16 April 2021: Cuomo Giving Questions to Reporters Who Only Play Softball

Gov. Cuomo avoids questions about scandals at latest ‘press conference’

Another day, another demonstration of cowardice:

Gov. Andrew Cuomo avoided getting asked questions about his sexual harassment and nursing home death toll cover-up scandals — by only calling on hand-picked reporters during a virtual news conference Friday in Buffalo.

Cuomo, who was the subject of a damning profile this week by the New York Times Magazine, took questions from five journalists from around the state who mostly lobbed softball questions on other topics.

The governor didn’t call on any members of Albany’s Legislative Correspondents Association, which is comprised of reporters who cover the state Capitol every day.

LCA members are responsible for many of the stories that have sparked a series of investigations of Cuomo over matters that include his handling of nursing homes amid the coronavirus pandemic and his alleged sexual harassment of multiple female aides.

Cuomo hasn’t taken a question from The Post since before it exclusively revealed in February that his top aide, Melissa DeRosa, privately admitted to state Democrats that his administration withheld the total nursing home death toll from COVID-19 from them due to a pending federal probe.

You've got to wonder what Team Cuomo's PR experts are thinking, because the longer this cowardly conduct goes on, the greater the implicit admission of guilt becomes. Then again, Governor Cuomo cannot afford to say anything that either demonstrates a level of hypocrisy that would wreck his remaining political support or that would further expose him to criminal legal liability. They know what they're doing is bad, but they are so bought in they view the risks that would come with honesty as worse.