"We all know people who have died in New York nursing home," Fox News anchor Steve Doocy said on "Fox & Friends" Monday morning.
In fact, one of Doocy's colleagues, Fox News meteorologist Janice Dean, has been very candid about how both of her in-laws died in a New York nursing home in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic.
Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) has heard her share of similarly tragic stories from several of her constituents. And there was one common denominator: Gov. Andrew Cuomo's mandate that forced nursing home facilities to accept COVID-positive patients once they were discharged from the hospital.
In the aftermath of the policy, several thousand nursing home residents have died, having been unnecessarily exposed to the virus. Dean has no doubt in her mind that Cuomo's policy is what doomed her husband's parents. That's why, when Gov. Cuomo demanded an investigation into a young man who unknowingly spread the virus to a few classmates at his high school graduation, Rep. Stefanik called the governor "hypocritical."
??New York State’s failed & fatal nursing home policy cost thousands of seniors’ lives. Gov. Cuomo continues to disrespect grieving families by pointing fingers & refusing accountability. There is bipartisan outcry for an independent investigation. WATCH on @foxandfriends ?? pic.twitter.com/ianEU1DEUW
— Elise Stefanik (@EliseStefanik) June 29, 2020
"The governor refuses to be held accountable for the thousands and thousands of seniors who lost their lives because of the failed and fatal nursing home policy...It really is hypocritical that the governor is pointing fingers at this high school student," Stefanik said.
Stefanik ran through a list of people and things that Gov. Cuomo has blamed for the deaths of so many nursing home patients. None, of course, pointed the blame back at himself.
"He's not just blamed the federal government," she noted. "He's blamed journalists, he's blamed the New York Post, he's blamed health care workers, he's blamed the seniors, he's blamed President Trump, he's blamed Republicans in Congress."
Just a few days ago, Gov. Cuomo accused the Trump administration of "being in denial" about the pandemic and not doing enough in their response. And Rep. Stefanik wasn't joking when she said Cuomo blamed journalists too.
“There are columnists who made this point at The Post who are 100 percent supportive of Donald Trump, and that’s fine — but then believe, you know, we have to kill all Democrats,” Cuomo said when he lashed out at a New York Post reporter in May instead of answering her question.
The Post called it a "pathetic" attempt to blame them for his tragic missteps.
And at one point Cuomo spent several consecutive press conferences ranting about Republican Senate leader Mitch McConnell and how he needs to do more to help state and local governments.
Instead of investigating a teenager, Stefanik says the state of New York needs to investigate Cuomo. She wants an independent investigation, on the federal level as well.
"These families deserve accountabiilty," she said.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member