23 December 2023: Probe of Top Cuomo Aide's Statements after U.S. House Testimony

House to probe potential coronavirus ‘lies’ by ex-Cuomo aide Melissa DeRosa

Melissa DeRosa, the former top aide to resigned-in-disgrace NY Governor Andrew M. Cuomo, will be subject to an investigation by congressional investigators following statements she made about the former governor's COVID nursing home deaths scandals. Those statements apparently did not align with those given by former NY Health Commissioner Howard Zucker's closed-door testimony last week. The disparity is what is prompting the probe.

The House of Representatives is gearing up to probe “potential lies and discrepancies” by a one-time top aide to former Gov. Cuomo regarding her involvement in the state’s deadly directive to nursing homes to accept coronavirus-positive residents.

The March 2020 order potentially caused 1,000 additional nursing home deaths, according to an analysis by The Empire Center.

During a transcribed hearing behind closed doors this week in Washington D.C., former Cuomo Health Commissioner Howard Zucker told members of the bipartisan House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic that Cuomo’s then-Secretary Melissa DeRosa signed off on Cuomo’s COVID-19 policies.

“During his transcribed interview yesterday, former Commissioner of the New York State Department of Health, Howard Zucker, testified that former Governor Andrew Cuomo’s top aide, Melissa DeRosa, played a ‘critical’ role in drafting and implementing the state’s must-admit order,” a committee spokesman told The Post.

“This accusation directly contradicts Ms. DeRosa’s recent letter to the Select Subcommittee where she claimed she does not have any responsive documents nor subject matter expertise to contribute to the Select Subcommittee’s investigation,” the spokesman added. “The Select Subcommittee looks forward to asking Ms. DeRosa about any potential lies and discrepancies during her transcribed interview.”

This entry was added to the timeline on 25 December 2023.

16 December 2023: Howard Zucker to Testify in U.S. House on Cuomo's COVID Nursing Home Deaths Scandals

Howard Zucker to testify on New York’s disastrous COVID response in front of House committee

One of the key officials behind Andrew M. Cuomo's deadly 25 March 2020 directive will be giving testimony behind closed doors on Monday, 18 December 2023. Here's an excerpt from the New York Post's report:

Former state Health Commissioner Howard Zucker will be hauled in front of Congress next week to answer questions about the state’s disastrous response to the coronavirus pandemic.

Zucker will sit Monday for a closed-door, transcribed interview with members of the House’s Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic.

As former Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s health czar, Zucker was responsible for a March 2020 order which forced Empire State nursing homes to accept coronavirus-positive residents returning from hospitals.

Zucker also forbade nursing homes from testing the returning residents for the virus.

The virus was especially deadly for the elderly, and the order potentially caused 1,000 additional nursing-home deaths, according to an analysis from The Empire Center, a conservative-leaning think tank.

Since resigning as New York Commissioner of Health, Zucker has since joined the Centers for Disease Control as a Biden administration political appointee.

14 December 2023: U.S. House Panel Seeks Testimony from Top NY State Officials on Cuomo COVID Nursing Home Deaths Scandals

House panel pushes to interview Cuomo and staff about pandemic

A U.S. House of Representatives subcommittee is finally getting around to compelling testimony under oath related to Andrew M. Cuomo's COVID nursing home deaths scandals. Here is an excerpt from the Albany Times Union's Brendon Lyons report:

A congressional subcommittee probing New York’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic — and the deaths of more than 15,000 nursing home residents — is continuing its efforts to interview former Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo and top officials who served in his administration.

U.S. Rep. Brad Wenstrup of Ohio, who chairs the Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic, and U.S. Rep. Nicole Malliotakis of New York City sent a letter to former Secretary to the Governor Melissa DeRosa this week requesting for a second time that she appear before their panel on Jan. 19.

The subcommittee sent an initial letter to DeRosa on Dec. 1, requesting her testimony and any records she has about the Cuomo administration’s controversial March 2020 directive to New York’s nursing homes to allow residents afflicted with COVID-19 to remain in or return to those facilities, even if they were being discharged from hospitals while still testing positive for the virus....

The subcommittee’s letter cited excerpts from DeRosa’s recently published memoir, “What’s Left Unsaid: My Life at the Center of Power, Politics & Crisis.” In the book — which focuses largely on the Cuomo administration’s handling of the pandemic and the sexual harassment allegations that led to his August 2021 resignation — DeRosa wrote she was the “the most senior member of New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s team leading the nation through a once-in-a-century pandemic, making life-or-death decisions, projecting our administration’s competence to an admiring world.”

“You publicly discussed and defended the Cuomo administration’s nursing home order — arguing that it was consistent with Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services guidelines,” the letter from Wenstrup and Malliotakis states. “Of course, despite your statements, the order was not consistent with federal guidance. … You owe answers to the thousands of families who lost loved ones in New York nursing homes.”

The article indicates the panel is also seeking testimony from former NY Health Commissioner Howard Zucker and the resigned-in-disgrace former NY governor Andrew M. Cuomo, whose deadly 25 March 2020 directive led to his administration's COVID nursing home deaths scandals.

This entry was added to the timeline on 16 December 2023.