House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., resent a criminal referral to the Department of Justice on Monday recommending that former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo be charged with making false statements to Congress.
Comer charges that Cuomo, a Democrat, "knowingly and willfully" lied to the House Select Subcommittee about his knowledge and involvement of a 2020 report regarding the COVID-19 "nursing home disaster" and "the ensuing cover-up."
Comer and Select Committee Republicans assert that Cuomo took an active role in drafting and editing the New York State Department of Health report to dodge responsibility for the thousands of lost lives during the pandemic.
"Andrew Cuomo is a man with a history of corruption and deceit, now caught red-handed lying to Congress during the Select Subcommittee's investigation into the COVID-19 nursing home tragedy in New York. This wasn't a slip-up — it was a calculated cover-up by a man seeking to shield himself from responsibility for the devastating loss of life in New York's nursing homes," Comer said in a Monday release.
Cuomo is polling as one of the top Democrat candidates in the New York City mayoral race. The election is Nov. 4.
Select Committee Chairman Brad Wenstrup, R-Ohio, sent a criminal referral against Cuomo dated Oct. 30 to former Attorney General Merrick Garland asserting that Cuomo made false statements in a transcribed interview with the committee on June 11.
In his letter to Attorney General Pam Bondi dated Tuesday, Comer wrote, "To our knowledge, the Biden Administration ignored this referral despite clear facts and evidence."
At issue is that on March 25, 2020, Cuomo issued a directive that New York nursing homes and long-term care facilities admit COVID-positive and potentially COVID-positive patients.
However, when the New York Health Department report came out on July 6, 2020, it alleged that nursing home staff — not the March 25 directive — caused excess COVID-19 deaths in nursing homes.
"According to witness testimony and new documents revealed in the Select Subcommittee's referral, Mr. Cuomo personally drafted and edited portions of this purportedly independent and peer-reviewed report," Republicans wrote in their timeline.
Cuomo, however, told the committee "that he was neither involved in the drafting nor the review of the July 6 Report. Documents establish that statement to be false."
Further, he told the committee that he did not know if the report was reviewed by people outside the Health Department. Republicans have documents that "again demonstrate that statement to be false."
"Let's be clear: lying to Congress is a federal crime. Mr. Cuomo must be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. The House Oversight Committee is prepared to fully cooperate with the Justice Department's investigation into Andrew Cuomo's actions and ensure he's held to account," Comer said in Monday's release.
At least 17,425 COVID deaths were recorded in New York's long-term care programs, including more than 10,825 inside facilities, according to the nonprofit Long Term Care Community Coalition.