10 September 2024: Former NY Gov. Andrew Cuomo Grilled on COVID-19 Nursing Home Policies

Former NY Gov. Andrew Cuomo grilled on COVID-19 nursing home policies

Andrew M. Cuomo gave public testimony under oath before a U.S. House of Representatives subcommittee. Here's the introduction to this report:

Former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo was grilled during his public testimony before Congress on Tuesday, defending his administration's nursing home policies during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The hearing, before the Republican-led House Oversight and Accountability Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic, saw a defensive Cuomo who largely stood by his decision-making during the pandemic -- including a March 2020 directive to readmit COVID-19 patients back into nursing homes -- and blamed the outsized death toll on what he described as former president Donald Trump's lack of leadership.

Cuomo previously testified before the subcommittee during a closed-door hearing in June. Transcripts from that interview, as well as with high-ranking officials during Cuomo's administration, were released Tuesday morning ahead of the public hearing.

While Cuomo attempted to deflect blame to former President Donald Trump in his testimony, the release of transcripts of testimony under oath to the subcommittee provided by his former aides paint a different picture of the governor and his top political staff in both signing off on the deadly 25 March 2020 directive and covering up the full extent of nursing home deaths that resulted.