Democratic assemblyman Ron Kim of New York said Gov. Andrew Cuomo will be held accountable for his “abusive power” at the “We Care Memorial Wall” which commemorated deceased nursing home residents Sunday.
Cuomo allegedly threatened Kim’s “livelihood” during a phone call over his refusal to assist the New York governor in covering up the number of COVID-19 nursing home deaths. Kim said at the memorial that the governor would be held accountable for his efforts to cover up the nursing home deaths.
“I know that this governor will be held accountable, that I know that his reign of abusive power will end soon because there are way too many decent people in the city of New York to let this guy go unchecked,” Kim said on Sunday.
Kim said he is also determined to hold Cuomo accountable for pressuring New York politicians into following along.
“When I got that call from Governor Cuomo threatening me and my career — my livelihood — to lie for him, I wasn’t scared of his bully tactics but I was afraid he would escape accountability,” Kim said at the memorial. “That is why I pushed back.”
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Kim said he believes that decency will defeat Cuomo’s alleged incompetence as citizens seek the truth. (RELATED: Democratic NY Assemblyman Ron Kim Calls For Impeachment Of Gov. Cuomo)
“This is about decent human beings coming together, taking on the most powerful politician in the state of New York because together decency will win,” he said. “And together, we will get to the truth.”
Kim joined “Fox & Friends” Monday telling host Steve Doocy that Cuomo urged him to cover up the number of nursing home deaths.
“The governor wanted me to lie and cover everything up to protect him, and I wasn’t going to have that,” he said.
In a meeting that Kim attended, Cuomo’s secretary Melissa DeRosa reportedly admitted that the administration had downplayed the number of nursing home deaths, Kim said on “Fox & Friends.”
“The public had a right to know and we have a duty to report to the public that this is what’s going on with the executive, and we need to check the executive and we need to do our jobs to get to the truth,” he said on ‘Fox & Friends.’
Kim criticized Cuomo’s statement at a press conference in January that it does not matter whether the patients died in a hospital or nursing home.
“Who in their right mind can go into a press conference and say ‘Who cares where they died?'” Kim said at the memorial. “Who talks like that about older adults? A coward. An abuser. Someone who abuses their power would say that.”
Cuomo’s administration allegedly told his staff to rewrite the report to exclude the deaths of nursing home patients transmitted to hospitals which caused them to withhold a total recorded number of 15,000 COVID-19 related deaths of nursing homes patients, according to The New York Times. State senator Gustavo Rivera, chair of the health committee, said during a hearing that the data was unreleased to protect Cuomo’s image.
Kim’s uncle, a nursing home resident, died after having COVID-19 symptoms, Fox News reported.
Editor’s note: This story has been updated.
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