Judicial Watch files open-records request for official reported New York COVID-19 deaths

Judicial Watch said Wednesday it has filed a public records request seeking information on the number of COVID-19 related deaths in New York.

The conservative watchdog group filed a Freedom of Information Act to the Department of Health and Human Services requesting all communication records among the state of New York State, previous Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Robert Redfield and other federal government officials.

The request was filed by the group on March 11 and asks for "all emails sent to and from Redfield regarding the numbers of deaths reported by state government officials due to Covid 19."

Judicial Watch also wants the communications between Redfield and New York Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo. The group gave the HHS until September 1 to fulfill the request.

In 2020, the Associated Press reported the Cuomo administration had under-counted deaths from COVID-19 in New York nursing homes by thousands. Officials said the death numbers could've been off by 50%.

Cuomo early in the pandemic told nursing homes to allow residents with the virus to return to facilities, in an attempt to help overwhelmed hospitals.

"We have little confidence that Gov. Cuomo’s corrupt political allies in DC and NY will do a competent investigation of his nursing home scandal," Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton said in a statement Wednesday. "This new lawsuit aims to allow the American people to find out now, not years from now, what Gov. Cuomo is hiding."