Former Gov. Andrew Cuomo was denounced as a “lying bastard” by outraged family members and lawmakers as he shifted blame during a heated legislative hearing Tuesday over his COVID-19 nursing home orders that led to thousands of deaths.
During a more than two-hour hearing at the U.S. Capitol, Governor Cuomo was asked repeatedly to apologize to the families of those in the hearing who had lost loved ones during the outbreak, but he did not offer to do so.
“There are families here right now who lost relatives because of that decision,” Rep. Rich McCormick (R-Ga.) said. “I think you should admit it was wrong, and I think it would make a much better impression on those families if you went back and apologized.”
“I'm just going to say, 'I'm sorry,'” McCormick continued after Cuomo did not comply with his request. “I'll say it clearly: I'm sorry that your family members contracted COVID-19 because people were put in nursing homes who were not tested.”
The former governor refused to apologize when questioned by Democratic Rep. Debbie Dingell of Michigan about his callous response, “Who cares?” when the full death toll was eventually made public.
“My message to Governor Cuomo is, I care,” Dingell said, “everyone on this committee cares. And more importantly, every single family that's lost a family member cares. So let's make that clear.”
In his opening statement, Governor Cuomo simply told the families that “the state should have done better,” and shifted much of the blame onto former President Donald Trump.
“He knowingly misled the American people, and his lies and denials slowed our response and allowed the virus to spread so our country couldn't catch up,” Cuomo told members of the House Select Subcommittee on COVID-19.
“You're a liar,” one person heckled Cuomo, who told reporters after the hearing. “You killed my parents and thousands of other people. You're a liar. You're in denial of reality, you idiot.”
Hudson Valley Rep. Mike Lawler (R-N.Y.) added in The Washington Post upon his departure: “It just confirms that Andrew Cuomo is a lying bastard.”
The hearing featured a spirited exchange between New York members of the House Oversight Committee, including a sound defeat by North Country Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.).
The House Republican Conference Chairman grilled Gov. Cuomo about the $5 million book deal, accusing the governor of blaming his staff.
Stefanik also asked Governor Cuomo if he would stand up and apologize to the families of those infected with COVID-19, but the Governor refused.
“You will never be able to hold public office again,” she exclaimed.
It was one of several times Cuomo has played the blame game, blaming his staff, the federal government and the nursing homes themselves.
“And then they never called me. If there was a problem with the directive, they would have called me,” Cuomo said, blaming the federal government for not pointing out that his directive went against federal guidance at the time that is estimated to have led to up to 9,000 more coronavirus deaths.
“Have you even tried to verify that what you declared was accurate?” an indignant Rep. Brad Wenstrup (R-Ohio) said.
“I haven't spoken to CMS (Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services),” Cuomo acknowledged, referring to the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
Staten Island Assemblywoman Nicole Malliotakis (R-NY) joked that it “might have been Communist spy Linda Sun” who signed the nursing home construction order after Governor Cuomo refused to reveal who did so – a reference to a former aide to herself and Governor Kathy Hochl who was recently accused of acting as a foreign agent for China.
“He doubled down and tripled down on those falsehoods,” Malliotakis told The Post as he left the hearing.
“I don't know if the governor knew about this when this order was issued, but what I do know is that Governor Cuomo is going to find out who signed it after this thing blows up in his face. So I don't believe for a second that the governor doesn't know who signed this order,” Malliotakis said, calling Cuomo “disingenuous.”
“I was responsible every single day,” Cuomo lamented to reporters, before quickly blaming President Trump again.
“I addressed the people of my state and millions of people across the country every day, and I made mistakes every day. Unlike the president, I was accountable every day.”
Among his admissions was that he instructed his aides to write an email calling the March directive a “historic blunder.”
When asked if the secretary had written the email on his behalf, he gave Mr Comer a resounding “yes”.
According to previous testimony provided to a House committee, staff said they believed the email was part of the catalyst for a July 2020 state report that significantly undercounted the number of nursing home deaths.
The criticism wasn't limited to Republicans. In his opening statement, the committee's top Democrat, Rep. Raul Ruiz of California, said Cuomo was guilty of “misrepresenting” nursing home death data. Ruiz also accused Cuomo and his aides of “obscuring scrutiny” of the statistics.
“Lawler is a nutcase Trump thug and always has been. He's a right-wing Trump fanatic. His behavior demonstrates his unfitness for public office,” Cuomo said.
Republicans on the committee announced they had subpoenaed records they had not yet received from the New York governor's office, mostly relating to internal communications that could shed light on who approved nursing home orders and what prompted them to cherry-pick data for the July 2020 report.
A spokesman for Mr. Hoekl said he would comply with the subpoena.
