New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo Andrew Cuomo NY House Democrat calls for Cuomo to resign after latest allegation Third woman accuses Cuomo of unwanted sexual advances Cuomo administration hires defense attorney for nursing home probe MORE ’s (D) administration hired a defense attorney to represent the governor and his closest aides in an investigation probing COVID-19 nursing home deaths during the pandemic. Defense attorney Elkan Abramowitz, a former federal prosecutor, confirmed to The Hill on Monday that he was representing the “Executive Chamber” as the state endures three probes into how it handled reporting coronavirus deaths in nursing homes. The Wall Street Journal first reported on Abramowitz’s hiring. ADVERTISEMENT Two of the investigations are being conducted by the Justice Department's Civil Rights and Civil division, while the third is being handled by the Brooklyn-based U.S. attorney’s office. The governor previously said the state is cooperating in all three inquiries. The governor's office did not immediately return a request for comment. Cuomo’s administration faced backlash for its management of nursing homes during the pandemic for months, particularly from Republicans. But in January, New York Attorney General Letitia James (D) published a report determining the state should not have excluded the number of residents who died after being taken to hospitals from the nursing home death toll. The change in classification put the number of nursing home deaths at 15,000 from 8,500 as recently as late January. Abramowitz’s hiring also comes after a tumultuous week for Cuomo as the governor faces sexual harassment allegations from two of his former aides. The lawyer told The Hill that his firm has not been retained to defend the state executive on the harassment allegations. The former federal prosecutor was previously hired by Cuomo in 2014 when the governor dealt with a federal investigation ...
Nursing homes
Pennsylvania House to Investigate Gov. Tom Wolf Sending Coronavirus Patients to Nursing Homes
The Pennsylvania House of Representatives announced an oversight investigation of Gov. Tom Wolf’s (D) handling of nursing homes and long-term care facilities during the coronavirus pandemic. Reps. Mike Kelly (R-PA), Fred Keller (R-PA), Dan Meuser (R-PA), Glenn “GT” Thompson (R-PA), Scott Perry (R-PA), Lloyd Smucker (R-PA), John Joyce (R-PA), and Guy Reschenthaler (R-PA) issued the following statement: The Pennsylvania Republican Congressional Delegation thanks the members of the General Assembly for taking the necessary steps to investigate the Wolf administration’s disastrous policies relating to our state’s nursing homes and long-term care facilities. Last March, the Pennsylvania Department of Health issued guidance requiring nursing homes to admit COVID-positive patients. Today, more than half of the state’s COVID fatalities have occurred in these facilities. Unfortunately, Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro has repeatedly failed to investigate the policies that put Pennsylvania seniors living in long-term care facilities at risk. Pennsylvanians deserve a full and transparent investigation into what went wrong. Our offices remain committed to ensuring all information is brought to light so that the health and safety of our senior citizens are never again jeopardized by the careless actions of a state executive. In addition, the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) issued guidance on March 13, 2020, “For Infection Control and Prevention of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) in Nursing Homes.” The March 13 guidance said, “nursing homes should admit any individual that they would normally admit to their facility, including individuals from hospitals where a case of COVID-19 was/is present” only if the nursing home can follow the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) quarantining guidance. Former CMS administrator Seema Verma later said, “[u]nder no circumstances should a hospital discharge a patient to a nursing home ...
Poll: 71% Say Cuomo Knew ‘True Number of COVID Deaths in Nursing Homes, Concealed It’
The vast majority of voters believe that Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) deliberately concealed the true number of coronavirus-related nursing home deaths in his state, a Hill-HarrisX poll released Monday revealed. “Which comes closest to your views of NY Governor Andrew Cuomo?” the survey asked, giving respondents two choices. Seventy-one percent of all voters said Cuomo was “aware of the true number of COVID deaths in nursing homes and concealed it, compared to 29 percent who said he was unaware of the true number of COVID deaths in nursing homes.” Notably, 62 percent of Democrats agree that he was aware of the true number of coronavirus deaths in nursing homes and concealed it. A majority of Republicans (80 percent) and independent voters (71 percent) agreed. The survey, taken February 24-26, among 1,909 registered voters, has a margin of error of +/- 2.24 percent. It comes as Cuomo faces political fallout for dueling scandals: His administration’s nursing home coverup and allegations of sexual harassment, though the latter has largely overshadowed the nursing coverup in recent days. New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio (D) on Monday said that the nursing home issue should not fall to the wayside as Democrats continue to express more public concern over the allegations of sexual harassment. “And we need to look at the nursing home issue. We cannot just look at one or the other. We need a full investigation of the nursing home issue where thousands of people died,” de Blasio said. “Information was covered up on purpose, and we still don’t know if our seniors are safe going forward — our elders. We don’t know if they’re safe because we have not got a full accounting of the facts,” he continued. “Both these issues need to be looked into independently, thoroughly, and we need to know what has to change as a result,” he added: WATCH: Mayor Bill de Blasio slams Gov. Andrew Cuomo's "apology" after sexual harassment allegations. pic.twitter.com/BLeYhinIMN ...
Andrew Cuomo Administration Hires Harvey Weinstein Lawyer as Feds Probe Nursing Home Scandal
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo (D)’s administration has hired Harvey Weinstein’s defense attorney as federal investigators probe his state’s handling of nursing home patients during the coronavirus pandemic. Lawyer Elkan Abramowitz confirmed to the New York Daily News that he and his firm are representing Governor Cuomo and his top officials involved in the state’s nursing home scandal . Federal investigators are probing the Cuomo administration, which is facing mounting criticism and allegations of a coverup involving the death count of nursing home residents during the pandemic. Last March, the governor signed a directive that forced nursing homes to accept coronavirus-positive patients in order to free up hospital beds — a move that resulted in additional nursing home deaths, which Cuomo’s administration was later accused of underreporting . Following his nursing home scandal, Cuomo went on to face multiple sexual harassment accusations. Abramowitz said that when it comes to the other scandals involving the governor, he and his firm have “not been retained on the sexual harassment matter.” Abramowitz had previously come under fire for serving as disgraced movie mogul and Democrat Party mega-donor Harvey Weinstein’s lawyer, and helping avoid charges for admittedly groping a model. Abramowitz has also served as Woody Allen’s lawyer, representing the director in his 1990s custody battle with actress Mia Farrow, and defending Allen when his adoptive daughter Dylan Farrow accused him of sexual assault. As for Cuomo, when asked about the investigation being conducted by Brooklyn prosecutors and the FBI, the governor deflected the state’s matter onto former President Donald Trump, adding that such inquires have only been given to states run by Democrats. “We have had requests from the Department of Justice since last year when President Trump accused Democratic states of the COVID problem,” said Cuomo. “Let’s be accurate, President Trump first ...
Nolte: Andrew Cuomo Is What Happens When Democrats Know Media Will Shield Them
Three credible sexual misconduct allegations, some 15,000 dead senior citizens, lies, and cover-ups. Yep, Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D-NY) is what you get when a Democrat knows the media will shield him from anything. While a hospital ship sat mostly empty a stone’s throw from the Statue of Liberty, Cuomo ordered people infected with the coronavirus be placed in nursing homes. While two makeshift hospitals sat mostly empty in New York City, one built by the American military the other by Samaritan’s Purse, Cuomo ordered people infected with the coronavirus be placed into nursing homes. My point, of course, is that there was all kinds of bed space available and still Cuomo ordered those contagious with a virus that ravages the elderly be placed in facilities that house the elderly. And let’s not forget nursing homes are not set up to handle infectious diseases. They are nursing homes, not nursing hospitals. As a result of Cuomo’s sociopathic policy, some 15,000 nursing home residents died of the coronavirus, and did so while those of us in New Media were raising the alarm ( as far back as nearly a year ago ). But in order to shield Cuomo from our alarms, the corporate media launched a full-court offensive to turn Cuomo into a coronavirus hero, going so far as to openly engage in a love affair with Cuomo and brag about America’s ongoing “ Cuomosexualism .” Cuomo then lied about his own nursing home directive, the one he himself issued on March 25, 2020, that in part said (emphasis original): No resident shall be denied re-admission or admission to the NH [nursing home] solely based on a confirmed or suspected diagnosis of COVID-19. NHs are prohibited from requiring a hospitalized resident who is determined medically stable to be tested for COVID-19 prior to admission or readmission.” Cuomo’s bald-faced lie was that he claimed the federal government (read: The Bad Orange Man) forced the nursing home policy on New York. The corporate media not only ...
