The House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic is considering subpoenaing former Gov. Andrew Cuomo if he rejects their latest request for records about his decision to place patients infected with COVID in nursing homes and long-term care facilities at the start of the outbreak. .
Chairman Brad Wenstrup (R-Ohio) threatened in a letter Tuesday to “assess” mandatory measures if Cuomo fails to produce documents about his administration’s COVID policy by Oct. 17, according to a copy of the official letter obtained exclusively by The Post.
“Until now, we have not received a single document from you. The Select Subcommittee consists of medical experts from both sides of the aisle and members who take our responsibilities seriously,” Wenstrup wrote to the former governor.
“Contrary to your and your spokesperson’s unfortunate statements, this investigation is the result of your clearly medically wrong decision to expose New York as the most vulnerable to COVID-19 by issuing a ‘must acknowledge’ order, which has[t]capable but fatal effect on 15,000 nursing home residents,” he added.
“Any attempt to cover up the truth and hide wrongdoing is unacceptable to the American people. The Select Subcommittee is committed to a transparent investigation and expects your presence during this process.”
The House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic is considering subpoenaing former Gov. Andrew Cuomo if he refuses their latest request for records.James Messerschmidt
A spokesman for the former governor told The Post in a statement that the letter was “a farce.”
“This letter is a farce – the data they are looking for – which has been double-checked by the DOJ, as well as the State Legislature and the Attorney General, all of which are not found there, there is – there is with the state,” said Rich Azzopardi.
“Once again, it is unfortunate that some DC politicians seek to transparently weaponize public pain to advance a political agenda.”
The Empire State Department of Health under Cuomo issued an order on March 25, 2020, which forced senior care facilities to accept COVID-positive patients discharged from hospitals.
The then-governor partially rescinded that mandate during a May 10, 2020 press conference, preventing New Yorkers infected with COVID from being transferred directly from hospitals to nursing homes while allowing admissions from other facilities.
“Until now, we have not received a single document from you. The Select Subcommittee consists of medical experts from both sides of the aisle and members who take our responsibilities seriously,” Wenstrup wrote to the former governor.Getty Images
The Cuomo administration in a July 2020 report underestimated the number of COVID deaths related to the policy by excluding patient deaths that occurred outside of any facility.
But Cuomo’s senior adviser Melissa DeRosa later admitted in February 2021 that the decision to withhold the actual number of deaths was made out of fear that the data would be “used against us” by federal prosecutors.
“The Post continues to misrepresent the facts about the nursing home as it relates to Melissa DeRosa — it’s factually inaccurate and defamatory and it must stop,” Greg Morvillo, an attorney for DeRosa, told The Post in a statement after publication.
In March 2022, New York’s comptroller finally found that Cuomo had “misled the public” in reducing the number of such deaths by more than 50%.
The Cuomo administration in a July 2020 report downplayed the number of COVID deaths related to the policy by excluding patient deaths that occurred outside of any facility.Gabriella Bass
The House panel also sent a letter to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Mandy Cohen, requesting a transcribed interview with Dr. Howard Zucker, former commissioner of the New York State Department of Health.
“It would be an injustice to humanity not to conduct a thorough post-mortem review in this situation,” Wenstrup said, asking the CDC’s current deputy director for global health to come in for a sit-down interview on Nov. 30.
The documents and interviews are expected to help in the “postmortem” of the COVID policy as well as “inform the potential of future legislation to improve the government’s response to future pandemics,” he added.
Select subcommittee letters in May requested data from Cuomo on case counts and deaths related to his administration’s nursing home mandate.REUTERS
The panel previously asked Cuomo for his own transcribed interview, but he declined.
Similar records requests were also sent to New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy and Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, whose responses are currently being evaluated by a select subcommittee, according to a spokeswoman.
Select subcommittee letters in May asked Cuomo for data on case counts and deaths related to his administration’s nursing home mandate.
Cuomo resigned in August 2021 after New York Attorney General Letitia James released a report that found 11 women had been sexually harassed or abused by the governor.
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
