House COVID-19 panel refers Andrew Cuomo for possible prosecution for lying to Congress: report

The House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic on Wednesday night sent a referral to the Justice Department for the possible prosecution of former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, the New York Times reported, over allegations that he lied to Congress.

Cuomo, who was governor during the COVID-19 pandemic, issued a mandate in 2020 that required nursing homes in the state to admit untested or possibly contagious patients. It resulted in the deaths of over 15,000 people. 

The panel reportedly accused Cuomo of participating in a “conscious, calculated effort” to avoid accountability for the thousands of nursing homes deaths that occurred from COVID-19, and of lying behind closed doors.

Cuomo had testified to the panel that he had not reviewed a State Health Department report about the nursing home deaths, but the New York Times reported that Cuomo did review it and helped write portions of an early draft of it.

The referral was signed by subcommittee chairman Brad Wenstrup, according to the outlet.

“Mr. Cuomo provided false statements to the select subcommittee in what appears to be a conscious, calculated effort to insulate himself from accountability,” Wenstrup wrote in the referral. “The Department of Justice should consider Mr. Cuomo’s prior allegedly wrongful conduct when evaluating whether to charge him for the false statements described.”

The former governor's spokesman Richard Azzopardi defended Cuomo in a statement to the outlet and claimed he had testified that he did not remember having a role in the report.

“This taxpayer-funded farce is an illegal use of Congress’s investigative authority,” Azzopardi said. “The governor said he didn’t recall because he didn’t recall. The committee lied in their referral just as they have been lying to the public and the press.”

The criminal referral does not carry any legal weight, and it is now up to the Justice Department on whether they prosecute. 

Misty Severi is an evening news reporter for Just The News. You can follow her on X for more coverage.