Editor's Note: This post was authored by Justin Begley.
President Biden’s Department of Justice seems to be interested in anything but justice based on its recent decision to drop its investigation into the NY’s nursing home scandal.
Biden’s DOJ decided on Friday to let NY Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) off the hook for his part in the widespread nursing home deaths during the COVID-19 pandemic. This move comes almost a full year after former President Trump’s DOJ requested data from the governor’s office regarding this issue.
This news came in a letter to Rep. Steve Scalise (R-LA) from Deputy Assistant Attorney General Joe Gaeta. By dropping the investigation, the DOJ is refusing to hold Cuomo accountable for instituting policies that may have killed thousands of nursing home residents and then covering it up.
This partisan move is wrong. Elected officials ought to be held accountable for the policies they implement, especially if those policies lead to avoidable instances of suffering and death.
In March 2020, the New York State Department of Health issued a mandate for nursing homes to accept COVID-19-positive patients from hospitals. Just two months later, an Associated Press tally found that more than 4,300 COVID-19 patients were sent to nursing homes in New York, resulting in about 5,700 nursing home deaths as of May 2020. Today, that number is closer to 15,000, or about 14 percent of the nursing home population in the state — 6-percentage points higher than the national average nursing home death rate.
In January, New York Attorney General Letitia James released a report showing that NYSDOH undercounted COVID-19 deaths in nursing homes by about 50 percent. Cuomo’s top aid also admitted that his office intentionally delayed the release of the data to avoid political consequences.
Secretary to the governor, Melissa DeRosa, privately told state legislators that the governor’s office delayed releasing the data out of concern that the DOJ was going to investigate New York and use “what we start saying…against us.” “Basically, we froze,” DeRosa said. In the same conversation, she admitted that the miscounting of deaths is still unresolved.
This is nothing less than a cover-up designed to deflect responsibility, and the DOJ is allowing it to happen without consequence.
Although the DOJ gave no explicit reason for dropping the investigation, the partisan motivation is clear. Biden ostensibly wishes to protect his political allies. In a statement, Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) said, “This decision...makes President Biden complicit in the criminal corruption scandal and coverup of deaths of thousands of vulnerable seniors.”
“What did Governor Cuomo promise President Joe Biden in his White House meeting?” she asked, likely referring to the February meeting between the two.
This is a fair question considering New York received roughly $24 billion in federal relief in May from the American Rescue Plan, passed in March. In fact, Senator Charles Schumer (D-NY) said NY will receive over $100 billion when all is said and done. So, it seems a backroom deal to drop the investigation is at least suspect, if not plausible.
Upon receiving the letter, Rep. Scalise blasted the DOJ’s refusal “to investigate deadly ‘must admit’ orders...that resulted in the deaths of thousands of senior citizens.” Scalise called the decision “outrageous” and “unconscionable,” asserting that “[g]rieving families deserve answers and accountability.”
Scalise took to Twitter, calling the decision “[a]bsolutely shameful” and claiming that Biden’s DOJ is “complicit in these Democrat governors’ cover ups.”
“Where is the justice for nursing home victims and their grieving families?” he asks.
These questions from Stefanik and Scalise deserve answers. Families who lost loved ones because of Cuomo’s horrific policies deserve justice. Being from Buffalo, I know folks who were struck with fear and anxiety by the thought of losing family and friends because of Cuomo’s nursing home policy. Some of them actually did. Do they not deserve justice and closure?
It has been several days since the initial backlash and the DOJ has still not issued an explanation. The delay sends a clear message: The DOJ considers the death of elderly New Yorkers to be of little importance. It’s simply not worth their time to hold politicians accountable for disastrous policies.
Does that build your trust in government? If the DOJ won’t investigate this outrage, who will?
Fortunately, justice may still be possible. The Brooklyn U.S. Attorney’s Office is currently investigating Cuomo’s handling of COVID-19 in nursing homes and the alleged cover up.
We’ll have to wait and see how this investigation plays out, but without the backing of the DOJ, my confidence that grieving families will see justice served by Cuomo being held accountable is low.
This cannot be how we deal with calamitous policies in America. Lawmakers must be held responsible for their policies. Otherwise, in the absence of justice, more Americans will continue to suffer.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member