10 December 2021: Cuomo Administration Planned to Smear Janice Dean

Andrew Cuomo’s top aide and Chris Cuomo planned to discredit Fox News’ Janice Dean over Covid criticism, sources say

We're not quite sure what to make of this report. It's from CNBC and is based on anonymous sourcing involving "private conversations" that took place among Cuomo administration officials, rather than the under-oath testimony featured in the transcripts from the New York state atorney general's probe. We're featuring it because the article presents Janice Dean's response to the reporting.

Close allies of former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, including his top aide and his former CNN anchor brother, plotted to find ways to discredit Fox News meteorologist and host Janice Dean after she became one of the most vocal critics of the governor’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic, according to people familiar with the matter.

Melissa DeRosa, who had served as secretary to the governor, was among the Cuomo aides who ripped Dean behind the scenes and sought to craft a public messaging strategy that would paint the Fox News personality as merely a right-wing commentator, people familiar with the effort told CNBC. Dean’s criticism of Cuomo stemmed mainly from the 2020 deaths of her husband’s parents, whom she said died of Covid in their elder-care facilities....

Chris Cuomo, who was a CNN anchor until he was fired last week, was encouraged to find information that would focus on Dean’s political leanings, according to a person familiar with the matter. It’s unclear whether Chris Cuomo ever went ahead with digging up information on Dean, or who encouraged him to seek the information. Dean started criticizing Andrew Cuomo on air and in columns during 2020, before the sexual harassment scandal exploded.

The report indicates it is "unclear if DeRosa or Cuomo’s team ever went ahead with initiating such a plan" to smear Janice Dean.

For a time, Dean was the most visible public figure to challenge the administration of Andrew M. Cuomo over its performance during the coronavirus pandemic, who kept the story of the administration's deadly 25 March 2020 directive and the excess deaths to which it contributed among New York nursing home residents. The timeline featured a profile of Janice Dean role in sustaining public focus on the Cuomo administration's COVID nursing home deaths scandals back on 24 March 2021.

Here's the text of the statement she provided to CNBC's reporters:

“As I have said from day one, this was never about politics. I watched first-hand how the governor’s office treated grieving families trying to get answers about the March 25th 2020 executive order to admit over 9,000 Covid positive patients into nursing homes. Instead of addressing our concerns or expressing their condolences, Cuomo’s spokesperson Rich Azzopardi called us a ‘death cult’ and told my sister in law to ‘get a life’ not long after both her parents died. Over the last year and a half I have seen victims of Andrew Cuomo and those demanding accountability demeaned and smeared in the press and on social media. In January of this year, Azzopardi was particularly misogynistic by responding to my inquiries and reporting as ‘not a credible source on anything except maybe the weather.’ So while I am not surprised to hear that the Cuomo’s administration alongside his brother Chris Cuomo were doing the same with me, I am glad these details are coming to light.”

The references to Richard Azzopardi are related to elements of the report. Do click through to the article for more information.

Meanwhile, the details related to Andrew M. Cuomo's COVID nursing home deaths scandals need much more scrutiny.

Update 11 December 2021: Here's related coverage from other sources:

• Chris Cuomo allegedly blasted Janice Dean as ‘that Fox weather bitch’ in smear plot

13 October 2021: Anti-Cuomo COVID Nursing Home Deaths Scandals Advocates Meet with Hochul

Fox News’ Janice Dean, Nursing Home Family Advocates Meet With NY Gov. to Push for ‘Full Accountability’ on Cuomo Policy

This report describes the 12 October 2021 meeting involving two of the leading advocates opposed to Andrew M. Cuomo's deadly 25 March 2020 directive and his administration's effort to cover-up the full extent of COVID deaths among New York nursing home residents and replacement Governor Kathy Hochul.

Fox News’ Janice Dean, New York Assembly Member Ron Kim, and more met with Governor Kathy Hochul Tuesday to call for “full accountability” on covid-19 nursing home deaths.

The report is short on details of their closed door discussion, but this report indicates Hochul offered an apology for the actions of the Cuomo administration.

While the report features several Twitter posts by both Janice Dean and Ron Kim from the past several months, the following tweet confirms this first meeting with Hochul:

For the first time since we began or quest for accountability on behalf of our families that died from Covid in nursing homes last spring, we met today with @GovKathyHochul. It was a small step but an important one to get answers. It would not have happened without @rontkim. pic.twitter.com/Su0Niwk8ow

— Janice Dean (@JaniceDean) October 12, 2021

Here are profiles from the timeline for both advocates:

• 24 March 2021: A Profile of Janice Dean
• 1 June 2021: A Profile of Assemblyman Ron Kim

Follow the links for Janice Dean and Ron Kim to see where and how often the two appear within events covered by the timeline, which represents only a fraction of their advocacy on behalf of the families of the Cuomo administration's COVID nursing home victims.

The meeting also included Alexa Rivera as a representative of the Voices for Seniors advocacy group. She is the co-founder of the group with her sister, Vivian Rivera-Zayas, whose name has come up more frequently as a spokesperson for the group. This timeline entry describes how they became advocates. Their organization's Twitter post about the meeting has more information about what was on the agenda for discussion:

After 19 months of making noise God opened an opportunity for us.

Our Co-Founder Alexa Rivera & Director @chichi31859 represented all of us today.We are told there were many tears. @GovKathyHochul got to see that this is still a raw and relevant issue to us.

Thank you @rontkim pic.twitter.com/k3ewgIJgGE

— VoicesForSeniors (@Voices4Seniors) October 12, 2021

A forensic audit to fully tally the number of nursing home residents who subsequently died from COVID-19 in nursing homes, or at hospitals or other facilities, or at home after being infected during the period the Cuomo administsration's deadly 25 March 2020 directive was in effect would be a welcome development after the Cuomo administration's legacy of cover-ups. The administration's cover-up of the full extent of COVID deaths among New York's nursing home residents dates back to early April 2020, so any action on moving forward with such an audit has been a very long time in coming.

24 March 2021: A Profile of Janice Dean

Meteorologist Janice Dean has become one of the most prominent critics of Governor Cuomo and his COVID nursing home policies. The articles below provide insight into how she evolved into that role:

24 March 2021: Fox meteorologist Dean turns into fierce Cuomo critic

In the last year, Janice Dean has become a leading advocate for the families of the Cuomo administration's COVID nursing home victims. In that role, she almost single-handedly kept the scandal visible when biased news media organizations were determined to minimize it while advancing a "Cuomo the Hero" narrative. This article provides a window into the roots of her advocacy and its impact.

29 April 2021: Andrew Cuomo’s worst nightmare

This article covers much of the same ground that earlier reporting has covered, but does offer deeper insight into Dean's reaction to Governor Cuomo's appearances on CNN as one of the motivating factors behind her advocacy:

“Had I not seen him and his brother on TV doing their stupid comedy show, had I not seen him writing a book in the middle of a pandemic, when he should be writing condolence cards, and had he come out and said, ‘I'm sorry for your loss,’ which he's never done before, had he spoken with some of the families, had he had a town hall with grieving family members, had he called some of us on the phone,” it might have gone differently, Dean reflected. “Had he said to us in the beginning, ‘I’ll spend the rest of my life trying to right this, I made such a terrible mistake.’ But it was his ego and his quest for wanting more power that truly brought him down. So, I’m actually grateful for his gross comedy hour with his brother, and I’m grateful for his disgusting book. And his, you know, his terrible interviews, you know, puffing himself up to be this — this homecoming king? If it weren’t for that, you would have gotten away with it.”

Follow this link for more information related to CNN's ethically compromised coverage of Governor Cuomo and his many scandals in the timeline.

27 September 2021: Janice Dean Says Howard Zucker Should Go To Jail

Fox News Meteorologist who lost relatives in nursing homes says Zucker should "go to jail"

Since the news stream for Andrew M. Cuomo's COVID nursing home deaths scandals has slowed to follow the pace of legal developments and official press briefings, we're taking the opportunity to play catch up with a recent story the timeline originally skipped over. This report is from 23 September 2021:

Fox News Senior Meteorologist Janice Dean lost both her mother-in-law and father-in-law from COVID-19 in nursing homes downstate in 2020. Soon after, Dean went on a mission to get accountability, attending several rallies in Albany and around the state, demanding to know why Commissioner Zucker and then-Governor Andrew Cuomo created a policy that required nursing homes to take in patients who were known to be COVID-19 positive. That policy, implemented March 25th, 2020, is believed to have helped cause the spread that led to more than 15,000 deaths in nursing homes.

“Howard Zucker is just as guilty maybe even more guilty than Andrew Cuomo. He was the one who also allowed the friends and family COVID tests to happen. Essentially taking away all of these resources that could have gone to good use to help the nursing homes,” Dean said. “I would have liked it to be a firing just like I would have liked Cuomo to be impeached, I think Howard Zucker should be fired and he should probably go to jail too,” she continued.

With a federal investigation still active into Cuomo over what the New York State Attorney General found was an undercount of reported nursing home deaths during the pandemic, and an Assembly Judiciary Committee report into that data still pending, Dean believes that there will be more bombshells to come.

“I wonder if this resignation is preemptive to the investigation and to the impeachment report that is supposed to come out in the next couple of weeks,” Dean said.

It's not a bad speculation. When the sexual harassment allegations arose, it provided the majority Democratic Party in New York with a tool they could use to remove Andrew M. Cuomo from power while limiting political damage to members of their party within the state government that would have occurred had the COVID nursing home deaths scandal been the primary focus of the assembly's impeachment probe. That's because the COVID nursing home deaths scandal involved the active participation of many more members of the party than have so far been ousted following Cuomo's resignation in disgrace.

We have our doubts as to whether the NY Assembly's report on what it found during its impeachment probe will come out as soon as Dean anticipates, but that event when it does arrive will indicate how deeply the assembly's investigators pursued it. Our guess is "not very".

We anticipate a slow news period until the report is released. That may mean less-than-daily updates to the timeline.

18 May 2021: Can Cuomo's Pandemic Book Riches Be Blocked by NY's "Son of Sam" Law?

Janice Dean: I thought Cuomo's book deal was a joke, profiting off deaths of New Yorkers is 'disgusting'

Appearing on her network, Fox News meteorologist Janice Dean opened an interesting possibility of applying New York's "Son of Sam" law, which is aimed at blocking criminals from enriching themselves because of their illicit notoriety, to the proceeds Governor Cuomo has and will receive from his pandemic "leadership" book.

JANICE DEAN: When I first read that the governor was writing a book in the middle of the pandemic, I thought it was a joke. I thought it was a headline in the Babylon Bee or The Onion. How could the governor write a book about leadership when thousands of elderly were dying? It was incredible. And I was mad at the time, but seeing that he got over $5 million for this, profiting off the deaths of New Yorkers, including my in-laws, it's disgusting....

I think the book publishing company can sue him for breach of contract because it's filled with lies. And if you look at the timeline, the governor covering up the nursing home issue, the tragedy, over 15,000 deaths that him and his administration tried to cover up for months. The timeline corresponds with him trying to sell that $5 million book. So I wonder if we can profit off the Son of Sam law. All of that money should go to the families of our dead loved ones.

Here's some background on New York Executive Law Section 632a, a.k.a. the "Son of Sam" law:

New York Executive Law Section 632a, commonly known as the “Son of Sam” law, was hastily enacted in 1977 after serial killer David Berkowitz, also known as the “Son of Sam,” sold his exclusive story rights.

The purpose of the law was to “prevent those accused or convicted of a crime from profiting from the commercial exploitation of their crimes by contracting for the production of books, movies, magazine articles, television shows and the like in which their crime is reenacted” or in which the “person’s thoughts, feelings, opinions or emotions” about the crime are expressed.

The law required that any profits obtained from works describing a crime be withheld and made available to the victims. All monies received would be paid to the New York Crime Victims Board and held in escrow for five years. To claim the funds, the victim would have to obtain a civil money judgment against the criminal within this period.

The law ran into constitutional barriers in the 1990s, where New York went from 2001 until 2020 without any attempt to claw back the proceeds from criminal activity. With that being the case, we don't think it's likely it will be applied to Governor Cuomo's situation, where judgments against Governor Cuomo in both criminal and civil court would be needed to pry the pandemic "leadership" book proceeds from his and his family's possession.

11 August 2020: Why Janice Dean's Testimony Was Blocked

The Outrageous Reason NY Dems Stopped Janice Dean from Testifying at Monday's Nursing Home Hearing

This article follows up the story of how members of Governor Cuomo's political party blocked Fox News' meteorologist Janice Dean from testifying to the state assembly's joint committee meeting investigating the state's nursing home policies.

21 April 2021: The Anniversary of the Exposure of Governor Cuomo's COVID Nursing Home Deaths Scandals

A year later, waiting on justice for New York's governor

This report covers the anniversary of the death of Dolores Newman, Fox News meteorologist Janice Dean's mother-in-law, to COVID in a New York nursing home during the period when the Cuomo administration's deadly 25 March 2020 directive was in effect.

This week marked the one-year anniversary that Janice Dean lost mother-in-law Dolores Newman to COVID-19, and her father-in-law would succumb to the virus weeks later, too. But it would be almost a year later that the always-smiling weather lady would learn Gov. Andrew Cuomo would be ultimately responsible for their deaths, since he ordered nursing homes across the state to take back COVID-positive patients who were recovering in hospital beds.

That fact was, at first, unknown to the public while the media was praising the Democrat governor for leading a statewide effort to fight the virus. While the elderly were literally dying from the virus, Cuomo won an Emmy for his press conferences and landed a multi-million dollar book deal.

It was a nursing home investigation by New York's attorney general that eventually uncovered the truth, and Attorney General Tish James' report released in late January not only faulted the New York Dept. of Health but concluded it had undercounted the gruesome deaths by as much as 50%.

According to The New York Post, which was the first news outlet to demand answers from Cuomo, the New York Dept. of Health issued an order on March 25, 2020 that would lead to countless deaths across the state.

“We've had over 15,000 deaths in elder care facilities,” Dean told Fox News, “and I believe it's partly because of the governor's mandate to put COVID-19-positive [patients] into nursing homes for 46 days.”

Since the tragic facts of Governor Cuomo's nursing home deaths scandals have become known, Dean has become a leading advocate seeking the Governor and members of his administration be held accountable for their deliberately chosen policies.

Since we're marking the one-year anniversary of the exposure of Governor Cuomo's COVID nursing home deaths scandals, here's the timeline entry for the story:

• 20 April 2020: Governor Cuomo Plays Dumb

And here's the article by New York Post journalists Bernadette Hogan and Bruce Golding, who broke that news:

• Cuomo didn’t know coronavirus patients are being sent back to nursing homes

The article was originally posted online at 5:19 PM on 20 April 2020, the late hour of which is why we're marking the one year anniversary today on 21 April 2021.

10 August 2021: Reactions to Cuomo's Resignation Announcement

For this entry, the timeline is flipping the order of presentation between the New York Post and the Albany Times-Union in documenting the immediate reactions to Andrew M. Cuomo's resignation announcement. We've also collected a number of reports from these and other sources to capture the larger reaction to the announcement.

Cuomo’s insulting resignation speech — self-serving to the end

The editors of the New York Post picked up on Andrew M. Cuomo's almost trademark tone-deafness in his resignation announcement, which we're presenting in full:

It’s not me. It’s you.

That was Andrew Cuomo’s self-serving, tone-deaf resignation Tuesday. New Yorkers have always known he was a hugger, a kisser. But “the lines have shifted” so suddenly you can’t do that anymore, he said with a “Mad Men”-esque expression of shock. What’s a little groping between a boss and his aide? You can’t do that anymore??

Cuomo finally did the right thing, saying he was going to be out of office in 14 days. But despite his pleas of “I accept full responsibility,” he accepted none at all. He blamed a “hot” political environment. He blamed his enemies. He blamed Twitter. He claimed holding men to account was “unsustainable for society.”

Then he mansplained how much he’s done for New York, skipping over the nursing home fiasco, the book he forced his staff to work on, the disastrous bills he didn’t block.

He said it was “in the best interest” of New York state that he serve, but it was going to cost too much money and take too much effort to impeach him. No, he didn’t do anything wrong. It’s that it would be too much of a distraction to try him for it.

“You know me,” Cuomo said.

Yes, we do. You’re the egocentric governor who never accepted any blame, never showed a shred of regret, but attacked all his enemies with rabid hatred.

No, Andrew. It’s not us. It was always you.

Listen: Hear from Cuomo's accuser and the editor who first reported the story

At this writing, the Albany Times-Union's editors haven't yet posted an editorial reaction to Andrew M. Cuomo's resignation, but they have posted the equivalent of a victory lap, featuring their full interview with Brittany Commisso, which was influential in tipping the scales for Cuomo in choosing his resignation over fighting his impeachment.

One of the women who has accused embattled New York Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo of sexual harassment is a current staffer named Brittany Commisso.

Referred to as "Executive Assistant #1" in State Attorney General Tish James' scathing report released last week, Commisso alleges the governor groped her at the Executive Mansion in November. She has come forward and identified herself this week in an exclusive interview with the Times Union and CBS News.

On this special episode of "The Eagle," we'll hear from Commisso herself, as well as from Capitol Bureau Managing Editor Brendan Lyons, who broke the initial story of Commisso's allegations in April.

Do click through to hear the full podcast interview.

Meanwhile, here's a roundup of other initial reactions on Cuomo's resignation:

Reactions to New York Governor Andrew Cuomo's resignation

Reuters summarizes statements from a number of significant figures in New York politics.

Bill De Blasio, Other Gubernatorial Hopefuls Reaction to Andrew Cuomo's Resignation

Newsweek covered the reactions of outgoing New York City Mayor and long term Cuomo punching sack Bill de Blasio, as well as several candidates now running to replace Andrew M. Cuomo as New York Governor.

Cuomo resignation garners reaction from Congress: ‘The right thing’

The New York Post covers the reaction to Cuomo's resignation announcement from the U.S. Congress.

Cuomo accusers rejoice over governor’s resignation: ‘Vindicated and relieved’

The New York Daily News reports on the reaction from several of the women who accused Andrew M. Cuomo of sexually harassing them.

Lawmakers say Cuomo's resignation inevitable and best for the state

The Albany Times-Union presents the reaction of New York state lawmakers.

Janice Dean 'in shock' after Andrew Cuomo's resignation: His 'corruptions run deep'

Janice Dean has been one of the leading figures pushing to hold Andrew M. Cuomo accountable for the hundreds, if not thousands, of excess deaths among nursing home residents resulting from his administration's deadly 25 March 2020 directive. Dean argues that investigation must continue.

On a side note, it can be argued the sexual harassment allegations that have toppled Cuomo from power were pushed to limit the political damage to members of the state Democratic Party from Cuomo's COVID nursing home deaths scandals.

NY Assemblyman Kim on Cuomo resignation: ‘Relieved, grateful and worried’

WPIX reports on NY Assemblyman Ron Kim (D-Queens) reaction to Cuomo's resignation. Like Dean, Kim wants to pursue an investigation of the Cuomo administration's role in contributing to COVID deaths of nursing home residents.

New Yorkers React to Gov. Andrew Cuomo's Resignation

CBS New York is covering the reaction of regular New Yorkers to the news of Cuomo's resignation announcement. Their video coverage is embedded below.

The timeline had expected Andrew M. Cuomo's resignation announcement would be made on Monday, 9 August 2021, which is why we delayed our coverage of Brittany Commisso's interview discussing the incidents of Cuomo's sexual harassment she alleged. We think the interview represented the tipping point for determining Andrew M. Cuomo's decision to announce his resignation rather than continue fighting his impeachment.

29 October 2021: Opinion - Cuomo Should Also Face Criminal Charges for COVID Nursing Home Deaths Scandals

Janice Dean: Cuomo sex crime charge is hopefully the beginning of holding disgraced 'Luv Guv' accountable

In this opinion piece, Janice Dean shares her thoughts on where criminal investigations of Andrew M. Cuomo should go next now that sex crime charges have been filed. Here are several excerpts:

It hit me when I saw the official document from the Albany County Sheriff’s Office this afternoon: "The People of The State of New York Vs. Andrew M. Cuomo."

The same former governor who this time last year was polishing his Emmy award and celebrating his New York Times best-selling book was charged Thursday with groping a former aide at the Executive Mansion. The self-proclaimed "Luv Guv" who appeared regularly on his brother Chris's primetime show on CNN to talk about who's their mother’s favorite son could now have to register as a sex offender if he’s convicted....

Although there is definitely some satisfaction in knowing this man could actually be arrested for a crime after being talked about as a possible presidential candidate last year, it is still not enough for those of us who have been asking for answers and accountability for arguably an even bigger crime: Helping to kill thousands of seniors in nursing homes in the spring 2020....

The charges Thursday allege that the disgraced governor’s filthy hands were all over a young woman’s body without her permission. And for those of us that lost loved ones in nursing homes, he has blood on those hands as well.

Cuomo's COVID nursing home deaths scandals are much bigger in scale than the sexual harassment charges for which Cuomo faces prosecution as a misdemeanor. They involved the active participation of many people in New York's state government, many of whom are members of Cuomo's Democratic party, which holds political power in the state. The sexual harassment allegations provided these party members a way to remove Cuomo from office while limiting the fallout to themselves.

That doesn't change their need to hold Cuomo accountable for his administration's deadly 25 March 2020 directive, which led to hundreds, if not thousands, of excess COVID deaths among New York nursing home residents. Dean is absolutely right in pushing for that accountability. Given what we've seen since replacement NY Governor Kathy Hochul was sworn into office, that will continue to be an uphill struggle, because it is in her and her party's interest to avoid true accountability to protect their hold on their political power.

10 August 2020: Pro-Cuomo Officials in State Legislature Block Victim's Testimony

Janice Dean: NY Democrats Stopped Me from Testifying at Nursing Home Hearing

Meteorologist Janice Dean's in-laws were exposed to the coronavirus in New York's nursing homes during the period the Cuomo administration's 25 March 2020 directive was in effect and subsequently died from the viral infection. She was scheduled to testify at state legislature hearings scheduled today but has been blocked from testifying by members of Governor Cuomo's political party.

6 December 2021: Opinion - How Andrew and Chris Cuomo Made Janice Dean into an Activist

Cuomo brothers canceled – here's how they turned mourners' grief into rage

Janice Dean marks the occasion of Chris Cuomo's firing from CNN to recount how she became a committed activist seeking justice for the Cuomo COVID nursing home deaths scandals.

It was the moment that turned grief into rage in May 2020.

Seeing the Cuomo brothers joking around on CNN with a gigantic cotton swab.

That was the tipping point. Thousands of seniors were dying in New York nursing homes, where staff could not turn away or test incoming infected patients. We were all quarantined and couldn’t have wakes or funerals for my husband’s parents after they tragically died in their long-term care facilities.

The timeline featured the video clip in which the Cuomo brothers joked around live on CNN in the 6 May 2020 entry "Peak Cuomo Arrives".

Yet, these two clowns – Gov. Andrew Cuomo and his brother, CNN anchor Chris Cuomo – were yucking it up on cable television.

And I am so grateful it happened.

It was the very next day that I decided to share my family’s story on Tucker Carlson’s show.

The timeline covered the first "joking" incident with Chris and Andrew M. Cuomo that was broadcast live on CNN in our 6 May 2020 entry, and the infamous "swab" episode is featured in the 21 May 2021 entry.

16 October 2022: Janice Dean Raps Replacement NY Governor Hochul for Lack of Action on Cuomo COVID Nursing Home Deaths

We're playing a bit of catch up following our last "live" post on 13 October 2022. We added this story to the timeline on 30 October 2022.

I believed Hochul, but her probe of COVID nursing-home deaths in New York is ‘damn’ late

As we suspected, there have hardly been any news items covering Andrew M. Cuomo's 25 March 2020 directive and its deadly consequences as the media has been mostly focused on the runup to the 8 November 2022 mid-term elections.

But not entirely, as this op-ed from Janice Dean demonstrates. As a member of one of the thousands of families who were harmed by Andrew M. Cuomo's negligent policies, she expressed her disappointment in this op-ed. Here's an excerpt:

Hochul listened sympathetically to my husband, Sean, as he painfully explained what it was like losing both his parents within two weeks of each other and not being able to see or comfort them. My friends, Peter and Daniel Arbeeny, gave Hochul their father’s death certificate and asked why he wasn’t counted in the whitewash of nursing-home ­fatalities. I commented after our meeting that Hochul’s actions would speak louder than words, and a year later we have seen nothing to indicate she has been true to her promise. Her “blue-ribbon panel” into the “good, bad and ugly” decisions made during the pandemic has never happened.

Peter Arbeeny, a lifelong Democrat, says he often wonders: If Cuomo were a Republican, would we “still be here two years later waiting for the Democratic machine to start an investigation with subpoena power?”

Rep. Lee Zeldin, the Republican running for governor against Hochul, has promised families if he wins to “appoint a special prosecution my first day in office to investigate and prosecute any crimes regarding the order and the cover up.” That’s something that should happen regardless of who wins in November.

My friend and fellow advocate, Assemblyman Ron Kim, who helped facilitate the meeting between grieving families and Hochul last October, is still holding out hope that she will be true to her word, but argues she can’t choose consultants to do the report. It needs to be an “independent commission with full subpoena and investigative powers. This cannot be like the 2020 DOH report that went back to then-Governor Cuomo where he controlled the facts and the narrative.”

Replacement NY Governor Kathy Hochul's failure to follow through on such an independent probe raises legitimate questions about her leadership. Which we view as entirely self-inflicted. Why she, as someone who had no role in the formation, implementation, or execution of Andrew M. Cuomo's deadly 25 March 2020 directive would not pursue an independent investigation of excess COVID deaths in New York's nursing homes during the coronavirus pandemic is a glaring, unanswered question.

22 July 2020: The Nursing Home Deaths of Janice Dean's In-Laws

Janice Dean: COVID-19 killed my in-laws after Cuomo's reckless New York nursing home policy

The Fox News' meteorologist lost both her mother and father-in-law to the coronavirus epidemic in New York's nursing homes that the Cuomo administration's policies contributed to spreading, calling for a nonpartisan, independent investigation.

6 January 2022: Manhattan DA's Dropping Cuomo Nursing Home Deaths Cover-up Case "Shady and Fishy"

Families of NY nursing home victims slam Manhattan DA for dropping Cuomo probe: 'Shady and fishy'

This report covers the reaction of families whose sick, elderly members residing in New York nursing homes died of COVID during the period Andrew M. Cuomo's deadly 25 March 2020 directive was in effect to the news that the Manhattan district attorney's office would not pursue criminal charges related to Cuomo's attempted cover-up of the full extent of those deaths. Here's an excerpt:

A man who lost his father in a New York nursing home slammed the Manhattan district attorney's office for dropping the probe of former Gov. Andrew Cuomo's administration.

"What I would say to the new D.A. is start out with why was the strategy of the Cuomo administration to send positive patients to nursing homes as the only strategy rather than the absolute last?" Peter Arbeeny told "Fox & Friends" on Wednesday. He also asked why families of those who died were not interviewed as part of the investigation.

Fox News senior meteorologist Janice Dean, who lost her in-laws in a nursing home that was impacted by New York’s order to open them to COVID-positive patients, thinks there was a deal made before the governor decided to resign.

"I think this was planned in advance. He was going to be impeached. And I think lawmakers got together and said listen if you step down now, we will drop the charges and you could run again. I believe this was all planned out."

Andrew M. Cuomo's COVID nursing home deaths scandals involved many more people than his sexual harassment scandals. There's a strong argument to be made that members of Cuomo's Democratic Party in New York advanced the weaker sexual harassment scandals as a way to minimize damage to the party's interests. More honest prosecutors would be indicting dozens of party members serving in elected and apppointed positions in the Cuomo administration connected to the excess deaths associated with nursing home deaths resulting from Cuomo's directive and their cover-up.

COVID victims who died in NY nursing homes deserve justice. I won't stop fighting for them

Anti-Cuomo COVID nursing home deaths scandals activist Janice Dean was quoted in the previous article. Here are extended excerpts of her op-ed giving a more complete picture of her reaction to the dropping of cases investigating the Cuomo administration's acknowledged cover-up of nursing home deaths:

It’s been almost two years since the deaths of my in-laws Mickey and Dee Newman who contracted COVID-19 in their separate elder care facilities in New York City.

Our families were never notified of Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s mandate to send over 9,000 COVID positive patients into New York nursing homes and we still don’t know why he decided to do it.

There were other facilities provided by the federal government he could’ve used (like the USS Comfort ship and the Javits Center) that went virtually empty, without any COVID patients. Instead, the governor’s health department decided to put the sickest people into the places where our most vulnerable resided.

Since May of 2020, myself and thousands of families have demanded answers and accountability into why those deadly decisions were made. But instead of addressing why this tragedy happened on his watch, Cuomo did everything he could to cover it up.

And despite the disgraced governor’s resignation in August it appears that little by little, those in power are helping him get away with his corruptive, criminal behavior.

On Monday, Cuomo’s team announced that the Manhattan district attorney’s office were dropping their nursing home probe.

Elkan Abramowitz, Cuomo’s attorney wrote in a statement:

"I was contacted today by the head of the Elder Care Unit from the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office who informed me they have closed its investigation involving the Executive Chamber and nursing homes.

I was told that after a thorough investigation — as we have said all along — there was no evidence to suggest that any laws were broken."

According to the New York Post, the investigation under ex-DA Cyrus Vance, Jr. was quashed last Thursday right before the new DA Alvin Bragg was sworn in.

How convenient. And how telling.

Many of us are disturbed and angered by this news especially since this now seems like a deal was made before Vance left office and hours before the new DA moved in.

Peter Arbeeny, a fierce advocate whose father contracted covid in a Brooklyn nursing home and died in the spring of last year says that the data manipulation, the false public DOH reports, the false reporting of the death toll and the false testimony given to the senate and the assembly are "a violation of law and public trust because they were driven by personal profit and gain."

This cannot be overlooked...

My friend and fellow advocate New York State Assemblyman Ron Kim, chairman of the Assembly Aging Committee, is still optimistic that the other ongoing probes by the FBI, the DOJ and AG are more serious, and that justice will still prevail....

According to the New York Post, the Feds’ probe is still examining the Cuomo administration’s actions relating to the nursing homes deaths and the FBI is still looking into Cuomo’s $5.1 advance for his book, "American Crisis: Leadership Lessons from the COVID-19 Pandemic" which was negotiated and published while he was being accused of covering up the total nursing home death toll.

And just because Cuomo is no longer in power doesn’t mean the rest of us are done with trying to hold him accountable or call out his continued corruption.

Because although our loved ones can never defend themselves, it’s up to us to keep using our voices for justice on their behalf.

30 April 2021: Cuomo Book Deal a Motive for Continuing Cover-up of COVID Nursing Home Deaths

Janice Dean rips 'criminal' Cuomo over new nursing home bombshell: He lied to sell his $4M book

Here's an excerpt of one of the most prominent critics of Governor Cuomo's COVID nursing home policies' speculative comments in a recent interview:

Well, you have to ask why did they downplay those numbers for so long? And this is extensive. The extent that they went to make sure that this was not uncovered, right?

And he would go on these interviews on television when they would finally ask him the question about the nursing homes, he would give false information and he knew all along he was lying.

So why did he and his top aides, including Melissa DeRosa, go to such great lengths to make sure that no one would find out the real total of the deaths? I think it’s because it's criminal and he had a book to sell. A $4 million book.

There's also the little matter of avoiding criminal legal liability for their actions in office. That would have been the operating motive from the beginning of Team Cuomo's cover-up, since a lucrative book deal wasn't even on the table when the cover-up began in April 2020.

But once it was, it would most certainly contribute to the Cuomo administration's motives to sustain its cover-up.

Background from the timeline:

• 17 May 2020: "Who Can We Prosecute For Those Deaths? Nobody." - in which we identify Section 125.10 (criminally negligent homicide) or Section 125.20 (manslaughter in the first degree) as the likely basis for criminal charges Governor Cuomo would be prosecuted under New York Penal Law.
• 28 April 2021: Confirmed - Team Cuomo Cover-up of NY Nursing Home COVID Deaths Began in April 2020
• 24 March 2021: A Profile of Janice Dean

4 May 2021: Backlash to Cuomo's Talk of "Killing Grandmothers"

Cuomo warns unvaccinated people could kill grandmas

We missed this story when it came out on Monday, 3 May 2021, but it contains a reaction to Governor Cuomo's hypocritical and tone-deaf statement about killing grandmothers made at his encounter with the press:

Fox News senior meteorologist Janice Dean weighed in on Cuomo’s comments in a statement on Monday, saying the governor has "some nerve" going after unvaccinated people visiting their elderly relatives amid his nursing home scandal.

"He has some nerve shaming others for possibly endangering their grandparents," Dean said. "Over 15,000 elderly are no longer with us thanks in part to his deadly policy to re-admit infected patients into nursing homes. If anyone knows how to kill a grandma, it’s Andrew Cuomo."

Dean became an outspoken critic of the governor's nursing home policies after both of her parents-in-law died of coronavirus in New York nursing homes.

The Cuomo administration imposed a directive on 25 March 2020 forcing New York nursing homes to blindly admit COVID patients discharged from hospitals to free up their bed space. A nonpartisan watchdog group has estimated the policy cost the lives of at least 1,000 elderly nursing home residents from COVID-19, above and beyond the number who would have died without the Cuomo administration's enforcement of the policy. This deadly policy was enforced until rescinded on 10 May 2020. The Cuomo administration's admitted cover-up of the full extent of COVID deaths among elderly New York nursing home residents began in April 2020.

23 March 2021: The Cuomo Coverup and the Crime

Why Someone Hid Accurate Death Count for New York Nursing Homes

This transcript of the Daily Signal's podcast (here's the audio) features an interview with the nonpartisan Empire Center for Public Policy's CEO Tim Hoefner. He discusses the history of the Empire Center's Freedom Of Information Act (FOIA) request for public COVID nursing home data, which the Cuomo administration's stonewalled. That stonewalling led the Empire Center to file a lawsuit against Team Cuomo. He describes how the Empire Center won their legal matchup with Team Cuomo:

When the attorney general's report came out and we saw that even the attorney general couldn't pry these data out of the Department of Health's hand, we followed up with a letter to the judge that had been assigned to the case and said, "Come on. What is it going to take? Even the attorney general can't get access to these data that the Department of Health is collecting on behalf of taxpayers. You need to rule. You need to rule right now."

And then within a matter of days, the ruling came out, ruled totally in the Empire Center's favor. In fact, had found that we had prevailed so significantly that we were awarded costs and fees from the Department of Health. That's significant insomuch as it means that we prevailed in a way that was unimpeachable, right?

... The case was so strong in our favor that the Department of Health had acted so poorly in this case that they were required to pay us for our time and for our costs leading up to a lawsuit and all the way through it.

The podcast later turned to the question of why the Cuomo administration engaged in its stonewalling and subsequently acknowledged false reporting of the full extent of COVID nursing home resident deaths in New York:

Largely this is a case of the cover-up worse than the crime. The executive order came down—you have to put yourself in the mind frame of what it was like here in the U.S., specifically here in New York, at the end of March. We didn't know very much. There was a lot going on. People were getting sick. People were dying. This executive order came down. Obviously, in hindsight, we can see that it was a mistake.

The reason that the Empire Center and others began asking for the outcome of this executive order was because it did appear that there was a disproportionate share of nursing home residents who were dying.

Janice is a great spokesperson for that in the worst possible way, because she lost not one, but two parents. The story of Janice's in-laws is heartbreaking.

It's part of the reason that, from an academic perspective, we wanted to get a hold of these data, which was not to play "got you," but rather to make sure that if there was a resurgence or in the next pandemic, that we learned from what happened in this one. We can't do that if we don't have access to the data.

It didn't take long after questions started to be asked for the Department of Health to proactively, I suppose, do an analysis on the data and put out a report, which they eventually did in June or July, that found, in their words, no statistical significance between the executive order and the number of deaths in the nursing homes.

But it was when they put that report out and the data that they alluded to in it that we began to see inconsistencies, then we start asking the question, well, what's happening here?

In a subsequent legislative hearing, Howard Zucker, who is the director of the Department of Health, was asked questions about this from legislative leaders and didn't have a good answer. Then it became really clear that there was something there to hide and that was the genesis for what ultimately became our FOIA request, the lawsuit, and then the data that finally came out in February.

"Janice" refers to Fox News meteorologist Janice Dean, who has been one of the most visible and active advocates calling attention to the Cuomo administration's COVID nursing home policies and scandals.

Hoefner's comments are generally well supported. We disagree on one major point and one minor point with Hoefner's recollection. For the major point, it was evident in the period before the Cuomo administration's deadly 25 March 2020 directive that placing COVID patients in nursing homes would promote rather than slow its spread among the most vulnerable population in the state with fatal implications. Even Governor Cuomo acknowledged as much on 12 March 2020 when he blocked families from visiting relatives at nursing homes and again on 29 March 2020, just four days after his administration imposed the policy. While Hoefner is correct that "we didn't know much" about COVID-19 in March 2020, the Cuomo administration certainly knew introducing people infected with coronavirus infections into nursing homes would cause "pain and damage from this in nursing homes." He and members of his administration did it anyway.

Our minor point of disagreement is this: we do not believe the coverup is worse than the crime. We think it is has been an integral part of the crime from the beginning, because members of Team Cuomo knew they were engaged in what we would charitably call criminally negligent homicide or manslaughter in the first degree under New York state law. He and members of his administration did it anyway. (Repetition intentional.)

24 August 2022: One Year Gone: Andrew Cuomo Hiding 'In Shame', But 'Plotting' Return to Politics

This article was published on 20 August 2022, but it seemed more appropriate to feature on the one year anniversary of Cuomo's official exit from the New York state government's Executive Chamber.

Andrew Cuomo hiding ‘in shame’—but ‘plotting’ return to politics: sources

This report describes how Andrew M. Cuomo has become something of a hermit.

In just one year, Andrew Cuomo has gone from being the most powerful governor in the country — and at one time the ubiquitous hero of the 2020 pandemic — to the most elusive fallen star in the Hamptons.

In just one year, Andrew Cuomo has gone from being the most powerful governor in the country — and at one time the ubiquitous hero of the 2020 pandemic — to the most elusive fallen star in the Hamptons.

Other sources said that any “shame” he may have stems more from the anger he feels about losing his job — unfairly he believes — and regret about not fighting for it harder. They also speculated it’s fueling Cuomo’s disappearance from the public eye.

“He won’t show his face anywhere,” a longtime Hamptons insider who knows the Cuomo family said last week. “Chris [Cuomo’s disgraced younger brother] is out and about all the time. Matt Lauer did grosser things and you see him around all the time. But not Andrew. The feeling is that he has a lot of shame over what happened and he’s hiding.”

Cuomo's disappearance might have a lot more to do with his ongoing legal strategies to avoid being held accountable for his multiple alleged incidents of sexual harassment, not to mention his COVID nursing home deaths scandals. Avoiding the public to the extent he has provides a benefit in that it keeps from providing New York residents with more reasons to demand public officials act against him.

The report contains this analysis from two of Cuomo's more notable critics:

“We understood that it was a once-in-a-lifetime pandemic,” said Janice Dean, a senior meteorologist at the Fox News Channel who lost both her elderly in-laws to Covid as a result of what she termed Cuomo’s “killer nursing home order.” His March 2020 policy sent Covid-positive patients into nursing homes for 45 days. Thousands of seniors later died.

“He thought the hospitals were going to be overrun. He didn’t have a place to put [elderly patients]. We get that. Had he just met with family members, and talked to us, we would have forgiven him. Instead he capitalized on his popularity and wrote a book and won an Emmy. But to this day he’s never apologized,” Dean told The Post. “I really think it is a psychological trait of is that he doesn’t apologize. [He seems to think] nothing he does is a mistake. And everyone else is to blame. He’s the ‘victim’ here — both of the nursing home deaths and the sexual harassment allegations.”

Dem. Assemblyman Ron Kim — whose uncle died of coronavirus in a nursing home — was famously on the receiving end of the Cuomo temper in Feb. 2021 after, he said, the then-governor called him at home and threatened to “destroy” him if he didn’t help contain the damage over the administration’s cover-up of nursing home deaths.

“If he’d recognized mistakes were made and come clean, the public would have forgiven him,” Kim told The Post last week. “Instead he lied and covered it up. He wanted to control the narrative and his image.”

The report ends featuring a source who knew Cuomo's deceased father, Mario M. Cuomo, who served three full terms as New York's governor without resigning in disgrace. They describe strange behavior on the part of Andrew M. Cuomo:

The source said that Andrew always had big shoes to fill when it came to his father. Now, in exile from public life, he is literally wearing his pop’s shoes.

“He walks in his father’s shoes, I’ve seen it,” he said. “They’re black wingtip shoes. They give him strength.”

Since Andrew M. Cuomo apparently didn't inherit strong moral character from anyone in his family, it's a very weak substitute.

25 March 2021: Janice Dean Marks Anniversary of Cuomo's Deadly Directive

Families deserve justice one year after Cuomo’s deadly nursing home order

Here's an extended excerpt from Dean's op-ed:

Today, March 25, marks the one-year anniversary of Cuomo’s reckless mandate that ordered over 9,000 COVID-positive patients into nursing homes. It was in effect for 46 days before his Health Department finally reversed it and then scrubbed it from their Web site.

I believe it helped kill thousands of our family members during the pandemic and although I cannot prove it, I think it contributed to the deaths of my husband’s parents Michael “Mickey” and Dolores “Dee” Newman.

I never set out to be an advocate on behalf of my in-laws. But when I kept seeing the governor on television last summer and fall being celebrated and never even being asked the nursing- home questions we so desperately wanted the answers to, I decided to tell our story.

I did it to raise awareness about this New York tragedy. More than 15,000 seniors are dead and our governor tried to cover up the numbers and blamed everyone else for his mistake. Why wasn’t this one of the biggest headlines in history?

And now, a year later, the governor and his handling of COVID nursing-home deaths is finally being investigated. There is a federal and FBI investigation being conducted in New York. They are circling around Cuomo and his top aides.

People have asked me if I feel some satisfaction in knowing that Cuomo might finally be convicted for his crimes, but I’m not sure if he will ever truly be held accountable. And we’ll never get my husband’s parents Mickey and Dee back.

That Governor Cuomo and members of his administration might never be held criminally accountable for their intentional negligence is itself a scandal.

24 February 2021: Media Cheerleaders Learning Heroes of Their Narratives Are Really Monsters

The Media Have Finally Realized That Cuomo and Newsom Are Terrible. Will Voters?

This analysis reviews how the positive narrative promoted by highly partisan and biased media organizations boosted the political fortunes of Governor Cuomo while enabling the more disastrous portions of his policies to go unchallenged.

Though Cuomo's blameworthy nursing home directive has been an open secret for many months, the national news media largely averted their glance from this story while people like Fox's Janice Dean sounded the alarms alone. (Locally, journalists at the Newark Star-Ledger were ripping the policies of New Jersey and New York as far back as May 2020, but national media outlets took fairly little notice.) Of late, they've taken a gruffer stance, even examining Cuomo's past and present of strongman bullying. A New Republic headline reads, "The Andrew Cuomo Show Has Lost the Plot"; New York Times headlines declare "Uprising Grows Over Andrew Cuomo's Bullying" and "Cuomo Faces Revolt After Handling of Nursing Home Deaths" and even "As Outcry Over Nursing Homes Grows, Cuomo Lashes Out at Critics"; The Wall Street Journal bluntly asks if Cuomo did the same thing to disabled people that he did to the elderly in "Another Cuomo Cover-Up?"

Another Times article notes that Cuomo has for years "berated aides and elected officials, brought people to tears and threatened to fire them or end their careers. People outside the governor's direct control who have clashed with him said he told them they would be subject to negative news stories or political challenges or, in one case, would be publicly likened to a 'child rapist.'" Most recently, Ron Kim, a New York state assemblyman (and fellow Democrat), has come forward with stories of Cuomo calling him to threaten him after Kim called the nursing home cover-up an "obstruction of justice." Kim has also declared his intention to pursue impeachment proceedings in a scathing piece in Newsweek.

We're among the few, independent news outlets that have regularly provided analysis of Governor Cuomo's COVID-19 nursing home scandals from almost the beginning, with our active coverage extending back to April 2020. In the months since, we have regularly updated and curated this now lengthy timeline of the main scandal, providing a hopefully useful resource that also helps ensure that neither the media nor the Cuomo administration can continue sweeping the scandal under the rug.