Former Governor Andrew Cuomo Faces Congressional Reckoning for His Covid Policies

Former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo has been called to testify publicly on Sept 10 before a Congressional panel regarding his administration’s controversial policies that forced nursing homes and other facilities to admit infected Covid-19 patients.

The Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic issued the request earlier today as part of its investigation of “executive branch policies, deliberations, decisions, activities and internal and external communications related to the coronavirus pandemic.”

🚨BREAKING🚨

Former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo will testify publicly before Congress for the FIRST TIME regarding his COVID-19 nursing home policies at a @COVIDSelect hearing on September 10, 2024. pic.twitter.com/oRVMvBgukN

— Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic (@COVIDSelect) September 3, 2024

Cuomo is asked to provide his written testimony at least two business days prior to the hearing and will be able to make a 5 minute opening statement prior to being questioned by committee members.

In June, the Subcommittee led a closed-door interview of Cuomo as it investigated New York state’s issuance of directives that forced nursing homes and long-term care facilities to admit contagious Covid-19 patients.

Among the takeaways from that transcribed interview:

• The Subcommittee reported that Cuomo was “shockingly callous when discussing New York’s nursing home mortality rate.” Cuomo is quoted as saying, “…let’s say there’s a 3,000 [deaths] differential, 2500. Who cares? What difference does it make in any dimension to anyone about anything?“
• The Subcommittee also reported that Mr. Cuomo claimed he was unaware of the disastrous March 25, 2020 nursing home order until nearly a month after it had been issued.
• Cuomo was also said to have “repeatedly deflected responsibility for issuing the nursing home directive” and testified that the “must admit” language of the directive didn’t actually force those facilities to accept Covid positive patients.
• During the June hearing, Cuomo reportedly testified that he only regretted the March 25, 2020 order because he said nursing homes were “confused by it,” later clarifying that he didn’t “accept the premise that they were actually confused by it.”

Those interviews also included testimony from nine high-ranking former Cuomo administration officials.

The Subcommittee maintains that Mr. Cuomo owes an explanation to the 15,000 New York families who lost loved ones in nursing homes and that the testimony on Sept 10 will give Americans a chance to hear directly from the former governor about his policies.

Transcripts of the previous interviews will also be released ahead of next week’s hearing.