Friday, July 02, 2021

2 July 2021: New York's Chief Judge Ensnared in VIP COVID Testing for Cuomo Friends and Family Scandal

New York's chief judge among those given priority COVID-19 testing

New York's Chief Judge, Janet DiFiore, and members of her family benefited in what we've called the "Looking Out for Número Cuomo" VIP COVID testing scandal. The Albany Times-Union broke the story just ahead of the Fourth of July holiday weekend. Here's an excerpt from the report:

New York Chief Judge Janet M. DiFiore and her relatives were among the individuals who received priority COVID-19 testing last year along with members of Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo's family and others with ties to the governor.

A public health nurse and several members of the New York National Guard were dispatched to DiFiore's private residence in Southampton on Long Island last August to conduct the testing, according to a person familiar with the matter. The test samples were transferred to a state trooper who rushed them to a state-run laboratory where they received expedited processing.

A spokesman for the state Office of Court Administration on Friday confirmed that DiFiore and her family members had been tested at her Southampton residence last summer. He said it took place after a young member of the judge's family had tested positive for the infectious disease.

The priority testing is one focus among several ongoing investigations of allegations against Cuomo and his administration. Two of the investigations are being conducted by the state attorney general's office and the state Assembly's Judiciary Committee, which is conducting an impeachment investigation of the governor. A third investigation of Cuomo's nursing home directives and policies during the pandemic is being done by the U.S. attorney's office in Brooklyn.

If there is an impeachment trial of Cuomo in the state Senate, DiFiore, as the state's chief judge and head of the Court of Appeals, would be involved in that proceeding and sit as one of the jurors.

At a minimum, DiFiore's failure to publicly disclose the preferential treatment and benefits she received from Governor Cuomo calls her integrity into question.

The report also breaks new information on the extraordinary diversion of public resources that benefited Andrew M. Cuomo's brother, CNN presenter Chris Cuomo, in expediting his COVID testing at New York taxpayer expense:

A State Police source on Friday said that — after one of the tests was performed on Chris Cuomo at his Southampton residence — a state trooper was directed to park at an exit along the Long Island Expressway, leave the trunk of his cruiser open and wait for the sample. The trooper then drove that sample hurriedly to the Wadsworth Laboratory in Albany, the person said.

The report also indicates Andrew M. Cuomo's claim he didn't know about the special priority COVID testing for his family members has been directly contradicted.

Cuomo has denied knowledge of the preferential testing for his relatives, but officials familiar with the matter said the governor not only was aware of the testing but had directed it be done when it involved members of his family....

The people with close ties to the governor, including his relatives, also had their samples moved to the front of the line at Wadsworth. They were referred to as "critical samples."

In addition to calling her own integrity into question, DiFiore's direct benefit from her association with Andrew M. Cuomo also calls the independence and integrity of the investigator's charged with conducting the NY Assembly's impeachment probe into question:

In March, when the Assembly's Democratic Majority leaders announced they had selected Davis Polk & Wardwell, there were concerns raised then about the independence of the law firm because of its tacit connections to Cuomo: DiFiore, who was appointed by Cuomo, is married to Dennis E. Glazer, a retired attorney who had worked at Davis Polk for 31 years; he was the head of litigation practice for the firm.

Glazer is chairman of the College Council at the state University of New York's Purchase College. He was appointed to the council by Cuomo. There is no compensation for the role but members are reimbursed for expenses.

Before being named to the Court of Appeals, DiFiore was Cuomo's first pick to chair the state Joint Commission on Public Ethics.

Debra Katz, an attorney for Charlotte Bennett — a former Cuomo aide who is among multiple women to accuse the governor of sexual harassment — characterized the retention of the law firm as "an unacceptable conflict of interest" in the Assembly's investigation of Cuomo.

And we thought there wouldn't be any significant developments in the Cuomo scandal news out of New York this Fourth of July weekend!

For more background information, here is the timeline's previous coverage of Governor Cuomo's special COVID testing for VIPs scandal:

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