Juan Williams defended Democratic New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo during Monday’s broadcast of “The Five,” saying he believed Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott could soon face more scrutiny.
Williams argued that he wasn’t sure that Cuomo, under fire for reportedly hiding the number of COVID-19 deaths linked to New York nursing homes, had actually committed a provable crime. (RELATED: ‘That Wasn’t Cool’: Jesse Watters Rebukes Juan Williams For Suggesting His Cohosts Stood With Capitol Mob)
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Co-host Jesse Watters began the segment by noting that Cuomo was likely to face an investigation into whether more nursing home residents died as a result of his Mar. 25 order requiring such facilities to accept patients regardless of their COVID-19 status — and whether Cuomo’s actions after the fact amounted to an illegal cover-up.
“All right, Juan,” Watters asked. “Do you think they are going to bring charges?”
“I think it’s gonna be fully investigated, Jesse,” Williams replied, adding that he didn’t believe it was clear Cuomo had actually broken any laws. “What is clear here is that he did cover up the number of deaths at nursing homes but not cover up the number of total deaths.”
Williams went on to say that Cuomo’s policy had clearly been wrong, but that wasn’t necessarily illegal.
“That’s not a crime,” he continued. “If that was a crime, then people saying, ‘I think this thing will be over by Easter’ would be a crime, it’s not a crime.”
Williams then pivoted to Gov. Abbott, suggesting he might face similar scrutiny over the recent winter storm and subsequent energy crisis that left millions of Texans without power in freezing temperatures.
“Right now we have two governors in this country in big trouble. One is Cuomo because I think that he will be investigated on this, but the other is Greg Abbott,” Williams said. “Right now if you look at the numbers, I think that I’d rather be Cuomo than Abbott because people will hold a bitter pill for a governor who did not perform in the middle of a crisis.”
Co-host Dagen McDowell wrapped up the segment by saying that when Cuomo failed to provide the information requested by the Justice Department, he had committed a crime.
“I will add this, that I think that just watching Cuomo even with the sound off, you can see this ogre spiraling, floundering, sweating desperation — saying things like, ‘No one has the right to spread lies or misinformation that causes pain to families,'” McDowell concluded. “It’s like he is talking into a mirror, like Travis Bickle, the psychopath.”