Home Deaths Crumbles

Government memo crushes Cuomo's defense in COVID nursing home scandal

What did the Cuomo administration know and when did it know it?

Governor Cuomo has frequently claimed that the 25 March 2020 directive forcing New York's nursing homes to blindly admit patients without testing to determine if they were infected with the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus was based on guidance from the federal government. This report identifies what that guidance actually was and confirms that Governor Cuomo's nursing home policy did not comply with it, demolishing Governor Cuomo's repeated claims in the process.

Gov. Cuomo has repeatedly defended his administration's directive for nursing homes to accept COVID-19 patients as the product of federal "guidance" — even though one of those government documents says only that infected seniors "can" be admitted to the facilities.

Here is what the federal document actually said in providing guidance in a "Q&A" section for nursing home care providers:

"When should a nursing home accept a resident who was diagnosed with COVID-19 from a hospital?" it says.

"A nursing home can accept a resident diagnosed with COVID-19 and still under transmission-based Precautions for COVID-19 as long as the facility can follow CDC guidance for Transmission-Based Precautions. If a nursing home cannot, it must wait until these precautions are discontinued."

Very few nursing home facilities in New York were capable of meeting that standard. They could have worked around those limitations by establishing dedicated nursing homes for patients with COVID-19, but New York's Department of Health did not establish any such facilities until November 2020, some eight months later.

The report also describes how the Cuomo administration's 25 March 2020 directive was immediately challenged by health care providers:

The DOH directive — which cited an "urgent need to expand hospital capacity" — came under immediate fire from three health-care industry groups: AMDA-The Society for Post-Acute and Long-Term Medicine, the American Health Care Association and the National Center for Assisted Living. In a March 29 statement, the organizations said they were "deeply concerned" with the underlined portion of the order.

"This is a short-term and short-sighted solution that will only add to the surge in COVID-19 patients that require hospital care," they said.

A former federal Health and Human Services official also told The Post that it was a potential recipe for disaster.

"[Cuomo] made this blanket requirement and some nursing homes may have not been prepared to have these patients and may have caused cross-contamination," the ex-official said.

Much of that is evident from the contemporary reporting on the problems nursing homes were facing in the period the Cuomo administration's 25 March 2020 directive was in effect, from 25 March 2020 through 10 May 2020.

20 February 2021: Cuomo Accused of Corruption in Gifting Legal Immunity to Nursing Homes For COVID Deaths

Andrew Cuomo Caved to Donors As He Shielded Nursing Home Bosses, Ron Kim Says

This interview with New York Assemblyman Ron Kim focuses on the role that immunity from prosecution for negligence that Governor Cuomo delivered to his campaign contributors from the nursing home industry may have played in contributing to the spread of COVID-19 within New York's nursing homes. Here's a key excerpt of the Q&A:

In April, Governor Cuomo put a provision into the state budget that granted legal immunity to all health care facilities, including nursing homes, and including the executives of those facilities. How did the corporate immunity order affect the situation, and how does it connect to the Cuomo administration underreporting nursing-home data?

Up to 9,000 COVID patients were being sent to nursing homes. And the nursing homes were telling the administration—which now the AG's report shows—that we can't take these people in. Like, "Half of our staff got COVID, they're out. We don't have enough staff, we don't have the PPE." And at that moment, Cuomo decided to give them legal immunity. That was their solution to that crisis, to the industry asking to be included in broad legal immunity.

They decided to protect the business interests of those who should have done everything possible, spent every dollar, to save people's lives. But the moment they got the legal immunity, it was clear that they felt like they didn't have to invest anymore in PPE, or hire more staff members. They completely shut down. They had a license to kill. That's what the immunity was.

The problems that nursing homes were having in obtaining personal protective equipment (PPE) were well known at the time Governor Cuomo opted to provide legal immunity for the nursing home industry on 20 April 2020 via the Emergency Disaster Treatment Protection Act (EDTPA). You can find out more of that history in this entry for 3 May 2020. If you check the entry for 20 April 2020, you'll find that Governor Cuomo was claiming he didn't know coronavirus-infected patients were being transferred from New York's hospitals to nursing homes to free up bed space.

19 February 2021: Inside the Numbers - How Many COVID Nursing Home Deaths Are Attributable to Cuomo's Deadly Directive?

Report links controversial nursing home directive to COVID-19 deaths

This report describes the correlation the nonpartisan Empire Center for Public Policy found between COVID patients admitted to New York nursing homes and subsequent COVID deaths of nursing home residents:

The Empire Center analysis found that each new admission of a COVID-positive patient correlated with .09 additional deaths, with a margin of error of plus or minus 0.05. It also found that admitting any number of new COVID-positive patients was associated with an average of 4.2 additional deaths per facility, plus or minus 1.9.

Statewide, the findings suggest that the 6,237 COVID-positive admissions between late March and early May were “associated with several hundred, and possibly more than 1,000, additional resident deaths.”

The effect was more pronounced upstate, Empire Center’s Hammond said, which is possibly due to the virus being so prevalent in New York City compared to the rest of the state early in the pandemic.

The analysis focused on two key variables: newly admitted COVID-positive patients to nursing homes between March 25 and May 8, which totaled 6,327; and the residents in each facility who died between April 12 and June 4, which totaled 5,780. It excluded the 2,279 patients who were readmitted to nursing homes where they were already residents and controlled for the varying size of nursing homes as well as where a facility was located.

The CDC reports the median time from initial exposure to the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus to death from COVID-19 ranges for an individual Age 65 or older is 17 days. The Empire Center's analysis in correlating deaths with potential exposure events with COVID deaths 18 days later is consistent with that finding, though slightly conservative, so it will err in slightly undercounting the total deaths attributable to the Cuomo administration's deadly directive. We think the Empire Center's approach in estimating the additional COVID deaths resulting from the Cuomo administration's deadly directive is both reasonable and reliable.

19 February 2021: NY DOH Commissioner Zucker Confirms Deadly Directive Originated in Panic

New York health chief defends state's decision to make nursing homes take Covid patients

This report confirms the Cuomo administration's disastrous policies originated in an environment of panic:

New York Health Commissioner Dr. Howard Zucker on Friday defended the state's decision in March to make nursing homes take residents from hospitals that had the coronavirus, blaming most of the virus' spread on staff members.

The directive, issued on March 25, prohibited nursing homes from denying admission or readmission to residents infected with Covid-19. The directive also banned nursing homes from testing patients before entry, NBC News reported. The policy was later reversed in May.

Zucker said on Friday that, at the time, New York's coronavirus hospitalization rate was growing "at a staggering pace" and capacity in the state's intensive care units was running thin. By allowing the residents to return to the nursing homes, it helped protect the health-care system from collapsing, he said.

"You can only review a decision with the facts that you had at the time," Zucker said during a press briefing alongside New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo. "And with the facts that we had at that moment in time, it was the correct decision from a public health point of view."

The confirmation the state would not exceed its hospital capacity came in early April, using the facts they had at the time, and yet the Cuomo administration continued enforcing its 25 March 2020 directive into mid-May 2020.

19 February 2021: Andrew Cuomo's Tragic Change of Political Fortune

Cuomo, once heralded, now faces a political crisis over Covid death criminal probe, bullying complaints

The article reflects on Governor Cuomo's sudden change in political fortune as a result of the confirmation of his administration's coverup of the full extent of COVID-19 deaths among New York nursing home residents.

19 February 2021: AOC Learns of Cuomo COVID Nursing Home Death Scandal, Wants Investigation

Ocasio-Cortez calls for full investigation of Cuomo's handling of coronavirus in nursing homes

This article reports on what may be one of the first indications that social media savvy U.S. House of Representatives member Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) has recently become aware of some sort of issue with Governor Cuomo's policies involving COVID-19 and nursing homes in the state of New York. She has responded by issuing a statement calling for an investigation of the Cuomo administration.

19 February 2021: Biden DOJ Now Wants COVID Nursing Home Deaths Data

Nursing-Home Death Data Was Sought From Cuomo by U.S. Prosecutors

This article independently confirms U.S. prosecutors are seeking to obtain data on the deaths of New York nursing home residents after the Cuomo administration failed for months to respond to earlier DOJ requests:

Federal prosecutors in Brooklyn sought data this month on nursing-home deaths from New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo's administration, people familiar with the matter said, after state officials took months to respond to a separate inquiry by the Justice Department.

The prosecutors' request seeks the number of New York nursing-home deaths due to Covid-19 and when and where they occurred, as part of a broader inquiry into the state's handling of the pandemic in those care settings, the people said.

19 February 2021: Governor Cuomo Blames Critics for Spreading "Lies" and "Misinformation"

Rattled Andrew Cuomo rants about nursing home scandal 'lies,' won't take responsibility

This article reports on Governor Cuomo's latest attempt at damage control:

A defensive Gov. Andrew Cuomo went on a 15-minute rant Friday in which he vowed to counter what he claimed were "lies" and "misinformation" about his handling of nursing homes amid the COVID-19 pandemic — and accused his critics of "causing pain" to the relatives of residents killed by the disease.

During a virtual news conference from Albany, Cuomo said, "I'm not going to let you hurt New Yorkers by lying about what happened. Surrounding the death of a loved one."

"So, I'm going to take on the lies and the unscrupulous actors, especially when they cause pain and damage to New York," he said.

"I should have done it before. And I should have done it more aggressively."

"This is different," he said.

"This is causing the pain to families who lost a loved one."

His remarks, which appeared to have been scripted and were accompanied by slides reinforcing his message, came a day after the New York Law Journal reported that the FBI and the Brooklyn US Attorney's Office had launched a probe of his COVID-19 task force in the wake of The Post's report.

18 February 2021: NY Republican Rep Holds Cuomo Accountable for All COVID Nursing Home Deaths

Reed says Cuomo is to blame for every nursing home death over past year

Despite Governor Cuomo's claims to the contrary, there has always been a bipartisan effort to force the Cuomo administration to come clean on the impact of its 25 March 2020 directive forcing nursing homes to blindly admit patients infected with the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus, despite knowing that introducing the infection into these settings would lead to the viral infection spreading like wildfire in dry grass.

That doesn't mean that hasn't been any partisanship aimed at the Cuomo administration from his political opposition, as this article demonstrates:

Republican Rep. Tom Reed says that all 15,000 Covid-19 nursing home deaths in the state over the past year can be blamed on controversial guidance from Gov. Andrew Cuomo's administration.

On a briefing call with reporters on Wednesday, Reed said at least eight times that Cuomo was responsible for every one of the 15,000 deaths.

Based on the data we've seen, we consider Reed's claim to be highly exaggerated, which is par for the course in our current age of political hyperbole. Keeping in mind that the opposite extreme is Governor Cuomo's claim that none of the COVID-19 deaths among New York nursing home patients were the result of his administration's policies, the truth almost certainly falls somewhere in between.

18 February 2021: Nonpartisan Think Tank Says Cuomo's Deadly Directive Killed Over 1,000

Cuomo policy may have led to over 1,000 nursing home deaths, watchdog says

How many more elderly, sick residents of New York's nursing homes and assisted care facilities died from COVID-19 than would have otherwise if not for the Cuomo administration's 25 March 2020 directive that forced these residences to admit patients known to have coronavirus infections while forbidding them from testing the patients to determine if they were still contagious?

The answer to that question is why serious media outlets and public policy groups have been seeking New York's public data on the COVID-19 deaths of New York's nursing home residents. Keeping them from being able to answer that question is why the Cuomo administration obstructed the release of the state's public data for months on end.

And now, we have a preliminary estimate based on the incomplete data that has emerged in recent weeks, as this report indicates:

The Cuomo administration's controversial directive for nursing homes to accept COVID-19 patients amid the pandemic likely did lead to a spike in resident deaths, an analysis of its own data revealed Thursday.

The study by the nonprofit Empire Center for Public Policy tied "several hundred and possibly more than 1,000" fatalities to the since-rescinded March 25, 2020, order that critics have blamed for spreading the coronavirus among vulnerable seniors.

The analysis also suggests the controversial mandate is "associated with" more than one in six of 5,780 nursing deaths statewide between late March and early May.

"The findings contradict a central conclusion of the state Department of Health's July 6 report on coronavirus in nursing homes, which said, among other things: 'Admission policies were not a significant factor in nursing home fatalities,' and 'the data do not show a consistent relationship between admissions and increased mortality,' " according to a draft report prepared by the Empire Center.

We'll take a closer look at the Empire Center's analysis in the near future.

18 February 2021: CNN Bans Cheerleader Chris Cuomo From Covering Brother Governor Andrew Cuomo

CNN says it reinstated a ban on Chris Cuomo covering his brother, Gov. Cuomo

This article reveals that CNN is being forced to address the clear conflict of interest the network and its prime time news show host Chris Cuomo have had in covering news involving his brother, Governor Andrew Cuomo. In allowing Chris Cuomo to act as a non-impartial activist promoting his brother's interests, both on camera and in its newsroom, CNN has severely damaged the credibility of all its news coverage.

18 February 2021: Biden DOJ Wasn't Investigating Cuomo Until DeRosa Admission

Federal Prosecutors Opened Criminal Investigation After Cuomo Aide Admitted Withholding Nursing Home Death Data from State Legislators: Report

This report indicates that President Biden's DOJ officials only opened its criminal investigation after the New York Post broke the story of Cuomo deputy Melissa DeRosa's comments.

... the New York Law Journal's Jane Wester reports that acting U.S. Attorney Seth DuCharme's office opened a criminal probe into "Gov. Andrew Cuomo's coronavirus task force and its handling of COVID-19 in nursing homes" only after news of the DeRosa call went public.

It would seem DeRosa wasn't off base in thinking the Biden DOJ was planning to sit on their hands when she made her comments.

17 February 2021: Cuomo's Pandemic Leadership Book Proclaims Importance of Transparency

Andrew Cuomo, Accused of Nursing Homes COVID Cover-Up, Extolled His Transparency in Book

This article exposes Governor Cuomo's hypocrisy, as found in his book extolling his leadership during the coronavirus pandemic. In his book, he proclaimed the value of transparency in sharing information with other officials and the public. Here's an excerpt from the book, which was published in October 2020:

"The main challenge for me was to communicate this data to the public in a way that would establish my credibility for providing timely information with transparency while also instilling confidence."

As has since been confirmed, Governor Cuomo and his administration had been stonewalling data requests from elected officials and the media for the state's public data on the COVID-19 deaths of nursing home residents for months by the time of the book's publication.

17 February 2021: Cuomo Accused of Obstruction of Justice

Democrats accuse Cuomo of 'obstruction of justice' over nursing home scandal

This article reports several Democratic members of the New York Assembly have accused Governor Cuomo and members of his administration of federal obstruction of justice. Here's an excerpt:

Nine Democratic members of the New York State Assembly on Tuesday accused Gov. Andrew Cuomo of federal obstruction of justice in a letter seeking support to strip him of his COVID-19 emergency powers.

The move followed last week's exclusive Post report that revealed Secretary to the Governor Melissa DeRosa admitting to Democratic lawmakers that Cuomo's administration covered up data about the total number of nursing home residents killed by the coronavirus.

The letter, sent Tuesday to members of the Assembly, said, "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."

17 February 2021: Op-Ed: How Governor Cuomo's Policies Killed a Mother in Brooklyn

My Mother Got Covid in a New York Nursing Home

This op-ed appeared in the Wall Street Journal, in which, Kieran E. Morris describes the tragedy that befell his mother, who was exposed to COVID at a Brooklyn nursing home where she was recuperating from a broken vertebra. Morris faults several policies Governor Cuomo pursued for their contributions to his mother's death from COVID-19, which he describes as "entirely preventable".

17 February 2021: Governor Cuomo's Attempted Intimidation of Lawmakers Backfires

Cuomo said 'he can destroy me': NY assemblyman alleges governor threatened him over nursing homes scandal

This is a very rare news story from CNN on the topic of Governor Cuomo's nursing home scandal, which has otherwise been in Governor Cuomo's pocket. Here are some significant excerpts:

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo has been pleading with lawmakers for support and even threatening political retribution against Democrats who have criticized him in an aggressive effort to contain political fallout from revelations that his administration had concealed the full extent of nursing home-related deaths during the Covid pandemic.

One of the people threatened includes Assemblyman Ron Kim:

"Gov. Cuomo called me directly on Thursday to threaten my career if I did not cover up for Melissa [DeRosa] and what she said. He tried to pressure me to issue a statement, and it was a very traumatizing experience," Kim said. Cuomo proceeded to tell the assemblyman that "we're in this business together and we don't cross certain lines and he said I hadn't seen his wrath and that he can destroy me," according to Kim.

Governor Cuomo has been actively engaging in similar behavior with other New York legislators:

Kim is not the only lawmaker to have received fierce pushback and even threats from Cuomo and his top aides since last week, according to three additional Democratic New York lawmakers. All spoke to CNN under the condition of anonymity because they were afraid of retribution from the governor.

They said the administration had aggressively lobbied legislators to speak up in support of his handling of the nursing homes-related deaths, and that threats were made against those who are considering a vote to strip Cuomo of his emergency powers.

All three legislators said they were aware of outreach from the governor in which he clearly suggested or explicitly threatened political retaliation if they did not stand by him. One of them, a New York state senator who said they had not been contacted by Cuomo but heard directly from multiple colleagues whom Cuomo had reached out to, said the governor threatened those colleagues with retaliation -- including warning some that he could ruin their political careers if they supported weakening Cuomo's executive powers.

Governor Cuomo's attempted coverup would appear to be getting closer and closer to constituting criminal obstruction of justice.

17 February 2021: FBI, Biden DOJ Starting Investigation of Cuomo Coverup

FBI, U.S. attorney in Brooklyn probing Cuomo administration on nursing homes

A federal investigation has been initiated, according to this report by the Times Union:

ALBANY — The FBI and the U.S. attorney's office in Brooklyn have launched an investigation that is examining, at least in part, the actions of Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo's coronavirus task force in its handling of nursing homes and other long-term care facilities during the pandemic, the Times Union has learned.

The probe by the U.S. attorney's office in the Eastern District of New York is apparently in its early stages and is focusing on the work of some of the senior members of the governor's task force, according to a person with direct knowledge of the matter who is not authorized to comment publicly.

While this action is long overdue, the questions now are "how independent is the investigation?" and "how serious is the investigation?"

16 February 2021: President Biden Seems Okay Enough with NY COVID Nursing Home Deaths to Meet with Governor Cuomo

Biden did not discuss NY nursing home deaths with Cuomo, White House says

This article describes the odd relationship that now exists between President Biden and Governor Cuomo. Long allied, we think it likely the lack of discussion on the topic would have been pre-arranged to avoid political embarrassment for the President. What happens next however is entirely up to President Biden, since whether or not he allows a truly independent federal investigation of Governor Cuomo's multiple scandals to take place will say volumes about the President's personal ethics.

16 February 2021: Reactions to Governor Cuomo's Tone-Deaf Press Conference

There are a lot of ways to describe Governor Cuomo's tone-deaf statements from his 15 February 2021 press conference. None of them involve words like "honest", "forthright", or "successful".

Churchill: Cuomo's near-apology misses the mark

Times-Union columnist Chris Churchil puts his finger on why Governor Cuomo's press conference went badly:

Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo on Monday almost apologized for stonewalling the release of full and accurate information on the COVID-19 deaths of New York's nursing home residents.

But not quite — and his excuse for what he described as a mere "delay" failed the smell test.

Churchill continues to dismantle the excuses offered by Governor Cuomo during his 15 February 2021 press conference. It's well worth reviewing to learn more about some aspects of the scandal that we've only touched upon.

NY governor made 'mistake' hiding care home deaths

There's no new news here, but we've opted to include a link to this article because Governor Cuomo's nursing home scandal is now being reported on internationally, as demonstrated by this article from BBC News.

Fellow Democrats not buying Andrew Cuomo's nursing home explanation: 'All of it is BS'

This article describes the criticism of Governor Cuomo's acknowledged stonewalling in releasing public data on New York's nursing home deaths by members of his political party. State Senator Julia Salazar and Assemblyman Ron Kim's comments were particularly scathing:

"If the Governor had actually informed the legislature months ago that his office was withholding the data they had on total nursing home deaths, there would've been no need for them to have a call with a group of legislators last week to inform them of this for the first time," Salazar said on Twitter. "Governor can claim (as he's done) that they withheld the data bc they thought it would be used against them by the DOJ(!). But claiming they informed the legislature is a lie on top of a lie. If he'd been honest in the first place, he may have had one bad news cycle. But now?"

Assemblyman Ron Kim was even blunter in his assessment of Cuomo's explanation, saying "all of it is BS."

It's the sort of thing that might negative affect Governor Cuomo's job approval ratings. Oh, wait....

New York Gov. Cuomo's Job Approval Dips Over Nursing-Home Deaths

This article is exactly what the headline says.

In the grand scheme of things, what matters most is not how Governor Cuomo or members of his administration responded to his COVID nursing home death coverup scandal. What matters most is he and his administration implemented policies that caused COVID nursing home deaths.

15 February 2021: Governor Cuomo Claims "There's Nothing to Investigate"; Backlash to Cuomo's Virtual Press Conference

Cuomo blames 'politics,' fails to address nursing home cover-up admission

After days of silence, Governor Cuomo held his first press conference following the bombshell confirmation he and his administration covered up the full extent of COVID-19 deaths at New York's nursing homes while his 25 March 2020 directive was in effect. Would he be contrite? Would he offer sincerity? This article describes what he was:

An unapologetic Gov. Cuomo doubled down on a litany of past excuses Monday as he blamed "politics" for the spiraling scandal that's engulfed his administration since The Post revealed his top aide admitted they hid from elected officials and the public the true number of nursing-home residents killed by COVID-19.

During a virtual news conference at which he declined to take a question from The Post, Cuomo claimed that "there's nothing to investigate" regarding the cover-up to which Secretary to the Governor Melissa DeRosa confessed during a video conference call with Democratic lawmakers last week.

Cuomo never directly addressed DeRosa's recorded remarks in which she admitted "we froze" over whether to come clean to the Legislature — or the public — about nursing home deaths in the face of a Justice Department inquiry.

Governor Cuomo would seem to be banking on the whole thing blowing over and going away, counting on the media outlets over which he has sway to carry him through.

Here's a sampling of other coverage of the press conference:

• Cuomo apologizes for 'void' in information, not for nursing home decision
• 'We should have provided more information faster': Cuomo acknowledges data void in N.Y. nursing home COVID deaths
• Cuomo Acknowledges Withholding New York Nursing Home Pandemic Death Toll From Lawmakers, Public
• 'There is nothing to investigate': Gov. Andrew Cuomo defends New York's handling of COVID-19 in nursing homes
• Cuomo slams fellow Dems who eyed threat of subpoenas as budget leverage

15 February 2021: Families of COVID Nursing Home Victims Say "It Looked Like Murder"

'It looked like murder': Families of nursing home victims demand Cuomo probe

This article describes the reactions of the New Yorkers who have lost family members to COVID-19 in New York's nursing homes:

New Yorkers who lost loved ones to COVID-19 in nursing homes blasted Gov. Andrew Cuomo's attempts to cover up the real death toll — saying he needs to be investigated for "killing" their family members.

"Nothing is going to bring my parents back but we want to know why, because to us, looking at it, it just looked like murder — it looks like you were a serial killer, there are thousands of seniors dead," said Donna Johnson, who lost both of her parents to COVID-19 at the height of the pandemic last year after they contracted the virus at senior care facilities.

"He killed a lot of people, I mean people don't have grandmas and grandpas and moms and dads anymore because of one man's decision."

Will Andrew Cuomo become known as "The Governor Who Kills Grandmas"?

15 February 2021: NY Dems Call Governor Cuomo a Liar; Cuomo Cheerleader MSNBC Says Governor's Defense of Actions "Incriminating"

Democrats slam 'lying' Cuomo over COVID-19 nursing home 'cover-up'

This article gives a sense of how Governor Cuomo's comments at his 15 February 2021 press conference were taken.

MSNBC's Ari Melber Slams Cuomo for Comments About Nursing Home Deaths: 'A Little Bit of an Incriminating Defense'

At this point, what other kind of defense does Governor Cuomo have? it's not like he and his administration hasn't already been trying to do all they can to divert attention away from the Governor's nursing home scandals, including covering it up.

14 February 2021: Cuomo Reputation Damaged by Nursing Home Death Coverup; News Media Complicit in Coverup

Nursing home disclosures taint Cuomo's pandemic performance

The Associated Press has been one of the few major news outlets that has actively reported on Governor Cuomo's nursing home scandals. In this article, they describe the impact of the Governor's coverup scandal on his reputation:

"He stepped in it, more than a little bit. It would be bad enough if this had come out and he had not been publicly sort of celebrating, and been celebrated, for his handling of the pandemic," said Jeanne Zaino, political science professor at Iona College. "But putting that aside, it doesn't get more serious than this. You're talking about the deaths of 15,000 people."

Pimping a book promoting his leadership and accepting Emmy awards while deliberately concealing human misery can be expected to carry a political toll.

And Cuomo — who says he will run again in 2022 — is now facing criticism that is increasingly coming from members of his own party.

"The governor's lack of transparency and stonewalling regarding his administration's nursing home actions is unacceptable," said state Sen. John Mannion, one of 14 Democratic state senators who said Friday that Cuomo's expanded emergency powers should be repealed as soon as possible.

The higher death tolls were only divulged hours after a report late last month from Democratic state Attorney General Letitia James examining the administration's failure to include nursing home residents who died at hospitals. The updated numbers backed up the findings of an Associated Press investigation last year that concluded the state could have been understating deaths by thousands.

It gets worse, as the AP reports:

Debra Diehl, 62, who lost her 85-year-old father, Reeves Hupman, to presumptive COVID-19 in May at a nursing home outside Albany, wants to know why Cuomo and the state didn't do more to separate residents who may have had the virus, perhaps by putting them in field hospitals.

"They had people coming up, sent from downstate hospitals up here," Diehl said. "It just seemed like Typhoid Marys, just spreading it further. He did not know what he was doing, or he did not care."

As we now know, New York's Department of Health waited until November 2020 to set up dedicated facilities for providing care to COVID-19 nursing home patients to prevent introducing coronavirus infections to nursing homes where they might spread "like fire through dry grass". It's no accident the Cuomo administration kept silent on this long delayed action, because announcing it would have contrasted sharply with its previous policies.

Cuomo Didn't Protect Seniors From COVID-19. But it Was the Media That Covered it Up | Opinion

This op-ed picks up on the failures of broadcast news media to seriously investigate or to cover Governor Cuomo's coronavirus nursing home scandals. CNN and MSNBC's performances are singled out, particularly for the fawning coverage they chose to provide instead.

One media outlet's performance still to be addressed: The New York Times. We've been following the story for months and have found its coverage to be strangely lacking. It seems odd that the newspaper's editors and reporting staff have almost completely failed to break any of the news taking place in its own proverbial back yard.

13 February 2021: Emmy Awards Association Silent on Scandal

Academy still silent on Cuomo Emmy award following nursing home scandal

The "Academy" in this case is the International Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, which awarded Governor Cuomo with an international Emmy "in recognition of his leadership during the Covid-19 pandemic and his masterful use of TV to inform and calm people around the world". The Academy's silence now that information he used to "inform and calm people" was based on lies of omission is an interesting footnote in Governor Cuomo's unfolding scandal. It is also a black mark on the credibility and reputation of the members of the Academy, whose ethics appear highly questionable.

It's their trophy. If they care enough, they could rescind the award. Do they care enough?

13 February 2021: U.S. DOJ May Not Be Able to Conduct Impartial Investigation

Melissa DeRosa, Cuomo aide in nursing home cover-up, is related to top fed prosecutor

This article may help explain how Melissa DeRosa knew that "all signs point to they are not looking at this, they've dropped it" when discussing the potential for facing a federal investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice. It also indicates the clear conflict of interest that Biden-appointed attorneys would have in investigating Cuomo administration officials, which argues strongly in favor of appointing a special prosecutor to conduct a federal investigation.

13 February 2021: Coverup Scandal Consumes Team Cuomo; President Biden Seems Okay With NY Nursing Home Deaths

Coverup claims engulf Cuomo as scandal over nursing home deaths grows

This article presents a good overview of the reactions to Governor Cuomo's coverup:

The administration's handling of nursing homes is now a full-blown scandal — a stunning reversal for Cuomo, whose early handling of the pandemic and high-profile daily press briefings earned him soaring approval ratings, an Emmy and a book deal.

Now, many fellow Democrats want to write an epilogue.

As Cuomo headed to Washington Friday to meet with President Joe Biden on pandemic response, at least 14 Democrats from the left flank of the state Legislature called for a repeal of the governor's emergency powers — enacted nearly 11 months ago — that have given him nearly unilateral authority during the pandemic. And momentum appears to be growing in the Legislature to exert more oversight.

"It is clear that the expanded emergency powers granted to the Governor are no longer appropriate," lawmakers said in a statement issued Friday morning.

Cuomo was already facing mounting backlash for his handling of the nursing home crisis. The Wednesday call with DeRosa was designed to repair relationships with frustrated Democrats who said Cuomo was shutting them out of the state's response.

It didn't quite go as planned. The article also indicates that President Biden's administration is so-far tolerant of Governor Cuomo's scandal, although it is holding short of endorsing Governor Cuomo.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki was asked during a Friday briefing if Biden, who has touted the importance of transparency for the nation's recovery, felt confident in Cuomo's administration in light of the recent report.

"The president hosted Gov. Cuomo and a bipartisan group of governors and mayors to the White House today to get their perspective from the front lines, not to give anyone a stamp of approval or to seek their stamp of approval," she said.

If President Biden were genuinely interested in promoting unity, initiating federal investigations into the Cuomo administration's policies and practices involving nursing homes in the state would be a good place to start.

12 February 2021: Cuomo Administration Coverup of COVID Nursing Home Deaths Confirmed as Scandal Blows Up

Melissa DeRosa's admission on nursing home coverup sparks calls for probe — and Cuomo's prosecution

The reaction to the acknowledgment that Governor Cuomo and his administration engaged in a coverup of the full extent of COVID-19 deaths among New York's nursing home residents is starting to come in. This report focuses on the calls for new investigations and potential prosecution:

The stunning admission by Gov. Andrew Cuomo's top aide that the administration withheld the state's nursing home death toll out of fear that the damning numbers would "be used against us" by the feds has sparked bipartisan calls for a thorough probe — and prosecution of the governor.

"Governor Cuomo, the Secretary to the Governor, and his senior team must be prosecuted immediately – both by the Attorney General of New York State and the U.S. Department of Justice," US Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) wrote in a statement.

"This bombshell admission of a coverup and the remarks by the Secretary to the Governor indicating intent to obstruct any federal investigation is a stunning and criminal abuse of power," Stefanik continued.

The article continues to report on the reaction of Governor Cuomo's political opponents in the state, which are less restrained than Representative Stefanik's statement. Here's a roundup of additional reactions:

• Disturbing, criminal, corrupt: NY leaders rip Cuomo nursing home disclosures - This article details the highly critical reaction of members of Governor Cuomo's party to the confirmation that his administration engaged in a coverup of COVID-19 deaths among nursing home residents.
• Cuomo faces calls to resign amid allegations of hiding nursing home Covid deaths - This article describes the bipartisan outrage over Governor Cuomo's coverup, in which some have begun calling for his "resignation, impeachment, or removal from office".
• Gov. Cuomo ducks reporters after Biden WH meeting amid nursing home scandal - This article reveals Governor Cuomo's initial response to the exposure of his coverup scandal suggests he's hoping to wait out hard questions from the media.
• Report Of Possible Cover Up On New York Nursing Home Deaths Spurs Calls For Probes Of Cuomo, Aides - This report reveals the calls for investigations into the coverup will extend to other officials in the Cuomo administration.
• Some New York Democrats Break With Cuomo as 14 State Senators Call to Strip Him of Emergency Powers - This article reveals that members of Governor Cuomo's political party will seek to remove the emergency powers he was granted during the coronavirus pandemic as part of the response to the nursing home death coverup scandal.
• Sec. to Governor Cuomo releases statement, transcription of call following nursing home deaths report - This report details Melissa DeRosa's attempt to perform damage control following her bombshell admission.

Cuomo lied and covered it up — we need a federal investigation to find the truth

The New York Post has owned the story of Governor Cuomo's disastrous nursing home directive and now his coverup of its extent from almost the beginning. In this editorial, they note several problems that only a federal investigation can address at this point:

A federal investigation may be the only way to get the full truth of Team Cuomo's order to nursing homes, populated by those most vulnerable to the virus, to take in COVID-positive patients. Not just the "what" of how many lives it cost, but the "why" behind this madness, and the months and months of coverup.

Melissa DeRosa, secretary to the governor, made the stunning statement on a video call with Democratic state lawmakers as she "explained" why the administration ignored since August their demands for nursing-home death data. It began when then-President Donald Trump "directs the Department of Justice to do an investigation into us," she said. "And basically we froze."

"Because then we were in a position where we weren't sure if what we were going to give to the Department of Justice, or what we give to you guys, what we start saying, was going to be used against us while we weren't sure if there was going to be an investigation," she said.

Suppressing evidence for fear of federal prosecution — what did the administration have to hide?

Another problem: The state started hiding the info months earlier, long before Trump tweeted a thing.

Later in the call, she said the Biden Justice Department isn't as interested in Team Cuomo's malfeasance. "All signs point to they are not looking at this, they've dropped it," she said.

The Post's editors point to that last statement and the close association between Governor Cuomo and President Biden in calling for a special counsel to conduct a federal investigation. Even now, the Cuomo administration still fails to provide sufficient transparency into the COVID-19 deaths of nursing home residents. Without that information, it is not possible to assess his administration's claims regarding the impact of his 25 March 2020 directive that forced nursing homes to blindly admit coronavirus-infected patients without testing to determine if they were still contagious.