Governor Andrew Cuomo lawyered up this week as the Department of Justice continues its investigation into mass numbers of nursing home deaths in New York during the Wuhan coronavirus pandemic.
"New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s (D) administration hired a defense attorney to represent the governor and his closest aides in an investigation probing COVID-19 nursing home deaths during the pandemic," The Hill reported earlier this week. "Defense attorney Elkan Abramowitz, a former federal prosecutor, confirmed to The Hill on Monday that he was representing the “Executive Chamber” as the state endures three probes into how it handled reporting coronavirus deaths in nursing homes."
As journalists and other interested parties start following the money, Cuomo's corruption is being further exposed.
Donations to #Cuomo campaign fund during the pandemic - $2.3 million.
— Lidia Curanaj (@LidiaNews) March 3, 2021
And look who the donors are...coincidentally..the same firms that represent nursing homes who then received immunity and raked in millions during the pandemic pic.twitter.com/aU8ilC28oa
There are two critical questions behind Cuomo’s nursing home scandal:
— Ron T. Kim (@rontkim) March 2, 2021
1) Who got to him on corporate immunity?
2) Who told him to suppress life and death data that could’ve been used to repeal corporate immunity?https://t.co/9XqA37qeYr
Meanwhile Democrat and Republican lawmakers in the state are working to repeal Cuomo's emergency power and immunity.
Thank you for sharing your story, Haydee. We are working hard to repeal Cuomo’s corporate immunity as the nursing home industry continues to lobby Albany every day to protect their profits. I promise we will get it done. https://t.co/Hc4DpyTuBF
— Ron T. Kim (@rontkim) March 3, 2021
In January New York Attorney General Letitia James, who is also conducting an investigation, released a report showing Cuomo significantly undercounted nursing home deaths.
"A larger number of nursing home residents died from COVID-19 than the New York State Department of Health’s (DOH) published nursing home data reflected and may have been undercounted by as much as 50 percent. The investigations also revealed that nursing homes’ lack of compliance with infection control protocols put residents at increased risk of harm, and facilities that had lower pre-pandemic staffing ratings had higher COVID-19 fatality rates. Based on these findings and subsequent investigation, Attorney General James is conducting ongoing investigations into more than 20 nursing homes whose reported conduct during the first wave of the pandemic presented particular concern," the report found.