Federal Probe, Denunciations: Cuomo Faces Nursing Home Fallout

New York City NY

18 February, 2021

11:40 AM

Description

NEW YORK CITY — Classic Andrew Cuomo. That's how Mayor Bill de Blasio characterized reports that the governor unleashed a torrent of abuse and threats against Assembly Member Ron Kim, a Queens lawmaker who sharply criticized the state's handling of nursing home deaths. De Blasio, himself a frequent sparring partner with Cuomo, first told MSNBC's "Morning Joe" that he and others have also been on the receiving end of the governor's "bullying," "belittling" and "threats." "I believe Ron Kim," de Blasio said later at his daily briefing Thursday. A simmering controversy over Cuomo's handling of nursing homes deaths amid the coronavirus pandemic has exploded into a full-blown scandal and political referendum on the governor's behavior. Cuomo's administration now faces a federal probe over the deaths, which number more than 15,000. The Times Union first reported the investigation out of the Eastern District of New York, a probe apparently in early stages and so far without direct accusations of wrongdoing. Critics have long argued Cuomo's March 25 order for nursing homes to accept residents who were positive for COVID-19 caused needless deaths. But Cuomo brushed off such criticism as a partisan attack — a mostly-successful argument until state Attorney General Letitia James' report that found nursing home deaths were undercounted. Accusations of a coverup reached a crescendo when his top aide Melissa DeRosa recently told lawmakers that the administration withheld the numbers of nursing home deaths amid fears of a politically-driven Trump administration investigation. The tempest reached a crescendo on Wednesday when Cuomo devoted much of a normally-routine phone call with reporters toward a direct attack on Kim. To outsiders, the attack appeared to be completely unprompted, but apparently stemmed from a phone call between Cuomo and Kim over a New York Post story in which Kim was quoted saying Cuomo obstructed justice. Cuomo said Kim claimed that he was misquoted but refused to put out a statement correcting it, thus prompting the governor's vitriolic attack. But Kim responded on CNN and the New York Times, claiming that Cuomo threatened to "destroy" him if he didn't take back the comments and subjected him to more abuse. A Cuomo spokesperson denied the account and called Kim a liar. The claim exposed what can't even be called an "open secret" so much as a fact of life in New York politics — that Cuomo often directs his ire at perceived adversaries in an overbearing, if not abusive manner. De Blasio said he experienced similar conversations with Cuomo "many times." Other politicians and even members of the media have been the subject of such "inappropriate" calls, he said. "I will say this ... that someone being bullied is not acceptable," he said. "Ron Kim was trying to raise real concerns and honest concerns on behalf of families in this city, in this state that lost loved ones and that deserves respect. And he wasn't given respect."