Tuesday, June 08, 2021

8 June 2021: Prosecutors Subpoena Cuomo Book Material in Probe of COVID Nursing Home Deaths

Federal Prosecutors Subpoena Material Related to Andrew Cuomo's Book

Federal prosecutors have become very interested in what Governor Cuomo and his staff knew and when they knew it:

Federal prosecutors have subpoenaed material related to New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s recent memoir as part of their probe into Covid-19 deaths in the state’s nursing homes, people familiar with the matter said.

Prosecutors working for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York in Brooklyn asked for communications related to Mr. Cuomo’s October 2020 book, “American Crisis,” including contracts and materials used to pitch the book to publishers, the people said. They said the subpoenas indicated prosecutors are interested in nursing-home issues in the book, which more broadly recounted the governor’s response to the pandemic.

The demands were included in subpoenas sent last month to individuals who were involved in editing early versions of the book, the people said, including state officials.

The subpoenas show the criminal probe is continuing to widen beyond its initial request for data on when and where nursing-home residents died during the pandemic. Republican and some Democratic lawmakers have said the governor undercounted the number of Covid-19 deaths attributed to nursing homes as he sought to deflect criticism of his handling of the pandemic’s spread in long-term-care facilities.

Prosecutors could be interested in book-related materials because they captured a real-time snapshot of Mr. Cuomo’s work around nursing homes during the pandemic, said Michael Weinstein, a former federal prosecutor.

Related background information and analysis from the timeline:

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