The Times Union learned that the FBI and U.S. attorney’s office in Brooklyn have begun investigating Gov. Andrew Cuomo and his administration over the COVID-19 nursing home deaths.
Background
It’s. Happening. https://t.co/RLSdMVAG6z
— Janice Dean (@JaniceDean) February 18, 2021
In March 2020, Cuomo forced nursing homes to readmit COVID-19 positive patients.
It didn’t take long for people to realize that was a bad idea. They knew there was a connection between the high numbers of deaths and the order.
So many people, especially Janice Dean, screamed this from the top of the mountains. No one listened.
But Cuomo’s political life took a massive dip in January when the New York attorney general report stated that his policies might have killed more grandmas than everyone thought.
Attorney General Letitia James “cited the admission mandate as a potential cause of excess deaths.”
Then Cuomo hit rock bottom when The New York Post reported that his secretary Melissa DeRosa “apologized to Democratic lawmakers for withholding the state’s nursing-home death toll from COVID-19.”
DeRosa said the administration “froze” because they feared the DOJ would use the numbers against them.
Cuomo played the victim and deflected blame to others.
But the Democratic lawmakers did not let him off the hook. They demanded an investigation and wanted to strip Cuomo of his emergency powers.
Cuomo refused to apologize and insisted others brought COVID-19 into the nursing homes, not the COVID-19 positive patients.
Then he warned his colleagues not to threaten him with a subpoena or investigation. He tried to scare them into thinking it is a crime to do this because apparently, he is invincible.
Think that is bad? Look at Assemblyman Ron Kim, who lost his uncle to COVID-19 in a nursing home.
Kim claimed that Cuomo threatened him over the phone:
“At first, there was a silence on the phone,” Kim said. “Then the governor says, `Mr. Kim, are you an honorable man?”
Kim — who said he was “in the middle of bathing my kids” — said Cuomo asked him to draft a statement “to say that Melissa de Rosa said there was a federal investigation and they had to deal with that first.”
During the conversation, Kim said, Cuomo warned him, “You have not seen my wrath. I have been biting my tongue for months.”
“I can tell the whole world what a bad person you are and you will be finished,” Kim recalled Cuomo saying.
“You will be destroyed.”
Cuomo kept his word. He told wild stories about Kim during a press conference on Wednesday without offering any proof of the allegations.
Yeah, Wednesday didn’t get better for Cuomo.
Federal Investigation
From The Times Union:
The probe by the U.S. attorney’s office in the Eastern District of New York is apparently in its early stages and is focusing on the work of some of the senior members of the governor’s task force, according to a person with direct knowledge of the matter who is not authorized to comment publicly.
Last March, as the virus began spreading in New York, Cuomo issued a news release listing the 13 initial members of his coronavirus task force, which has been headed by Linda Lacewell, an attorney and former chief of staff for Cuomo. Lacewell is the superintendent of the state Department of Financial Services. Other task force members include state health Commissioner Howard Zucker, Secretary to the Governor Melissa DeRosa and Beth Garvey, counsel to the governor.
“As we publicly said, DOJ (Department of Justice) has been looking into this for months,” said Richard Azzopardi, a spokesman for the governor. “We have been cooperating with them and we will continue to.”
The Brooklyn office’s spokesman John Marzulli told The Times Union “he could not ‘confirm or deny’ whether the office has initiated an investigation.”
On Wednesday, Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) asked President Joe Biden “to retain New York’s public corruption prosecutor” because he thinks the acting U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York cannot carry out this investigation.
The acting U.S. attorney is Audrey Strauss, the mother-in-law of DeRosa.
Grassley urged Biden to choose Antoinette Bacon, acting U.S. attorney in the Northern District, to take over the investigation:
The obvious alternative is Antoinette “Toni” Bacon, the U.S. attorney for the Northern District of New York, who previously served as Justice Department’s national elder justice coordinator and who currently has jurisdiction over federal public corruption crimes in the state. However, President Biden’s plan could remove Bacon from office at the end of the month.
“[Ms. Bacon] is the obvious choice to continue a fair and unbiased investigation into possible violations of civil liberties of the elderly and the public corruption which may have occurred in this case. Yet it may be your intention to require Ms. Bacon to leave as soon as the end of the month. Replacing Ms. Bacon at this time would send a terrible message about the independence of the Department of Justice,” Grassley wrote.
Grassley might not get his wish. The Times Union wrote that the probe “apparently does not involve the Northern District.”
The publication noted that this is not the first time the Brooklyn office investigated in the Northern District:
The recent probe by the U.S. attorney’s office in Brooklyn is not the first time that New York City-based federal prosecutors have launched investigations in New York’s Northern District, which stretches from Kingston to the Canadian border with headquarters in Albany and Syracuse. A sprawling fraud and bribery case involving top Cuomo aides in Albany was prosecuted by the U.S. attorney’s office in Manhattan; the prosecution of NXIVM co-founder Keith Raniere and other top members of his organization was handled by the U.S. attorney’s office in Brooklyn.
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Comments
An investigation just like Barr’s
MarkS — My prediction — they will indict Trump on conspiracy and accessory to murder charges.
what murder are you referring to?
If I had to guess: President Trump somehow had a duty to prevent Cuomo’s Covid massacre, so instead of prosecuting the culprit they could try to persecute Trump once more?
No one will ever top William Barr’s treason. He single-handedly destroyed our nation. He could have single-handedly saved it.
Worst traitor in world history. I can’t think of another traitor who did more harm.
As Don Surber is fond of saying: “No excitement without an indictment”.
Why was Ashli Babbitt killed?
Why, and Who?
Invesitgate? Or help to sweep under the rug?
Since the FIB is involved and Cuomo has the magic “D” after his name, the latter.
I don’t think so.
A Kremlinologist would look at the big picture here and see that by purging Cuomo, the Junta-Soviets (like Susan Rice, who is the de facto president of the former United States) always have a bigger plan than erasing Cuomo over the mere deaths of thousands of dispensible people (old, traditional Americans).
Cuomo is being purged as a precedent – next in line is KneePad Harris. The Junta planners chose her for her abiliy to fall apart – which she is doing right now on live tv: she can’t get out a coherent sentence under pressure.
The Junta planners picked biden because they knew the fix was in: the voter fraud scheme was in play, and vacant, corruptable, extortable weak old man was both highly pliant, yet he seemed the least threatening to Americans too lost not to vote for Trump.
Again, Harris was picked because she was so clueless in the primaries, and has more baggage than Samsonite: she could be easily controlled, and she can be easily disposed – like Cuomo -of when necessary.
Which all gets to the greater point: all this lines up to make Pelosi – who is third in line in succession – will become president.
Pelosi would make a good Junta president: she’s batshit crazy and as fascistic as they come. She would serve them well.
There is one tiny flaw in your analysis. It’s bollocks.
And then what? They will throw some lovely words about and that will be it. No one will be held accountable, especially if they have that magic little D letter next to their name.
Fuck. Them. All!
What next, you ask?
Why, the Academy Awards or maybe even a Grammy!
I suspect this is a Hillary-flavored investigation. Grab all the evidence, sit on it, nothing to see here, no intent to mopery, no indictments, pseudo-double jeopardy protection.
They’ll bring the culprits in, let them smash their hardrives and cell phones, and find nothing.
Shall see where the investigation leads, there needs to transparency over the results.
Is this going to be another announcement by the FBI – Yes, criminal activity occurred here, but we don’t think he meant any harm by it so we are not going to prosecute. And then Cuomo supporters get to go around yelling “Vindicated!” While everyone else just sits in awe of the blatant corruption in the system.
Nailed it.
That sounds about right for this corrupt crew.
Exactly. This is another verse in the “No Reasonable Prosecutor” song that grates like fingernails on a blackboard.
Spot on.
If you think it will go anywhere, let me show you this bridge. It just came on the market yesterday……….
He will see you, right after he sees me about some oceanfront property I have available in Kansas.
Yeah, the same FBI that handled the Russian collusion investigation, Strzok and Page, etc. Nothing will happen. Cuomo is counting on Biden to remain out of the picture, or ensure that clamps are put on at the appropriate time. Wonder if the children and other family members who lost loved ones can file a class action suit against Cuomo for wrongful death? I’m not a lawyer, just asking.
According to Gov. Andy “Killer” Cuomo nobody can sue him for the nursing home/elder care facility deaths as he isn’t responsible for them. It was other “visitors” and the “healthcare workers” that brought The Covid™ into those facilities and that caused the deaths. And we have to believe Andy after all, he got an Emmy Award™ and that makes him very trustworthy. ?
I love the comments that quote FBI and DOJ exonerations. Let’s never forget those and never forget what Cuomo did to nursing home residents and their families.
Cuomo, the Grim Reaper, that would be a good idea for Branco cartoon. Such would really frost Cuomo.
Which leads me to believe that the “senior members of the governor’s task force” are going to be used as the scapegoats/fall guys for Gov. Andy “Killer” Cuomo’s directives that lead to the deaths of thousands of elderly trapped in nursing homes and elder care facilities.
I suspect that whoever is running the DNC and joe Biden’s presidency has decided that Cuomo is not the candidate they want for the White House. Cuomo served as a cudgel against President Trump and Cuomo’s ambitions are now a liability. The investigation will force him to leave office or stop running for higher office.
Cuomo may not want to go along but he has very little choice at this time.
It’s very rare for a D of any corruption level to be charged rather than exonerated. I don’t expect anything here other than the normal whitewash.
Phase 2 of the cover up.
As General Patton would rightly order and demand in another day, against a heinous criminal, a ghoulish murderer, “Get the Hun son of a bitch — gut him!”
Figuratively today, I mean, and under peaceful rule of law, of course, but just as reasonably, and with full zeal.
It’s time for the NY governor to grasp — since evidently he has not yet appeared to do so — the words of the legendary, if only fictional lawman, Dirty Harry, the full and equitable meaning of, “A man’s got to know his limitations.”
I’m not going to get excited until there’s an indictment. We all know that if a Democrat is under investigation, the FBI will come in to identify and sequester information and evidence so it doesn’t get any exposure. Only if they’re looking at Republicans do we see press conferences every time their target scratches their backside. That’s also when we see people tried in the media.
Nemesis is galloping harder. #1 Cuomo aide flaps her mouth; #2 Newsom recall; #3 green energy freezes in the dark.
#4 I suspect something terrible happens about the vaccine. But what I hope is La Cunya, the Madame! Speakeresssss gets hers.
Planned Parent/hood is one of the few venues where there were excess deaths attributed… attributable to SARS-CoV-2. Mr. Cuomo, tear down the wall.
Fine. They’ll be an investigation. Nothing will come of it.
Just like the investigation into Hillary’s security breaches, allegations of election fraud, etc.
The Left has figured out how to use these “investigations” to shield themselves very effectively.
Republicans (like Scooter Libby) get a different treatment.
I’ve given up waiting for The Durham Report.
A lot will come of it: I believe this is all about getting Pelosi to become an unelected president – this year.
TFR, I”m honestly curious. How do you figure they’ll get rid of the Camel-a@@ VP?
Oh, they’ll leak something to interested parties, maybe an ex-president and his #NeverPOTUS wife, say, about how Kami Harris-Subramanian-Washington is getting ready to say what she knows about Epstein’s Island, and……let “nature” take it’s course.
That explains the barbed wire and NG….
“Mistakes were made but everyone involved had good and honorable intentions”.
Which is also what they’ll write on America’s tombstone after the Dems turn it into Venezuela.
The FBI? Oh noes!
He has a “D” after his name, so of course they’ll find that he didn’t INTEND to break the law.
Indictment? No way. How are they going to indict Cuomo for a crime, re: sending old people back to nursing homes, at the beginning of a novel pandemic? There is no evidence that Cuomo knew or should have known that doing so would place all of these people at risk. And, failure to provide accurate death statistics is will never be a criminal offense, or thousands of people would go to jail in the next year over the bogus COVID cause of death stats. This is all politics.
Democrat governors screwed the pooch on the COVID response. Now that Trump is gone, the progressives do not want the public to be reminded of that. Now, Cuomo’s performance was horrible. But not much worse than Murphy of NJ or Newsome of CA. hey are being ignored while Cuomo is being attacked. What is the difference? Well, after the electoral coup, Murphy and Newsome left the stage. Cuomo, on the other hand, is still strutting around making noises about how wonderfully he handled the COVID crisis. Everytime he opens his mouth about this, the family members of the nursing home fatalities scream about it. But, he would not shut up and lay low. So, the Progressive Democrats are putting pressure on him to do just that. The problem is, that Cuomo is not to bright. He probably will not exit stage right, without a lot more pressure. He may actual force the Dems to force him out of office. But, this is politics, not justice.
Mac,
Your analysis doesn’t account for WHY they chose to target Cuomo, and why now?
I think this is a purge that will also engulf Madam Kneepads: aside from everything else, she has A LOT of sketchy real estate deals that will come to haunt her.
We are like lambs led to slaughter – we have been incredibly naive and trusting of people and institutions we now know are and have been trying to destroy us.
Back to the secession talk – before it is too late.
Well there is evidence for distorting the nursing home deaths as opposed to no evidence for distorted covid deaths. Hell based on this example Covid has been under reported.
As for your comments about state governors you can pick examples of good and bad responses from both sides of the aisle. I’m not really sure that it’s a partisan issue it’s a leadership one. Some Republicans and some Democrats have been found wanting in that regard
No evidence of distorted covid death numbers?
Die while being a case (not the same as being symptomatically sick) and it was counted. That is a recipe for systematic overcount. Some would call that distorted.
I do not see crimes here either. Incompetence? Sure.
So, yes, this is politics. Cuomo got too big off his underserved aura of leadership competence. Actually, the Emmy award was quite appropriate – it was all an act with no relation to reality.
Doesn’t matter it’s all a lie. Someone sees him as a threat, I would guess for 2024 because Ol’ Joe who is already a few grapes short of a cluster will not be doing a second term or will be to feeble to fend off a primary challenger.
Agree. The “Party” just wants Cuomo to shut up, he has become an embarrassment. The death and heartbreak directly caused by the actions of this preening, prancing, pompous, loud mouthed punk are real and tragic. The accusations are justified and getting too much exposure to ignore, hence an investigation by Federal authorities. Little will probably come of it, which is too bad because far too little has come of so many wrongs over the past eight years culminating in the events of the past year, the election, and its aftermath. It just gets worse and worse. The country’s lack of faith in just about anything ‘Federal’ is well placed and fully justified. The other word of caution here is to beware Letitia James; she is as duplicitous as any deep stater in the swamp and a SJW who will return her attention to the destruction of the NRA as the Feds drew attention away from her.
The only thing you left out is that every single nursing home administrator told Cuomo he was f*g crazy to do such a thing, but no, he had bigger fake medical balls than theirs.
There’s your Emmy. ACT-ing! GE-nius! THANK you!
Surely if they just task the sterling Mr. Durham Mr. Cuomo will be indicted in no time…
I think everyone is missing the “tell” on this one. KamelToe is behind this investigation. She has the most to gain. This is about 2024. Andy Corleone recognizes the danger here. He will not pull any punches to allow her to do this to him and Fredo. Get your popcorn because this will be epic.
Harris has the least to gain: she’ll be the next target. Then pelosi comes marching in, third in line in succession.
Translation: The optics have gotten so bad the FBI was called to look into it and find some official excuses for Cuomo.
Does anyone actually trust the FBI anymore to do a legitimate non-political investigation? I certainly don’t.
The left does not publicly eat their own. There is more to this than mere killing of thousands of deplorables.
Except in this example the left is actively Cuomo so your theory doesn’t really hang together does it.
The only thing you left out is that every single nursing home administrator told Cuomo he was f*g crazy to do such a thing, but no, he had bigger fake medical balls than theirs.
There’s your Emmy. ACT-ing! GE-nius! THANK you!
Damn interface. That was a reply to Mac45, not a new comment.