28 July 2021: Cuomo Getting Fact-Checked in Regular News Coverage

Gov. Cuomo claims he told the truth but fact check shows lack of transparency

Another news media outlet in New York is incorporating fact checking of claims made by Andrew M. Cuomo into their regular reporting:

Governor Andrew Cuomo’s comments put him on the front page of newspapers Tuesday after claiming he told the truth throughout the coronavirus pandemic, but a fact check shows some of Cuomo’s recent comments were not completely accurate.

Governor Cuomo made one comment Monday in response to news the Department of Justice dropped a probe into several states, including New York, that focused on whether residents’ civil rights were violated in government-run nursing homes during the coronavirus pandemic.

“The Department of Justice announced this weekend that they’re not investigating those states, of course this was political hyperbole,” Cuomo said.

The DOJ did drop that probe, but there's something the governor failed to mention during Monday’s news conference. Cuomo is still being investigated by the FBI and the U.S. Attorney's Office in Brooklyn, after allegations the governor and his staff covered up the true number of people who died in nursing homes from COVID-19 in New York State.

Bill Hammond from The Empire Center for Public Policy, a government watchdog group based in Albany, explains.

“There is still a federal investigation going on. In fact, I would argue the one in Brooklyn is a much more serious one in regard to the governor's legal jeopardy, so the idea he's been exonerated or cleared by the DOJ is just not the case,” Hammond said.

The report also notes the 11,000 gap between the state's "official" count of COVID deaths and the figures reported by the CDC, which are considered more accurate.

This is the second report we've come across from news media outlet with a left-of-center editorial bias incorporating fact checks of Cuomo's statements in their regular news coverage. We'll soon see if this is just a one-off event driven by Goernor Cuomo's intentionally deceptive statements made on Monday, 27 July 2021 or the beginning of a permanent change in how New York's news organizations cover Governor Cuomo.