Former Governor Andrew Cuomo is accused of lying to Congress. The House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic has referred Cuomo to the Department of Justice (DOJ) for possible prosecution. The House panel said Cuomo repeatedly lied and they have witness testimony and documents to prove it.
Cuomo is accused of participating in a “conscious, calculated effort” to avoid accountability for the many thousands of seniors who died of COVID-19 in nursing homes and of lying behind closed doors to the House panel.
House subcommittee chairman, Brad Wenstrup, signed the referral to DOJ that said, “Mr. Cuomo provided false statements to the select subcommittee in what appears to be a conscious, calculated effort to insulate himself from accountability.”
South Shore Press’s (SSP) News Director, Stefan Mychajliw, spoke with New York State Conservative Party Chairman Gerry Kassar about the Cuomo DOJ referral.
SSP: What are your first thoughts? The fact that former Governor Cuomo testified on Capitol Hill and now the House GOP is referring to the Justice Department saying he didn't tell us the truth and he should be put in cuffs. What do think?
Kassar: I'm not surprised he didn't tell the truth. He wasn't telling the truth to New Yorkers. Why would he tell the truth to the House of Representatives? The truth, in his case, will not set him free. And that's becoming clearer and clearer. This is legitimate grounds for a referral. And I, as a New Yorker, think it's long overdue. I can say that. We all know so many people who died during that time. So it's about time.
SSP: Regardless of who becomes President, whether it's Harris or Trump, I firmly believe President Trump's going to be elected on Tuesday, but regardless of who the commander in chief is, this seems pretty serious and the Justice Department should take a cold hard look at this. There's proof. And, they should charge Governor Cuomo.
Kassar: I think that justice should be blind. Cuomo always operated in New York like he was the king. And you just can't go before a House committee and play it like you were playing New Yorkers. They’re not Cuomo addicts down there.
The report is 138 pages long. All I've had the opportunity to do is to see the published reports. But, they've been able to more than categorize Cuomo as a liar. They've been able to prove it. And they really have no choice about sending a referral, which is going to result in an investigation, and an investigation could very likely result in an additional referral to a US attorney.
I don't know where DOJ would be at that point. It is possible that Cuomo was completely delusional. It is possible that he literally has no idea of what he actually did and just got too much into watching these TV shows that he was on or, you know, the press conferences. He was used to having his staff sitting around him just echoing his thought process. It is possible that he didn't fully appreciate that he had government workers working on his book that he was making money off of.
It's all possible, but in a court of law, unless he wants to argue that he was insane, he's going to find himself, maybe not in handcuffs, but certainly under the thumb of the law. And it's about time. That was a multi-year situation in our lives where loved ones died. Where it appeared we were never going get justice even though we were hurting. He needs to be brought to justice.
SSP: Let's backtrack a bit, the reason why he was there in the first place, is the fact that he had put seniors who were previously healthy around seniors who were stricken with COVID, which was a death sentence for thousands of seniors. So how catastrophic was that decision by Governor Cuomo?
Kassar: Well, my mother was in a nursing home where 50 people died around her in Brooklyn. That's how that's how bad it was. My mother got COVID. She did not die from COVID, but she got it due to the actions of Governor Cuomo. So, I couldn't sit on that jury that's going to convict him because I've got the history I've just told you. But, I am not the only one. There are hundreds upon hundreds, probably thousands.
The point is there were 50 people on two floors of a nursing home in Brooklyn who died as individuals were being transferred in. Now, would some have died on their own? Probably, it is a nursing home. But, this was way over the top. In fact, it was so way over the top that in talking to the management of a nursing home, they told me that their employees were so depressed over what was happening, there were staff refusing to come back to work. It was too much of a strain on their emotions to see so many of the people they were taking care of die.
Governor Cuomo was doing press conferences and lying to us. You go before the House of Representatives, you end up lying. A Justice Department referral was completely appropriate. Let's see what the investigation shows. I honestly will tell you, I could never sit on a jury for Governor Cuomo because I've already made up my mind.
SSP: Last question for you. You've been around the politics a long time. Why on earth would Governor Cuomo, who knows he wants to run for mayor of New York City, why would he lie before Congress knowing he could be put behind bars?
Kassar: Honestly, I believe that he is so delusional he doesn't necessarily always realize he's lying. I think he's experienced during his time in government too many people who just simply said yes to him. Now, he ran into a group of people who were doing a legitimate bipartisan investigation,
He lied because he probably thought it wasn't even a lie. And that's how sad this has become.