Ex-Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s House testimony on the deaths of thousands of New Yorkers in nursing homes amid the pandemic proved one thing: His arrogance is boundless.
In Tuesday’s grilling by the Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic, Cuomo tripled-down on shrugging off responsibility for the deaths caused by his March 25, 2020, “must admit” directive that forced New York care homes to accept contagious COVID patients.
Instead, he insisted then-President Donald Trump “willfully deceived the American people and his lies and denial delayed our response” and “let the virus spread.”
Willful deception? “Lies and denial”? A lot of projection there, Andrew.
He blamed the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, too.
“They never called me after [the order went out]. You would think if they had a problem with the directive, they would have called. If it was so outrageous. . .”
As if it was the CDC’s job to micromanage the notorious micromanager.
As gov, the buck stopped with Cuomo, but now he pretends he was little more than a hapless bystander to his administration’s decisions.
A group of protesters outside Cobble Hill Health Center nursing home in Brookyn on March 21, 2021. APIn Cuomo’s eyes, he’s the victim.
But his actions during the pandemic speak louder than his words.
Cuomo knew exactly how bad it was as early as June 7, 2020, when he directed an aide to send an email to his inner circle calling the nursing-home deaths a “great debacle,” and warning: “Don’t u [sic] see how bad this is? Or do we admit error and give up?”
He has plainly chosen to never, ever admit error, even when the proof is undeniable.
He shamelessly tried to cover up the impact of his screw-up, reportedly personally editing the July 6, 2020, state report that massively undercounted New York’s COVID-19 death toll.
Now witness testimony and the final House report say Cuomo’s order led to about 9,000 excess care-home COVID deaths.
Adding insult to injury, Cuomo lacks the decency (or guts) to apologize to the families of the elderly New Yorkers who died, despite being prompted to multiple times by committee members of both parties.
On his way out of the chamber, one such family member put it bluntly: “You killed my parents and thousands of others. You’re a liar. You’re in denial, a–hole.”
Cuomo by all accounts still hopes for a political comeback.
That’s going to be an awfully tough sled if he sticks to his lies: New Yorkers, especially those who lost loved ones, will never forget what he did — nor forgive a man who refuses to own up to the truth.
