Expectations for former Gov. Cuomo’s Congressional Testimony

ALBANY, N.Y. (NEWS10)— Former Governor Andrew Cuomo is set to testify on Tuesday before the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic. Ahead of his testimony, the subcommittee released a memo about its report on the Cuomo Administration’s handling of nursing home patients in the first months of the pandemic.

After previously interviewing former Governor Andrew Cuomo and his aides, the select subcommittee released the findings of its investigation. Among them that, Cuomo and team were involved in the decision to issue the March 25th directive, which placed COVID positive patients in nursing homes.

https://oversight.house.gov/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/2024.09.09-SSCP-Staff-Memorandum-Re.-Investigation-of-Governor-Andrew-Cuomo.pdf

“One mystery about the order is where did it come from? Whose idea was it? I have to say even after this report, it’s not 100% crystal clear,” said Bill Hammond, Senior Fellow for Health Policy at the Empire Center.

The subcommittee also found that March 25th directive was rescinded out of response to public criticism, that there was a deliberate decision to exclude certain nursing home deaths which hid the true nursing home mortality rate, and that a 2020 New York State Department of Health report was edited by Governor Cuomo and his team.

“They came to a finding that this order contrary to what the Cuomo administration has been saying, was not consistent with federal guidelines,” added Hammond.

In a statement, Cuomo’s spokesperson Rich Azzopardi said called the report “smoke and mirrors” saying in part that it was “designed to continue to distract from Trump’s failed pandemic leadership and is predictably sloppy, half-baked partisan screed built upon uncorroborated, cherry-picked testimony and conclusions not supported by evidence or reality.”

According to the subcommittees formal invitation to Cuomo, he will be given the opportunity to provide a 5-minute opening statement before answering questions from members on Tuesday.

Republican New York State Senator Jim Tedisco said he wants the former governor to answer the questions truthfully.

” We have to be better prepared and need to know all the facts that led up to him making that huge mistake of that executive order,” said Tedisco.

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