Republican New York Rep. Tom Reed laid out a possible federal case against Democratic New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Thursday over the alleged attempted cover up of the true number of coronavirus deaths in New York nursing homes.
Reed, who is also a former attorney, appeared on Fox News’ “America Reports” and discussed with host Sandra Smith his call for an investigation into Cuomo’s potential involvement, as well as what aspects of the allegations could wind up forming a federal case. (RELATED: ‘Wildly Irresponsible’: CNN’s Tapper, Gupta Slam Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s Latest Statement On Pandemic)
“We are going to get justice finally. This is the tip of the iceberg for these 15,000 souls that we’ve been fighting for for months and in regards to the nursing home scandal, it’s not just the cover-up. That is just the tip of the iceberg. It’s actually — who advocated for this order that sent COVID-19 positive patients into our nursing homes where Covid negative seniors were living?” Reed began.
“Governor Cuomo ordered this, and I will tell you his second in command is where we are going. We’re working with the Ways and Means Committee. We’re working with others to file a federal complaint on this, and so stay tuned. We’re not interested in headlines. We’re interested in justice,” he continued.
In March of last year, Cuomo implemented a policy that required nursing homes to accept patients from hospitals, even if they tested positive for the coronavirus. A report released on Jan. 28 by Democratic New York Attorney General Letitia James stated that 4,000 deaths from the coronavirus occurred in nursing homes after the policy was put in place, however not all of those deaths were attributed to the policy.
After heavy criticism over the March order, the New York State Department of Health changed the way it reported nursing home deaths by only including those deaths that actually occurred in the nursing home, and not in other facilities, such as the hospital. After this, Cuomo touted New York’s nursing home deaths being “all the way at the bottom of the list.”
Smith went on to ask Reed “what sort of accountability” Cuomo could see if this truly were a cover-up on his part.
“You’ve got obstruction of justice, you’ve got perjury charges, you’ve got so many different levels of federal corruption here that need to be brought against the governor, as well as his second-in-command and others, and that’s why this is just the tip of the iceberg,” Reed responded.
“The cover-up is a cover-up not only about the data, not only about misrepresenting the data to federal officials, or hiding that data, it’s also about who drafted this order. Who advocated to send Covid-19 positive patients into nursing homes where seniors were killed to the tune of 15,000 people?” he continued. “That is the root crime that needs to be investigated too and we’re going to get to the bottom of it. And I will tell you, there are lobbyists that are all over this in Cuomo’s second floor that he’s got to answer for.”
It was reported Thursday that the FBI is investigating Cuomo and his administration over the coronavirus nursing home data.