6 March 2024: Cuomo Subpoenaed by Congress to Testify Under Oath on COVID Nursing Home Deaths

House COVID panel subpoenas former NY Gov. Cuomo over nursing home deaths

It's been a long time coming, but Andrew M. Cuomo has finally been subpoenaed by a committee of the U.S. Congress to testify under oath about his deadly 25 March 2020 directive forcing New York state nursing homes to admit patients known to have COVID infections to free up bed space at hospitals.

Here's an excerpt from The Hill's Nathaniel Weixel's report:

The House committee investigating the coronavirus pandemic response issued a subpoena Tuesday for former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) over his alleged failure to cooperate with a probe into the state’s COVID-19 nursing home policies.

The House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic is demanding Cuomo appear for a closed-door deposition on May 24. Rep. Brad Wenstrup (R-Ohio), the subcommittee’s chairman, has previously requested interviews with former Cuomo administration officials, including former top aide Melissa DeRosa.

Unlike other probes, the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic is focusing on Cuomo's deadly directive and its fatal consequences:

Specifically, the panel is looking into Cuomo’s “must admit” order, which said nursing homes could not turn away patients who tested positive for COVID-19, as long as they were medically stable.

The facilities were also prohibited from requiring hospitalized residents to be tested for the virus before their admission or readmission in nursing homes.

The move was made early in the pandemic and was meant to help relieve overburdened hospitals, which were sending patients elsewhere to help free up capacity.

The move to issue the subpoena comes after months of stonewalling requests for information from the committee by Cuomo and his legal team. The article indicates Cuomo's lawyers are attempting to delay Cuomo's testimony until August.

16 February 2024: House COVID-19 Panel Requests Testimony from Former Cuomo Administration Officials

House COVID-19 panel requests testimony from 4 former Cuomo admin officials

There's been movement in the Congressional probe of Andrew M. Cuomo's deadly 25 March 2020 directive. Four former Cuomo administration have been asked to testify before a congressional committee investigating the consequences of Cuomo's policy. Here's an excerpt from the story:

The House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic has asked four former members of disgraced New York ex-Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s administration to testify on “must admit” orders issued to nursing homes at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Letters were sent out Friday to Elizabeth Garvey, a former special counselor and senior adviser to Cuomo; Gareth Rhodes, the former deputy superintendent of New York’s Department of Financial Services; James Malatras, the ex-governor’s former policy adviser; and Linda Lacewell, the former superintendent of the Department of Financial Services.

The letters requested that they sit for in person transcribed interviews before the Republican-led panel investigating government actions in response to the COVID-19 outbreak.

Chairman Brad Wenstrup (R-Ohio) and Rep. Nicole Malliotakis (R-NY) warned the foursome that the committee “will be forced to evaluate the use of the compulsory” measures if they don’t appear for the voluntary interviews next month.

The request these former officials testify under oath indicates the committee is interested in how the policy was developed, implemented, and administered, which took the combined efforts of hundreds of state government officials.

This entry was added to the timeline on 20 February 2024.

6 February 2024: Andrew Cuomo Demands US AG Review 'Deeply Flawed' Probe into Sexual Harassment Allegations

Cuomo asks U.S. attorney general to examine probe of his case

Andrew M. Cuomo's public relations and legal defense teams have responded to the U.S. Department of Justice's findings that Cuomo engaged in the sexual harassment of multiple women while serving as New York's state governor. Their response isn't terribly original, but more on that after the excerpt from the article:

Disgraced former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo is demanding U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland launch an internal review into the investigation which found he engaged in "sexual harassment and retaliation."

In a letter to Garland Monday, Cuomo's counsel requested discussion of alleged conflicts of interest surrounding the conclusion reached by the Department of Justice (DOJ) and New York Executive Chamber. Glavin PLLC urged the DOJ to investigate the purported conflicts of interest and provide evidence of its findings Cuomo created an adverse workplace for 13 female employees.

“The agreement is a travesty,” the firm wrote. “It is the result of conflicted and irresponsible decision-making and an indefensibly skewed and secretive process.”

Glavin accuses the DOJ of basing its agreement almost entirely on information gathered by New York State Attorney General Letitia James during a “deeply flawed” 2021 investigation into sexual harassment allegations against Cuomo. The firm claims the DOJ never contacted the former governor to address concerns James's subsequent report was incomplete, inaccurate, misleading and biased.

The DOJ's findings of Cuomo's alleged sexual harassment of 13 women were included as part of the 26 Janaury 2024 settlement between the DOJ and the New York state government.

Describing the multiple probes finding unsettling issues with Andrew M. Cuomo's official and personal actions while serving as New York's state governor as either "flawed" or "politically biased" has become an evergreen go-to tactic for Cuomo's PR and legal teams.

This entry was added to the timeline on 11 February 2024.

26 January 2024: U.S. DOJ Confirms Cuomo Operated "Sexually Hostile" Workplace as NY Governor

Cuomo Created ‘Sexually Hostile’ Workplace, Says Justice Department

The resigned-in-disgrace former Governor of New York, Andrew M. Cuomo, was dealt a serious blow in his fight against being held accountable for allegations he sexually harassed multiple women while serving as governor. The U.S. Derpartment of Justice announced it confirmed many of the claims originally documented in NY state attorney general's investigation.

Those claims had provided state legislators and officials, particularly members of Cuomo's Democratic Party, with the leverage they needed to compel Cuomo to choose to resign rather than face impeachment while insulating themselves from the political fallout from the outcome of Cuomo's COVID nursing home deaths scandals that stemmed from Cuomo's infamous deadly 25 March 2020 directive.

Under the control of the Biden administration, the U.S. Department of Justice has likewise sought to minimize the political fallout to Democratic party memebers from Cuomo's nursing home scandals. The DOJ previously declined to pursue federal charges of criminally negligent homicide and manslaughter against Cuomo and has largely adopted the state politicians' strategy of using the sexual harassment allegations to minimize their association with "the governor who kills grandmas", to coin a phrase.

The DOJ announcement is a big enough deal that even the New York Times was compelled to cover the story, which has all the characteristics of a Friday afternoon news dump. Here's an excerpt of that coverage:

The findings appear to largely substantiate the investigation of the New York attorney general, Letitia James, who concluded that Mr. Cuomo had sexually harassed 11 women, amid a culture of fear and intimidation. Mr. Cuomo, who denied having sexually harassed anyone, resigned in August 2021, shortly after the release of Ms. James’s report.

Since his departure, Mr. Cuomo has engaged in a multipronged campaign to discredit the report and Ms. James as being politically motivated, and has been slowly maneuvering toward re-entering political life.

But Mr. Cuomo’s efforts may be sharply compromised by the Justice Department findings, which determined that he repeatedly subjected women who worked for him to unwelcome sexual contact, comments and looks, and gave preferential treatment to some women based on their physical appearance.

From a legal standpoint, the DOJ's findings make it more difficult for Cuomo's legal team, which is being paid for by New York state taxpayers, to defend Cuomo against the civil lawsuits filed against him by his alleged victims. We'll see how Cuomo's legal and political team's respond.

Additional Coverage

The New York Post reports "Andrew Cuomo sexually harassed at least 13 female employees, retaliated against ex-staff: Feds, in which they capture the response of Cuomo's legal and political teams:

Attorneys for Cuomo continue to deny the allegations and further claim that the federal investigation was politically motivated.

“This is nothing more than a political settlement with no investigation,” Rita Glavin, an attorney for the former governor, wrote in a statement.

Cuomo spokesman Rich Azzopardi said Cuomo hadn’t been interviewed as part of the federal investigation. He also bashed Breon Peace the U.S. Attorney for Eastern District of New York who signed off on the settlement, claiming he’s biased because he used to work at the same firm as one of the prosecutors in the attorney general’s investigation.

“This isn’t worth the paper it’s printed on,” Azzopardi said.

And yet, it has been written. Including in the Albany Times Union's article "Justice Department says Cuomo fostered 'sexually hostile' workplace", which emphasizes the DOJ's findings came in connection with a settlement with the state of New York:

The U.S. Justice Department on Friday announced it had reached an agreement with the New York governor’s office “to resolve the department’s claims that the Executive Chamber under former Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo engaged in a pattern or practice of sexual harassment and retaliation” in violation of civil rights laws.

The agreement memorializes reforms that were enacted by Gov. Kathy Hochul and also institutes additional measures that federal authorities said are intended to prevent sexual harassment or retaliation in the Executive Chamber. The investigation, by the U.S. attorney’s office in Brooklyn, had not been made public until the office announced the agreement on Friday.

The probe relied largely on the findings of a report issued by the state attorney general’s office in August 2021 that concluded Cuomo had sexually harassed or acted inappropriately with 11 women. The report also found that Cuomo and some of his top aides had cultivated a toxic workplace.

But the settlement with the U.S. attorney’s specifies that it found that Cuomo “subjected at least 13 female employees of New York state, including Executive Chamber employees, to a sexually hostile work environment.” The agreement does not identify the 13 employees or provide details on the at least two additional women it states had been subjected to a hostile work environment.

The three articles together provide a good overall picture of the DOJ's 26 January 2024 announcement.

19 January 2024: Cuomo Sues NY Attorney General, Demands Records from Sexual Harassment Probe

Cuomo files new lawsuit against attorney general, demanding records

The legal proceedings surrounding the multiple sexual harassment allegations involving former NY state governor Andrew M. Cuomo have been moving at a glacial pace. But something has actually happened, with Cuomo's attorneys filing suit against NY state attorney general Letitia James demanding her office turn over records from its probe into the allegations that compelled him to resign in disgrace. Here are the leading paragraphs summarizing the legal development:

Former Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo is continuing his battle with the state attorney general’s office for all the files from the sexual harassment investigation that led to his resignation in August 2021.

Attorneys for Cuomo filed a petition in state Supreme Court in New York City this week seeking to compel the attorney general’s office to turn over the materials in response to a Freedom of Information Law request. Cuomo’s attorneys argue the attorney general’s office has unlawfully delayed providing a response to that request.

The case was filed as Cuomo’s attorneys also have tried to subpoena the investigative records in connection with two federal lawsuits that have been filed against the former governor — one by a female State Police investigator and another by a former female aide. Both accused him of sexual harassment.

The state attorney general's office has declined to provide the records requested by Cuomo's attorneys since it is not a party in the federal lawsuits filed by Cuomo's alleged victims. The article indicates the NY attorney general's office has about 73,000 documents related to its probe of sexual harassment allegations against Cuomo.

This entry was added to the timeline on 21 January 2024.

19 January 2024: Depositions of Cuomo's Alleged Sexual Harassment Victims to Proceed

Andrew Cuomo accusers will give depositions over ongoing lawsuits against ex-NY gov

The slowly moving wheels of justice turned just a little after a federal judge ruled that Andrew M. Cuomo's attorneys will be allowed to deposition his alleged victims of sexual harassment under oath. Here's an excerpt describing the latest progress in the multiple lawsuits Cuomo faces:

In a sweeping ruling, judges ruled that Cuomo is able to demand some documents and depositions from his accusers and other former state officials involved in the former governor’s scandals.

The judge’s order came after months of back-and-forth between Cuomo and several women who have accused him of sexual harassment, finally granting some clarity in a dizzying web of lawsuits.

Cuomo, who denies the allegations against him, had issued dozens of subpoenas requesting mountains of evidence from 36 people and government entities surrounding Attorney General Letitia James’ 2021 report alleging the governor sexually harassed 11 women.

Judge Taryn Merkyl slimmed down many of Cuomo’s evidence requests, which several of his accusers were fighting on grounds that they claim were extremely burdensome to produce and, in some cases, were being requested to embarrass them.

Separately, Cuomo received his first payment from the state of New York for paying for the cost of his legal defense earlier in the week.

This entry was added to the timeline on 21 January 2024.

16 January 2024: NY Taxpayers Pay $565,000 for Cuomo Legal Defense for Sexual Harassment Charges

Cuomo’s campaign gets $565,000 from taxpayers. And more is on the way.

Andrew M. Cuomo may have chosen to resign in disgrace rather than face impeachment proceedings, but that doesn't mean he has to pay for the legal bills related to allegations of his sexual harassment of state government employees.

New York state taxpayers will pick up the bill. In fact, this report indicates they just paid the first $565,000 for what appears to be a very generous perk for New York state officials. Here's an excerpt from the report:

Former Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s campaign account balance has grown for the first time since he left office over two years ago, inching up from $7.7 million to $7.8 million over the past six months.

But the growth isn’t due to a surge in donations for Cuomo, who has been weighing a New York City mayoral run.

Rather, it’s due to a New York law that requires the state to reimburse legal fees for elected officials who have been accused of crimes that don’t result in convictions. The Albany County sheriff’s office brought a misdemeanor charge of forcible touching against Cuomo in 2021, which was tossed after prosecutors concluded the complaint was defective.

Cuomo received a $565,000 check from the state comptroller’s office last week, thanks to the law.

That likely won’t be the end of the money the ex-governor receives from the state.

According his campaign finance reports Tuesday, Cuomo paid $300,000 to law firm Holwell Shuster & Goldberg since July. That brings the total he has spent on legal fees to $6.9 million since the Assembly started impeachment proceedings in 2021.

The money, which has gone to a wide variety of investigations on allegations that include sexual misconduct and the misuse of state resources to write his pandemic memoir, won’t all be reimbursable. Still, Cuomo’s campaign is expected to get back several million dollars from the state as they work out the details with the comptroller’s office.

This entry was added to the timeline on 21 January 2024.

3 January 2024: NY Governor Hochul Sitting on Independent Review of Cuomo-Era Nursing Home Policies

State yet to make independent nursing homes report public months year-long review

New York State Senator Jim Tedisco (R, Glenville) is demanding answers from the Governor's office on pandemic-era state policies on nursing homes. It's been nearly three years after a damning report from Attorney General Letitia James found the State greatly under-counted COVID-19 deaths in nursing homes under the Cuomo Administration.

Governor Kathy Hochul was Andrew Cuomo's lieutenant governor at the time of the pandemic--when a March 2020 order from Cuomo put COVID-positive patients back into nursing homes. It was a policy the state eventually backtracked on after CBS 6 reporting involving a whistleblower; but the damage had already been done....

In 2022-- the now-Governor Hochul announced she ordered an independent review of the state's policies early on in the pandemic.

The state hired an outside firm on a $4.3 million, one-year contract starting in November of 2022. That was nearly 14 months ago. Senator Tedisco is calling on the Governor to make that report public, immediately and without redactions.

It's long past time for vital questions about the resigned-in-disgrace former NY Governor Andrew M. Cuomo's deadly 25 March 2020 directive's impact on New York nursing homes to be answered.

This entry was added to the timeline on 6 January 2024.