Andrew Cuomo was hailed by the press as a hero for his response to the coronavirus outbreak last year.
But one whistleblower’s bombshell report has turned Cuomo’s career upside down.
And now, the New York Democrat could be the first governor in over a decade to be impeached and removed from office.
When the coronavirus pandemic spread across the world early last year, no one was hailed more by the mainstream media than New York Democratic Governor Andrew Cuomo.
Eager to find a state Democratic governor with which to contrast President Trump against in a negative light, Cuomo was paraded through network after network for his “successful” response to the pandemic, despite the fact that New York consistently ranked among the top states in the country with the largest COVID death toll.
The media campaign ultimately culminated in Governor Cuomo getting his own book deal, and talk among Democrats over whether or not he should have been the party’s nominee for President instead of Joe Biden swirled for months.
But now, a new bombshell revelation from a top New York whistleblower isn’t just destroying Governor Cuomo’s record in office, it could ultimately result in his impeachment and removal as New York’s governor.
The New York Post reports, “State Assembly Republicans are moving to form an impeachment commission “to gather facts and evidence” surrounding Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s “handling and subsequent cover-up of the COVID-19 crisis in nursing homes” across New York, they announced Thursday.
The move comes after The Post exclusively reported how Cuomo’s top aide Melissa DeRosa admitted on a conference call with lawmakers that the Democratic governor’s administration withheld the true death toll of nursing home residents for fear it would be “used against us by federal prosecutors.”
For months, Cuomo was attacked by Republican critics for sending COVID patients back to nursing homes, potentially exposing other vulnerable seniors to the virus.
With the support of many in the media, including his own brother, who serves as a prominent CNN anchor, Cuomo was able to largely side-step these criticisms, while Democrats closed ranks around one of their own.
But the revelation from a Cuomo administration official that the state has intentionally been lying about how many COVID deaths were taking place within the state could prove to be the Governor’s undoing.
“The Cuomo Administration’s nursing home cover-up is one of the most alarming scandals we’ve seen in state government. Intentionally withholding critical information from the public, underreporting fatality numbers by 50 percent and the recent revelation they hid the truth to avoid a federal Department of Justice investigation are among the factors that raise the serious possibility of criminality,” said Republican Minority Leader Will Barclay (R-Oswego) in a statement slamming Cuomo’s administration.
Barclay has now called for a bipartisan legislative panel to be set up to determine how to best “hold the governor accountable.” Said panel would have the power to recommend impeaching the New York Democrat from office, as well as subpoena witnesses for testimony and evidence into the true depth of the growing scandal.
But regardless of whether or not the legislature acts to remove Governor Cuomo from office, there are already signs that his political career is already in serious turmoil.
“The FBI and the US Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York have already opened an investigation into Cuomo’s handling of nursing homes amid the coronavirus pandemic, sources said Wednesday,” concludes the New York Post.
