<ul class="summary-list"><li>The feud between <keyword id="6355838" type="LOCATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="new-york">New York</keyword> Gov. <keyword id="196530" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Andrew-Cuomo">Andrew Cuomo</keyword> and New York City Mayor <keyword id="1710611" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Bill-de-Blasio">Bill de Blasio</keyword> has escalated.</li><li>De Blasio went after Cuomo during a Thursday appearance on <keyword id="221370" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="MSNBC">MSNBC</keyword>'s "Morning Joe."</li><li>De Blasio said Cuomo's menacing call to a state lawmaker fits a broader pattern of "bullying."</li></ul>In the latest escalation of their ongoing feud, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio condemned New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo over a menacing phone call he made to Assemblyman Ron Kim."It's a sad thing to say, Mika, but that's classic Andrew Cuomo," de Blasio said during an appearance on MSNBC's "Morning Joe" on Thursday morning."A lot of people in New York State have received those phone calls. The bullying is nothing new," he added.<blockquote class="twitter-tweet blockquote" data-lang="en" data-cards="" data-conversation="">—The Recount (@therecount) <a href="https://twitter.com/mims/statuses/1362398228738637828?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 18, 2021</a></blockquote>Kim has been an outspoken critic of the Cuomo administration withholding data on COVID-19 <keyword id="10753579" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="nursing-home-deaths">nursing home deaths</keyword>, which has landed the governor in hot water with not only a <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/cuomo-nursing-home-covid-deaths-ny-attorney-general-james-report-2021-1">scathing report from his own attorney general</a>, but also a <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/cuomo-faces-federal-investigation-over-handling-of-covid-19-2021-2">looming federal investigation</a>, which was first reported by the <a href="https://www.timesunion.com/news/article/cuomo-investigation-fbi-covid-nursing-homes-15957401.php?utm_campaign=CMS%20Sharing%20Tools%20(Premium)&amp;utm_source=t.co&amp;utm_medium=referralreferral">Albany Times Union</a>.The call in question was first reported by <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2021/02/17/politics/cuomo-ron-kim-nursing-home/index.html">CNN</a>, where Kim said the governor threatened to "destroy" him if he did not "cover up" for the governor. Kim, a Queens Democrat whose <a href="https://assembly.state.ny.us/mem/Ron-Kim/office/">district</a> includes the Flushing neighborhoods, also said he received multiple calls in a row from Cuomo and that he found the whole thing to be "traumatizing."According to Kim, Cuomo was pressing him to give a rosier account of a <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/cuomo-nursing-home-deaths-leaked-conversation-melissa-derosa-2021-2">leaked call he was on with the governor's top aide, Melissa DeRosa</a>, who said the administration "froze" on releasing more nursing home death data out of concern over political blowback."Gov. Cuomo called me directly on Thursday to threaten my career if I did not cover up for Melissa [DeRosa] and what she said. He tried to pressure me to issue a statement, and it was a very traumatizing experience," Kim told CNN on Wednesday.Cuomo also went after Kim during a press call on Wednesday <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/cuomo-coronavirus-nursing-home-deaths-conspiracy-nypost-fox-news-trump-2021-2">before accusing Donald Trump, Fox News, and The New York Post of conspiring against him on the nursing homes scandal</a>.Rich Azzopardi, a Cuomo senior adviser and self-proclaimed "henchman," denied Kim's account and accused him of lying.<blockquote class="twitter-tweet blockquote" data-lang="en" data-cards="" data-conversation="">—Kadia Goba (@kadiagoba) <a href="https://twitter.com/mims/statuses/1362156700158070791?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 17, 2021</a></blockquote>For his part, de Blasio told MSNBC that he believes Kim, adding that "it's very sad.""No public servant, no person who's telling the truth should be treated that way. But yeah - the threats, the belittling, the demand that someone change their statement right that moment - many, many times I've heard that, and I know a lot of other people in this state have heard that," he went on to say.Several of Kim's colleagues in the state legislature have also come to his defense, reiterating that <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/dictatorial-powers-cuomos-executive-power-grab-rankles-lawmakers-2020-5">Cuomo has a vindictive streak</a>. <blockquote class="twitter-tweet blockquote" data-lang="en" data-cards="" data-conversation="">—Alessandra Biaggi (@SenatorBiaggi) <a href="https://twitter.com/mims/statuses/1362233277889806336?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 18, 2021</a></blockquote><blockquote class="twitter-tweet blockquote" data-lang="en" data-cards="" data-conversation="">—Monica Klein (@MonicaCKlein) <a href="https://twitter.com/mims/statuses/1362156148649041925?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 17, 2021</a></blockquote>

NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio says 'bullying is nothing new' for Cuomo after a state lawmaker accuses the governor of making a threatening phone call

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Gov. <keyword id="196530" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Andrew-Cuomo">Andrew Cuomo</keyword> gave his family special access to <keyword id="8763838" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="covid-19">COVID-19</keyword> tests, The Washington Post reported.</li><li>Sources told The Post that CNN's <keyword id="1667664" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Chris-Cuomo">Chris Cuomo</keyword> was one of the people who benefited.</li><li>The state-administered tests reportedly took place last spring, when testing was scarce.</li></ul>Gov. Andrew Cuomo of <keyword id="6355838" type="LOCATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="new-york">New York</keyword> gave his family and other high-profile people special access to <keyword id="1754604" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="coronavirus">coronavirus</keyword> tests in the early days of the pandemic when most New Yorkers did not have access to them, sources told <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/andrew-cuomo-family-covid-testing/2021/03/24/e8f6f4a8-8cb8-11eb-aff6-4f720ca2d479_story.html">The Washington Post</a>.The <a href="https://www.timesunion.com/news/article/High-level-health-officials-were-tasked-with-16044748.php?utm_campaign=socialflow&amp;utm_source=t.co&amp;utm_medium=referralreferral">Times Union</a>, a newspaper based in the state capital, Albany, also reported Wednesday that sources said state health officials were explicitly directed by Cuomo and the state's health commissioner, Dr. Howard Zucker, to prioritize Cuomo's relatives and other influential figures for testing.One of the people who is said to have benefitted is the governor's younger brother, the CNN anchor Chris Cuomo, who had <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/chris-cuomo-coronavirus-lost-13-pounds-2020-4">COVID-19 in March 2020</a>.The governor's mother and at least one of his sisters were also said to have received priority testing, some more than once, according to the Times Union.State health officials visited the people's homes to administer the tests, which were immediately processed in a state lab to quickly deliver results, three people with direct knowledge of the situation told The Post. The outlet said the lab at the time was equipped to process only several hundred tests a day.Under <a href="https://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/laws/PBO/74#:~:text=d.-,No%20officer%20or%20employee%20of%20a%20state%20agency%2C%20member%20of,herself%20or%20to%20others%20of">New York law</a>, it is illegal for officials or state employees to use their position "to secure unwarranted privileges" for themselves or others.In statements provided to Insider, officials said some testing was done at people's homes but did not name anyone specific, citing health-privacy laws and ethics."We should avoid insincere efforts to rewrite the past," Rich Azzopardi, a senior advisor to Cuomo, said. "In the early days of this pandemic, when there was a heavy emphasis on contact tracing, we were absolutely going above and beyond to get people testing - including in some instances going to people's homes, and door to door in places like New Rochelle - to take samples from those believed to have been exposed to COVID in order to identify cases and prevent additional ones."Among those we assisted were members of the general public, including legislators, reporters, state workers, and their families who feared they had contracted the virus and had the capability to further spread it," the statement continued.Sources told The Post that Chris Cuomo was one of the people who received a test, with a New York Department of Health doctor visiting the CNN anchor's home in the Hamptons on Long Island.Gary Holmes, a Department of Health representative, did not provide names of people who received the tests, saying: "You're asking professionals who took an oath to protect a patient's privacy to violate that oath and compromise their integrity. More than 43 million New Yorkers have been tested, and commenting on any of them would be a serious violation of medical ethics."In a statement to the <a href="https://twitter.com/ErikWemple/status/1374911559873540103">Washington Post media critic Eric Wemple</a>, a CNN representative said: "It is not surprising that in the earliest days of a once-in-a-century global pandemic, when Chris was showing symptoms and was concerned about possible spread, he turned to anyone he could for advice and assistance, as any human being would."Insider has reached out to Chris Cuomo and CNN for comment.The accusations over priority testing are the latest in a string of scandals circling the third-term governor of New York in recent weeks. Cuomo has been accused of <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/current-aide-ninth-woman-accuses-andrew-cuomo-of-sexual-harassment-2021-3">sexual misconduct</a> and criticized for his <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/cuomos-advisers-altered-report-to-undercount-nursing-home-deaths-2021-3">handling of nursing homes</a> in the pandemic. He has also been involved in <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/mario-cuomo-bridge-safety-issues-structural-problems-governor-tappan-zee-2021-3">bridge-safety concerns</a>.Chris Cuomo has also received some <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/cnns-chris-cuomo-accused-of-hypocrisy-for-not-covering-his-brothers-scandals-2021-3">criticisms for declining to cover his brother's scandals</a>, despite praising the governor and even interviewing him on his prime-time show last year over his handling of the coronavirus.

CNN anchor Chris Cuomo got special priority COVID-19 tests at his home in the Hamptons at the height of the pandemic, report says

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Cuomo is accused of giving relatives and top officials early access to COVID-19 tests last year.</li><li>The NYT reports that he also gave it to the president of <keyword id="1947766" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Regeneron">Regeneron</keyword>, a pharma company, last March.</li><li>Cuomo already faces accusations over nursing-home deaths, an unsafe bridge, and sexual assault.</li></ul>Gov. <keyword id="196530" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Andrew-Cuomo">Andrew Cuomo</keyword>'s office gave a billionaire pharmaceutical executive priority access to <keyword id="1754604" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="coronavirus">coronavirus</keyword> tests early in the pandemic, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/25/nyregion/governor-cuomo-coronavirus-testing.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share">The New York Times first reported</a>.It followed claims that <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/chris-cuomo-got-priority-covid-19-tests-height-of-pandemic-2021-3">Cuomo had secured access to scarce supplies for members of his family as well</a>.Regeneron, a biotech company headquartered in <keyword id="6355838" type="LOCATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="new-york">New York</keyword> state, had asked state officials for tests for its president George Yancopoulos and his family after a member of his household got infected with COVID-19, in March 2020, a company representative told Insider in a Friday email.According to the Times, state officials granted the request and the Yancopoulos family were tested at their home in March - a time when New York was <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/new-york-state-more-coronavirus-cases-than-any-country-worldwide-2020-4">fast becoming</a> the US epicenter of the novel coronavirus, and <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/dont-rely-on-rapid-covid-19-tests-party-see-parents-2020-8">tests were scarce</a>."As an essential worker, he was leading and meeting regularly with his team, and this was to ensure he did not pose a risk to that research team, who were actively working on new COVID-19 treatments," said the Regeneron spokesperson.The Office of the Governor of New York state did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment for this story.On April 1, <a href="https://www.governor.ny.gov/news/amid-ongoing-covid-19-pandemic-governor-cuomo-announces-regeneron-creating-500000-test-kits">Cuomo announced</a> that Regeneron was donating 500,000 coronavirus test kits for New York state to help with the shortage of test kits and swabs at the time. Regeneron told the Times that Yancopoulos was not involved in that effort.The Regeneron spokesperson told Insider that the test-kit donation was conducted by employees to "help their community during a really difficult and scary part of the pandemic," adding: "It has absolutely nothing to do with Dr. Yancopoulos being tested for COVID after a known exposure, and frankly it is insulting to our team to imply as much."This the first known example of somebody with business interests with New York state getting priority access to COVID-19 tests, the Times said.The story follows accusations this week that Cuomo arranged priority, state-administered coronavirus tests for his family and other top state officials who were working on the pandemic response.<a href="https://www.timesunion.com/news/article/High-level-health-officials-were-tasked-with-16044748.php"></a><a href="https://www.timesunion.com/news/article/High-level-health-officials-were-tasked-with-16044748.php">According to the Albany Times Union</a>, members of the governor's family were tested several times at their homes, with test samples prioritized for processing.Among the family members who received early coronavirus tests was the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/chris-cuomo-got-priority-covid-19-tests-height-of-pandemic-2021-3">CNN anchor Chris Cuomo</a>, the brother of Gov. Cuomo, who announced he had tested positive on March 31 last year.<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/cnn-defends-chris-cuomo-claim-andrew-cuomo-covid-tests-2021-3">CNN defended Chris Cuomo's actions</a> on Wednesday, saying he was "acting as any human would" in reportedly accepting help from his brother.Top New York authorities reported to have received early coronavirus tests include Port Authority executive director Rick Cotton and Metropolitan Transportation Authority CEO Patrick Foye, per the Albany Times Union.Foye and Cotton both announced they tested positive for the coronavirus last March, with Cotton telling The New York Times he was concerned about transmitting the virus to his staff.It is illegal under <a href="https://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/laws/PBO/74#:~:text=d.-,No%20officer%20or%20employee%20of%20a%20state%20agency%2C%20member%20of,herself%20or%20to%20others%20of">New York law</a> for officials or state employees to use their power to "secure unwarranted privileges" for themselves or others.Cuomo's office has hit back at this week's accusations. In statements provided to Insider, officials said some testing was done at people's homes but did not name them, citing privacy laws."We should avoid insincere efforts to rewrite the past," said Rich Azzopardi, a senior advisor to Cuomo, in a statement to <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/chris-cuomo-got-priority-covid-19-tests-height-of-pandemic-2021-3">Insider's Kelsey Vlamis</a>."In the early days of this pandemic, when there was a heavy emphasis on contact tracing, we were absolutely going above and beyond to get people testing - including in some instances going to people's homes, and door to door in places like New Rochelle - to take samples from those believed to have been exposed to COVID in order to identify cases and prevent additional ones."Cuomo and his office have been mired in scandals this year. His office has been accused of <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/cuomo-coronavirus-nursing-home-deaths-conspiracy-nypost-fox-news-trump-2021-2">pressuring state health officials</a> to undercount nursing-home coronavirus deaths last summer and <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/mario-cuomo-bridge-safety-issues-structural-problems-governor-tappan-zee-2021-3">operating a bridge</a> deemed to be structurally unsafe. <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/current-aide-ninth-woman-accuses-andrew-cuomo-of-sexual-harassment-2021-3">Nine women</a> have accused Cuomo of sexual harassment and misconduct.The New York State Assembly's judiciary committee is leading an investigation into Cuomo's impeachment. On Thursday, the committee said it would also examine the reports that his relatives were given preferential treatment for COVID-19 tests.

A billionaire pharma exec close to Andrew Cuomo also got priority access to early COVID-19 tests, report says

<ul class="summary-list"><li>New York Gov. <keyword id="196530" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Andrew-Cuomo">Andrew Cuomo</keyword> is lawyering up as he faces dueling scandals.</li><li>His administration hired criminal defense attorney and former federal prosecutor <keyword id="10852210" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="elkan-abramowitz">Elkan Abramowitz</keyword>.</li><li>Abramowitz will handle investigations into COVID nursing home deaths, a Cuomo official told Insider.</li></ul>New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo's administration has hired a criminal defense attorney to take point on one of the dueling scandals facing the high profile Democrat.Cuomo tapped Elkan Abramowitz, a longtime attorney for director <keyword id="28035" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Woody-Allen">Woody Allen</keyword> and former federal prosecutor to handle a <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/cuomo-faces-federal-investigation-over-handling-of-covid-19-2021-2">federal investigation looking into COVID-19 nursing home deaths</a>, the <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/cuomo-administration-hires-criminal-defense-lawyer-11614627457">Wall Street Journal first reported</a> on Monday.A Cuomo official told Insider that Abramowitz is only working on the nursing homes issue, not recent allegations of <keyword id="16048" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="sexual-harassment">sexual harassment</keyword> against the governor. The attorney has also worked with the New York executive chamber before."He is representing the executive chamber in the DOJ matter," Cuomo spokesman Rich Azzopardi wrote to Insider in an email.Representing Allen, Abramowitz has experience defending against allegations of sexual misconduct. He has not been afraid to embrace aggressive tactics to defend his clients, once calling Allen's adopted daughter a "<a href="https://time.com/4188/woody-allen-dylan-farrow-mia-farrow-pawn/">pawn</a>" being used by her mother, Mia Farrow, to smear the filmmaker with allegations of sexual abuse.New York Attorney General Tish James also announced on Monday that she is moving ahead with her independent investigation into sexual harassment allegations against the governor. <blockquote class="twitter-tweet blockquote" data-lang="en" data-cards="" data-conversation="">—Jon Campbell (@JonCampbellGAN) <a href="https://twitter.com/mims/statuses/1366473303670554625?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 1, 2021</a></blockquote><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/new-york-lawmakers-independent-investigation-cuomo-harassment-allegations-2021-2">Lawmaker calls for an independent investigation</a> increased on Sunday when the New York Times reported on a <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/2nd-former-aide-accuses-andrew-cuomo-of-sexual-harassment-2021-2">second former Cuomo aide detailing several instances of alleged sexual harassment</a>, which she said took place during her time working with him in the Albany capitol during the spring of 2020. The accuser, Charlotte Bennett, 25, said Cuomo asked her about her sex life, including whether she would be interested in sleeping with older men and if she had been romantically involved with any other staffers.Around a week before Bennett came forward, former Cuomo special adviser <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/former-cuomo-staffer-describes-sexual-harassment-in-new-essay-2021-2">Lindsey Boylan elaborated on allegations she previously made</a> in a December Twitter thread. In her new <a href="https://medium.com/@lindseyboylan4NY/my-story-of-working-with-governor-cuomo-e664d4814b4e">Medium essay</a>, Boylan recounted receiving an unwanted kiss on the lips from Cuomo, and said he asked her to play strip poker while on a government plane.A Cuomo spokeswoman told Insider last week that Boylan's allegations "are quite simply false."<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/cuomo-behavior-women-misinterpreted-unwanted-flirtation-2021-2">Cuomo apologized</a> over his behavior in a third press release sent out Sunday night after the Bennett story broke."I have teased people about their personal lives, their relationships, about getting married or not getting married. I mean no offense and only attempt to add some levity and banter to what is a very serious business," Cuomo wrote. "I now understand that my interactions may have been insensitive or too personal and that some of my comments, given my position, made others feel in ways I never intended," he added. "I acknowledge some of the things I have said have been misinterpreted as an unwanted flirtation. To the extent anyone felt that way, I am truly sorry about that."Cuomo's office did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment for this story. A Cuomo spokesman referred the Journal to Abramowitz, who confirmed he was retained by the administration.Abramowitz has specialized in white collar criminal defense since leaving the public sector, where he served as the Chief of the Criminal Division in the US Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York and in a variety of capacities for the New York City government.In his private practice, Abramowitz has defended Allen against allegations of sexual abuse by his daughter, Dylan, who was the subject of a <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-watch-allen-v-farrow-hbo-max">recent HBO documentary</a> on her father's alleged abuse.Abramowitz once said on NBC's "Today" show that Dylan was coached by her mother, Mia Farrow, in an effort to smear his client."She was a pawn in a huge fight between him and Mia Farrow years ago, and the idea that she was molested was implanted in her by her mother, and that memory is never going to go away," Abramowitz said, according to <a href="https://time.com/4188/woody-allen-dylan-farrow-mia-farrow-pawn/">Time Magazine</a>.The lawyer added: "In my view she's not lying; I think she truly believes this happened. That's what the vice of this is. When you implant a story in a fragile seven-year old's mind, it stays there forever, it never goes away."

Cuomo hires Woody Allen lawyer as NY attorney general moves forward with investigation into sexual harassment allegations

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Gov. <keyword id="196530" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Andrew-Cuomo">Andrew Cuomo</keyword>'s top aide apologized to Democratic lawmakers — and no one else — for lying about the state's <keyword id="8764262" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="covid">COVID</keyword> nursing home disaster.</li><li>Cuomo has coasted on fawning media coverage and a lack of journalistic skepticism for long enough. </li><li>It's time to strip Cuomo of emergency powers, and it's well past time for a federal investigation. </li><li>This is an <keyword id="6356002" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="opinion">opinion</keyword> column. The thoughts expressed are those of the author.</li></ul>Andrew Cuomo's own top aide just gave up the game. The erstwhile <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/cuomo-obliterates-own-undeserved-covid-19-hero-myth-2020-11">national hero</a>, COVID <a href="https://jezebel.com/help-i-think-im-in-love-with-andrew-cuomo-1842396411">sex symbol</a>, and author of "American Crisis: Leadership Lessons from the <keyword id="8763838" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="covid-19">COVID-19</keyword> Pandemic" did everything he possibly could to coverup for his disastrous decision to order nursing homes to accept COVID-positive patients, almost certainly resulting in thousands of unnecessary deaths. In a video conference all with New York lawmakers - all Democrats - Secretary to the Governor Melissa DeRosa admitted that the Cuomo administration lied and stonewalled about COVID-19 deaths in nursing homes, the <a href="https://nypost.com/2021/02/11/cuomo-aide-admits-they-hid-nursing-home-data-from-feds/">New York Post</a> reported.But, DeRosa said, it was because of Trump. The state's Democratic-controlled Senate <a href="https://nypost.com/2020/09/24/pols-seek-accounting-of-covid-19-nursing-home-deaths-under-cuomo/">last August</a> asked the administration for a full and transparent accounting of nursing home death data in order to determine the true cost of Cuomo's order. The administration refused that request, as well as <a href="https://www.nny360.com/news/government/cuomo-administration-under-fire-for-inaccurate-covid-nursing-home-death-count/article_0ad782d2-54dc-5432-ab55-a7780352a7b3.html">Freedom of Information Law requests</a> made by <keyword id="6355005" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="news">news</keyword> outlets and conservative advocacy groups for access to the data. Cuomo also <a href="https://twitter.com/npenzenstadler/status/1355204082194132996">repeatedly smeared</a> anyone seeking such data - be it a Democratic lawmaker, a straight-news reporter or an ordinary citizen - as a tool of a <a href="https://www.mediaite.com/tv/gov-cuomo-says-criticism-over-nursing-home-deaths-is-politically-motivated-its-the-new-york-post-its-fox-tv/">Republican attack campaign</a>.Among DeRosa's excuses for the lying were the threat of a Trump administration Department of Justice investigation, Trump's tweet-attacks on Democratic governors, and turning the issue into a "political football." "And basically, we froze," DeRosa said, asking for "a little bit of appreciation of the context" that the data could "be used against us."To their credit, several Democrats on the call were unimpressed with the explanation. So DeRosa offered them an apology, of sorts: "It was not our intention to put you in that political position with the Republicans."Democratic Assemblyman Ron Kim told the Post that it sounded "like they admitted that they were trying to dodge having any incriminating evidence that might put the administration or the [Health Department] in further trouble with the Department of Justice."Kim, who said his uncle died of COVID while in a nursing home last April and who for months has been <a href="https://nypost.com/2020/08/19/pols-push-for-probe-of-covid-19-deaths-in-ny-nursing-homes/">calling for an independent investigation</a>, also expressed frustration that this half-baked apology wasn't given to the families of the deceased."It's not enough how contrite they are with us," Kim said. "They need to show that to the public and the families - and they haven't done that."<h2>The house of cards comes crumbling down</h2>Cuomo's legacy of heroic leadership during the <keyword id="8829783" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="coronavirus-pandemic">coronavirus pandemic</keyword> always rested on a thin reed, buttressed by <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/andrew-cuomo-hero-rise-and-fall-like-rudy-giuliani-2021-2">fawning national media coverage</a> and a confounding <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/trumps-gone-but-leaders-still-lie-stay-vigilant-demand-truth-2021-2">lack of journalistic skepticism</a>. But now his own administration has admitted just how phony the whole thing was. The supposed model of competent governance now presides over a state with the <a href="https://covidtracking.com/">highest rate of COVID hospitalizations</a> per million residents, a <a href="https://nypost.com/2021/02/11/de-blasio-says-cuomos-micromanagement-has-deterred-vaccine-use/">glacially slow and confusing vaccine</a> rollout, and a <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/12/nyregion/indoor-dining-nyc.html">confusing reopening</a> of the economy.And shortly after the Post's report hit the internet, Cuomo's senior advisor Rich Azzopardi <a href="https://twitter.com/RichAzzopardi/status/1360022351879012355">offered a petulant afterword</a>, once again blaming it all on Trump while claiming "we were working simultaneously to complete the audit of information" the state legislature had asked for. It's both amazing and infuriating that a Cuomo aide would privately apologize to Democrats, but no one else. It's astounding that another aide would double-down on blaming the former president for politicizing Cuomo's COVID response, which the governor had never shied away from politicizing himself. And this is all happening two weeks after New York's attorney general released a report that revealed the Cuomo administration had undercounted the state's COVID-related nursing home deaths by about 50%.What's clear is that it's time for the legislature to strip Cuomo of the <a href="https://www.newsday.com/news/region-state/cuomo-emergency-power-james-nursing-home-1.50144181">near-absolute emergency powers</a> he's been afforded since the start of the pandemic.And it's time to do away with <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/05/cnns-cuomo-no-no/612103/">cutesy patty-cake TV interviews</a> with the governor, and for the news media to learn a lesson about <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/trumps-gone-but-leaders-still-lie-stay-vigilant-demand-truth-2021-2">exercising due skepticism of elected officials</a> that aren't named Trump. It's also time for that federal investigation which so frightened the Cuomo administration that they continued to rationalize <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/cuomo-lied-nursing-home-covid-death-new-york-attorney-general-2021-1">bald-face lying</a>.

Cuomo's COVID 'hero' myth was a house of cards that's come tumbling down

<ul class="summary-list"><li>An executive at an unnamed Queens, New York nursing home told the New York Post on Thursday how officials sent them body bags when they were forced to admit <keyword id="1754604" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="coronavirus">coronavirus</keyword> patients last month.</li><li>Thirty residents at the previously virus-free facility went on to die from the disease.</li><li>It's the latest in a series of concerning incidents to happen in the city during the outbreak, including hospitals leaving bodies out on the street and patients across the city dying at home.</li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/?hprecirc-bullet">Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories</a>.</li></ul>When a <keyword id="72226" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="New-York-City">New York City</keyword> nursing home was forced to admit coronavirus patients late last month, public health officials also gave them a box of body bags, in a concerning incident <a href="https://nypost.com/2020/04/23/coronavirus-patients-admitted-to-queens-nursing-home-with-body-bags/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported by the New York Post</a> on Thursday.An executive at the unnamed Queens nursing home says that the facility was coronavirus-free until Gov. <keyword id="196530" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Andrew-Cuomo">Andrew Cuomo</keyword> forced facilities in the state to accept coronavirus patients on March 25.Following the order, the nursing home took in two residents who had been recently discharged from local hospitals after COVID-19 infections, and were stable. When they took in these patients, officials sent them a box of personal protection equipment for the staff designated to treat these residents, and in the same box was a supply of body bags, the executive said.<div type="image" title="Getty Cuomo" height="2388" width="3000" msid="75349461" hostid="261"></div>"My colleague noticed that one of the boxes was extremely heavy. Curious as to what could possibly be making that particular box so much heavier than the rest, he opened it," the executive told the Post. "The first two coronavirus patients were accompanied by five body bags."This nursing home went on to see 30 people die of the coronavirus in the following weeks. And every week they get five more body bags. "Cuomo has blood on his hands. He really does. There's no way to sugarcoat this," the executive added. "Why in the world would you be sending coronavirus patients to a nursing home, where the most vulnerable population to this disease resides?"Rich Azzopardi, a spokesman for the governor, called the comment "disgusting" in a response to the Post, saying these facilities were "trying to deflect from their failures."When Cuomo announced the order last month, he said that nursing homes had a duty to take these patients, calling it their "basic fiduciary obligation."This is the latest in a series of disturbing incidents to happen in the city during the coronavirus outbreak.Late last month, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/coronavirus-nyc-forklift-transfers-victims-bodies-refrigerated-truck-temporary-morgue-2020-3?r=US&amp;IR=TIR=T" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Business Insider reported</a> on videos showing the bodies of coronavirus victims being left out on the street in front of hospitals, and a forklift being used to load them into freezer trucks.With New Yorkers encouraged to stay away from hospitals unless they are seriously ill, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/teams-retrieving-coronavirus-bodies-from-nyc-homes-2020-4?r=US&amp;IR=TIR=T" target="_blank" rel="noopener">many have ended up dying at home</a>, skewing the city's official death counts.A fight prompted by social-distancing rules ended in the death of an 86-year-old woman at a Brooklyn hospital late last month. Janie Marshall, who had dementia, lost her balance and grabbed onto another patient's IV pole.That patient, 32-year-old Cassandra Lundy, got angry at Marshall for getting close to her, and shoved the woman to the floor. Marshall hit her head and died three hours later, according to <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/08/nyregion/coronavirus-brooklyn-janie-marshall-cassandra-lundy.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The New York Times</a>.With so many calls coming into 911, first responders are now under orders not even to try and resuscitate cardiac arrest patients if they don't have a pulse when they get to the scene, <a href="https://nypost.com/2020/04/21/ny-issues-do-not-resuscitate-guideline-for-cardiac-patients/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">according to the Post.</a>Read the original article on <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nursing-home-given-body-bags-when-they-accepted-coronavirus-patients-2020-4">Business Insider</a>

An NYC nursing home forced to take coronavirus patients was also sent a supply of body bags for when they died

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Gov. <keyword id="196530" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Andrew-Cuomo">Andrew Cuomo</keyword> ordered <keyword id="6365860" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="nursing-homes">nursing homes</keyword> to accept COVID-positive residents. They did, and thousands died. </li><li>Cuomo's administration quietly rescinded the order and later released a report absolving itself of responsibility for the spike in nursing home deaths. </li><li>The governor has resisted calls for transparency or an independent investigation as "ugly <keyword id="6358883" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="politics">politics</keyword>."</li><li>Now he's saying nursing homes taking in COVID patients directly from hospitals "never happened."</li><li>This is some Trump-level gaslighting. </li><li>This is an <keyword id="6356002" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="opinion">opinion</keyword> column. The thoughts expressed are those of the author.</li></ul>Andrew Cuomo is at it again.The governor of New York is on a quest to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memory_hole">memory-hole</a> the worst part of his administration's coronavirus response: a <a href="https://skillednursingnews.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2020/03/DOH_COVID19__NHAdmissionsReadmissions__032520_1585166684475_0.pdf">March 25 advisory</a> which <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/cuomo-executive-order-4300-recovering-coronavirus-patients-ny-nursing-homes-2020-5">ordered nursing homes</a> to admit COVID-positive patients. The order <a href="https://skillednursingnews.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2020/03/DOH_COVID19__NHAdmissionsReadmissions__032520_1585166684475_0.pdf">plainly stated</a>: "No resident shall be denied re-admission or admission to the [nursing home] solely based on a confirmed or suspected diagnosis of <keyword id="8763838" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="covid-19">COVID-19</keyword>. The order flatly prohibited nursing homes from testing their residents returning from hospitals for COVID.In essence, in a bid to free up hospital bed space, nursing homes were required to accept COVID patients. And so they did. The Associated Press estimated in May that <a href="https://apnews.com/article/5ebc0ad45b73a899efa81f098330204c">4,500 COVID patients</a> were sent to nursing homes throughout New York. <a href="https://t.co/P1JfySGJkm?amp=1">New York state itself</a> put the number even higher, at <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/ny-count-6300-virus-patients-were-sent-to-nursing-homes/2020/07/06/80de78e6-bfbd-11ea-8908-68a2b9eae9e0_story.html">around 6,300</a>, in a July report. But after the state's nursing homes became out-of-control COVID hotspots, in May the Department of <keyword id="6354750" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="health">Health</keyword> (DOH) <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/new-york-deleted-cuomos-order-nursing-homes-order-2020-5">quietly scrubbed the edict from its website</a>. And yet, Cuomo this week said that nursing homes taking in COVID-positive residents directly from hospitals "just never happened." Speaking with <a href="https://www.fingerlakesdailynews.com/2020/09/30/642307/">Finger Lakes Daily News</a>, the governor insisted that because the state had so effectively and quickly flattened the curve there was never a shortage of hospital beds. Therefore, Cuomo says, there was no need for nursing homes to take COVID patients. Again, the state's own report says the opposite. This is some Trump-level gaslighting. <h2>Cuomo's selling a "leadership" brand. But leaders take responsibility for their mistakes.</h2>It's no surprise that Cuomo continues to dismiss concerns over the nursing home fiasco. He's got a reputation to protect.Cuomo's early-pandemic daily press conferences provided a respite for the state and the country from President Trump's <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-broke-brains-conspiracy-theories-obamagate-vote-mail-coronavirus-2020-5">chaotic, lying, conspiracy theory-riddled</a> addresses to the nation. He became a <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/andrew-cuomo-coronavirus-pandemic-victory-tour-hero-makes-no-sense-2020-7">coronavirus hero</a>, feted by other governors, lauded on the talk show circuit, and granted a regular guest spot on his brother Chris' nightly CNN show. It appears to have gone to his head. Cuomo's got a book coming out in less than two weeks called, "American Crisis: Leadership Lessons from the COVID-19 <keyword id="43587" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="pandemic">Pandemic</keyword>," which <a href="https://www.amazon.com/American-Crisis-Leadership-COVID-19-Pandemic/dp/0593239261/ref=pd_lpo_14_t_0/131-9516745-7222768?_encoding=UTF8&amp;pd_rd_i=0593239261&amp;pd_rd_r=82edb03a-705a-4f42-860d-fb94b8ada6e4&amp;pd_rd_w=AdmZT&amp;pd_rd_wg=nF3kP&amp;pf_rd_p=7b36d496-f366-4631-94d3-61b87b52511b&amp;pf_rd_r=QY3MJ2FB81ZNXHYQW95X&amp;psc=1&amp;refRID=QY3MJ2FB81ZNXHYQW95X&amp;refRID=QY3MJ2FB81ZNXHYQW95X">his publisher says</a> "tells the riveting story of how he took charge in the fight against COVID-19 as New York became the epicenter of the pandemic, offering hard-won lessons in leadership and his vision for the path forward."If it strikes you as odd that the governor of the state which has been most-devastated by the pandemic is publishing such a book when we're nowhere near the end of the pandemic, it gets a whole lot stranger.Under pressure to explain the <a href="https://apnews.com/article/ap-top-news-understanding-the-outbreak-new-york-andrew-cuomo-health-212ccd87924b6906053703a00514647f">thousands of nursing home deaths</a> which followed the DOH order, Cuomo's administration investigated itself and ultimately <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/cuomo-nursing-home-deaths-coronavirus-covid-independent-investigation-death-2020-8">issued a report</a> in July, absolving itself of all responsibility. The report instead blamed nursing home staff and patients' families for spreading the virus. Though the state estimated about 6,600 nursing home deaths, AP said the number could be almost 11,000. But we don't know, because the Cuomo administration is being <a href="https://apnews.com/article/ap-top-news-understanding-the-outbreak-new-york-andrew-cuomo-health-212ccd87924b6906053703a00514647f">maddeningly secretive with its data</a>.Cuomo has since rejected outright any calls for an independent investigation as "<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/cuomo-nursing-home-deaths-coronavirus-covid-independent-investigation-death-2020-8">ugly politics</a>," even though a number of prominent New York Democrats have also called for a non-state agency to investigate. In an attempt to get to the bottom of the issue, the fiscally conservative-leaning <a href="https://www.empirecenter.org/who-we-are/">Empire Center for Public Policy</a> in August filed a Freedom of Information Law request asking the DOH for the states' records regarding COVID-related nursing home deaths. The DOH requested an additional two months to search for the records, prompting the Empire Center to <a href="https://www.empirecenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/EC-DOH-9-18-20.pdf">file a lawsuit</a> to expedite the process.The suit alleges that the DOH already is "hiding" the data "without justification." Rich Azzopardi, a senior adviser to the governor, told the <a href="https://www.timesunion.com/news/article/Churchill-The-continuing-quest-for-truth-about-15591370.php">Albany Times-Union</a> that the suit is "nothing more than a publicity stunt from an arm of the far-right advocacy industrial complex looking to ‎distract from the many, many failings of the federal government during this pandemic."A partisan motivation for the lawsuit is entirely possible. But it's also irrelevant. The facts remain that the state hasn't been transparent with its data regarding nursing home deaths, and both non-conservative media outlets and Democratic lawmakers have also been agitating for that same data. There's no reason for any of this. It's possible that Cuomo was working with the best available information and guidance from the federal government when the March 25 nursing home order was issued. That the order was quietly rescinded in May demonstrates that the state knew it was a mistake.All the governor had to do was take responsibility for a well-meaning error at the start of an unprecedented crisis, as a true leader would, and the controversy goes away. One thing's for certain, when Cuomo says "it never happened," he's not telling the truth. (I reached out to Gov. Cuomo's office for comment or clarification, but have not yet received a response.)<ul class="read-more-links"><li>Read more:</li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/bill-de-blasio-do-something-great-new-yorkers-resign-2020-6">Bill de Blasio can finally do something great for New Yorkers: resign</a></li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/cuomo-nursing-home-deaths-coronavirus-covid-independent-investigation-death-2020-8">Don't let Cuomo hide from his coronavirus nursing-home disaster</a></li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/andrew-cuomo-coronavirus-pandemic-victory-tour-hero-makes-no-sense-2020-7">Andrew Cuomo's coronavirus 'victory tour' makes no sense</a></li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/coronavirus-hero-andrew-cuomo-helped-create-new-york-disaster-2020-4">Coronavirus hero Cuomo helped create New York's disaster</a></li></ul>

Andrew Cuomo is shamelessly trying to memory-hole his coronavirus nursing home fiasco

<img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/591624f7e559f121008b5110-2048/15588106810a21c9c5284k.jpg" alt="Global entry US Customs and Border Patrol" /><ul class="summary-list"><li>The <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/department-of-homeland-security">Department of Homeland Security</a> said that New York residents will not be allowed to apply or re-apply for <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/global-entry">Global Entry</a>.</li><li>The restriction is in response to a law in New York State that does not allow the Department of Motor Vehicles to share information with federal agencies that enforce immigration laws.</li><li>A representative for New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said the state was reviewing its options.</li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/?hprecirc-bullet">Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories</a>.</li></ul>The Trump Administration announced late Wednesday that New York State residents will no longer be allowed to apply for or renew Global Entry, the fast-track program that lets verified travelers use automated kiosks when returning from overseas.New York's new "Green Light Law," which took effect in December, allows people without legal immigration status to apply for drivers' licenses in New York. As part of the law, New York blocked access to DMV databases to federal agencies that enforce immigration laws.Although the law was passed in June, federal officials were reportedly <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/12/19/new-york-drivers-licenses-open-undocumented-immigrants-green-light-law/2696451001/">caught off-guard</a> when it took effect in December.Acting Department of Homeland Security (DHS) director Chad Wolf said in a letter Wednesday, which was <a href="https://www.scribd.com/document/445799731/DHS-Letter-to-NYS">posted online by Fox News</a>, that New York residents would no longer be allowed to register or re-apply for trusted traveler programs - or TTPs - "due to the Act's negative impact on Department operations."Current TTP members can continue using the programs, but will be ineligible to reapply on expiration. Global Entry is valid for five years.Trusted Traveler Programs include Global Entry, as well as several other programs including NEXUS, SENTRI, and FAST. TSA PreCheck eligibility, which allows low-risk individuals to undergo less-invasive security screenings at airports, did not appear to be affected.In the letter, Wolf outlined several examples of the ways that Homeland Security has used New York's DMV database before, including verifying addresses of criminal suspects, and to identify suspects by using vehicle registration information.TTP applicants are typically <a href="https://www.cbp.gov/travel/trusted-traveler-programs/global-entry/eligibility">deemed ineligible</a> if they have criminal records or are under investigation for a crime. However, the letter did not clarify how access to DMV information helped it vet TTP applicants as being low-risk. Having a driver's license - and consequently, a record in a state DMV database - is <a href="https://www.cbp.gov/travel/trusted-traveler-programs/global-entry/how-apply">not required to get Global Entry</a>, nor other Trusted Traveler Program status. A passport and a second form of identification are required for applicants, but that second piece can be any of a few eligible types. Not every driver's license issued by New York State meets federal standards for acceptable identification.Rich Azzopardi, an advisor for New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/02/06/politics/department-homeland-security-new-york-trusted-traveler-programs/index.html">told CNN</a> that the state was reviewing options."This is obviously political retaliation by the federal government and we're going to review our legal options," he said."Although DHS would prefer to continue our long-standing cooperative relationship with New York on a variety of these critical homeland security initiatives, this Act and the corresponding lack of security cooperation from the New York DMV requires DHS to take immediate action to ensure DHS's efforts to protect the Homeland are not compromised," Wolf said."Sanctuary" laws, which prohibit local law enforcement from referring individuals without legal immigration status to federal immigration officials, have come under fire from President Donald Trump."Tragically, there are many cities in America where radical politicians have chosen to provide sanctuary for these criminal, illegal aliens," Trump said during his State of the Union address on Tuesday. "In sanctuary cities local officials order police to release dangerous criminal aliens to prey upon the public, instead of handing them over to ICE to be safely removed."The former acting director of ICE, John Sandweg, told CNN in an interview on Thursday that sanctuary policies have no impact on how Homeland Security vets people who apply for Global Entry."This is just irrational in the sense that sanctuary policies in no way shape or form affect DHS' ability to vet people for global entry and other trusted traveler programs," he said. "It's ridiculous, and it's politicizing a program that's not about politics. It's trying to match two totally unrelated things. It's the kind of thing that's going to, frankly, politicize the department in a way that's going to undermine its mission moving forward."DHS has previously <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/global-entry-program-admitted-potentially-high-risk-travelers-investigation-finds-2019-7">come under criticism for security flaws in the Global Entry program</a>.DHS did not respond to Business Insider's request for comment or clarification on how - or whether - the Department uses state DMV databases to vet Global Entry applicants, or why applicants without driver's licenses can be approved if they do not have a file with a state DMV.

The Trump administration won't let New Yorkers apply for or renew Global Entry due to 'sanctuary' law

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Assemblyman <keyword id="10794700" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="ron-kim">Ron Kim</keyword> is a <keyword id="6355838" type="LOCATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="new-york">New York</keyword> Democrat who's been all over Cuomo for covering up the state's COVID nursing home catastrophe.</li><li>Kim says Cuomo personally threatened him and is a habitual "abuser" of his power. </li><li>Insider columnist <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/author/anthony-l-fisher">Anthony Fisher</a> spoke with Kim on Friday.</li></ul>New York Assemblyman <a href="https://twitter.com/rontkim">Ron Kim</a>, a Democrat representing part of <keyword id="124338" type="CITY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Queens">Queens</keyword>, has been one of Gov. <keyword id="196530" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Andrew-Cuomo">Andrew Cuomo</keyword>'s most vocal critics since the start of the pandemic.In particular, Kim has criticized the <a href="https://skillednursingnews.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2020/03/DOH_COVID19__NHAdmissionsReadmissions__032520_1585166684475_0.pdf">Cuomo administration's Health Department's order to nursing homes</a> to admit COVID-positive patients discharged from hospitals, and the administration's lack of transparency over the data related to nursing home deaths. Over the past few weeks, New York's attorney general released a report showing the state had undercounted the number of COVID nursing home deaths <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/cuomo-lied-nursing-home-covid-death-new-york-attorney-general-2021-1">by about 50%</a>, Cuomo senior aide Melissa DeRosa <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/cuomo-covid-hero-myth-house-cards-nursing-home-death-lies-2021-2">admitted in a conference call</a> with some New York Democrats that the administration "froze" out of fear of a DOJ investigation when the legislature requested nursing home data, and a bipartisan group of lawmakers called for <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/17/nyregion/cuomo-nursing-homes-deaths.html">Cuomo to be stripped of the emergency powers</a> he has held since the start of the pandemic. Kim said <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2021/02/17/politics/cuomo-ron-kim-nursing-home/index.html">Cuomo called him personally</a> and threatened to "destroy" him if he did not amend his previous comments about what DeRosa had said on last week's conference call. This week, a spokesman for the governor <a href="https://people.com/politics/new-york-assemblyman-says-gov-cuomo-threatened-to-destroy-his-career/">said</a> Kim is "lying" about these allegations, and Cuomo accused Kim of accepting "unethical if not illegal" political donations.Insider columnist <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/author/anthony-l-fisher">Anthony Fisher</a> spoke with Assemblyman Kim by phone on Friday about feeling "terrified" by the sounds of a screaming Cuomo, why the nursing home catastrophe hits him so personally, and why he thinks the Cuomo administration's investigation of itself was "complete bullshit."This interview has been edited for length, context, and clarity.A little more than a month into the pandemic in April 2020,<a href="https://twitter.com/rontkim/status/1250814398572216321"> you posted a video</a> talking about the surge in deaths at nursing homes in Queens - which was the US' COVID epicenter at the time. What made you jump on this issue so early? It was a very frantic, desperate email from a constituent. I spoke to her on the phone and by the next morning I met her at the nursing home to get to the bottom of what was going on. I emailed and called the nursing home director, but he wasn't responding. So I took a softer approach and told him we want to drop off some PPE for you. He came out and I started talking to him. He told me over a hundred people died and it hadn't been reported. He didn't know how to handle it, and the Department of Health hadn't done anything to support him. And that's when I realized, "Holy shit. Something is happening and we need to get ahead of this. More people might die."That's when I really started investigating what was going on. And during that time, a couple of articles came out that publicized the situation and people kept piling on texts, emails, Facebook [messages and tweets] telling me about other loved ones and citing similar situations. The Cuomo administration's Department of Health last summer investigated and cleared itself of any wrongdoing with regards to nursing home deaths. What was your reaction to that report? Oh, it was complete bullshit. Everybody knew it. How do you do a <a href="https://www.propublica.org/article/andrew-cuomos-report-on-controversial-nursing-home-policy-for-covid-patients-prompts-more-controversy">McKinsey self-audit on yourself</a>? It's ridiculous, it was the beginning of a coverup. That's when we started to demand an independent commission because these guys were not acting in good faith. I introduced the bipartisan commission with Republicans in the Senate, because we needed a completely independent commission to thoroughly investigate what was going on - with full subpoena power. The governor said just the other day that if members of the legislature wanted the records so badly they could have <a href="https://twitter.com/JimmyVielkind/status/1362840526593134594">just subpoenaed him</a>. Republicans certainly wanted to do it. Why didn't it happen? The [Democratic] speaker and the majority leader have those powers. And Gov. Cuomo knows he has a lot of influence on the leadership. It's a distraction. And I think at this point, we know those words are empty and we're moving toward an impeachment process, because I think most members have had enough. After the DOH report came out, Cuomo rarely addressed the nursing home catastrophe at all. But when he did, he'd suggest that even asking questions about nursing home deaths made you the tool of a <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/cuomo-coronavirus-nursing-home-deaths-conspiracy-nypost-fox-news-trump-2021-2">coordinated right-wing smear campaign</a>. As a progressive Democrat, how did you feel about being accused of being a tool of a right-wing smear? Those are just distracting comments. He's very good at reducing any criticism to either right-wing smears, or it's just people being incompetent and not understanding information. I think we're all catching up to some of those tactics, and he knows that he's quickly running out of time, and we're going to get to the truth very soon. It's unfortunate it has to be this way. I hope he realizes every second he wastes we're actually jeopardizing more lives in these facilities, because people are still dying every day in nursing homes from his policies. <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/17/nyregion/nursing-homes-cuomo-ron-kim.html">Cuomo accused</a> you of running a "<a href="https://www.ny1.com/nyc/queens/news/2021/02/17/cuomo-accuses-fellow-democrat-of--unethical-behavior--after-criticism-over-nursing-homes">continuing racket</a>" of raising campaign funds from nail salon owners that opposed his <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/09/nyregion/once-behind-nail-salon-law-assemblyman-now-opposes-reforms.html">nail salon reform bill</a>. What is your response to that? It's just another typical Cuomo distraction. We've seen it over and over, it's part of his tactics. But I'm doing my job and people are still impacted [by COVID]. And instead of talking about the truth, he wants to talk about nail salons. In a tweet Thursday, <a href="https://twitter.com/rontkim/status/1362022049154228224">you wrote</a> that Cuomo had "pushed for blanket COVID legal immunity for unprepared nursing homes in the budget." You asked, "Who got to Gov. Cuomo?" Are you accusing the governor of a quid pro quo? There's a saying, "All you have to do is follow the money." There were a number of <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/may/26/andrew-cuomo-nursing-home-execs-immunity">articles</a> that showed the <a href="https://jacobinmag.com/2020/05/andrew-cuomo-immunity-nursing-home-lobbyists-coronavirus-covid">link</a> between healthcare lobbyists that donated close to $1.3 million to Cuomo's campaign and [Cuomo's push for added immunity for nursing home executives]. The evidence is there. The question is who let them into the governor's office, and why did they slip that toxic law into the budget quietly at the last hour without notifying any members? Those are the tough questions that he needs to face. And instead of confronting that challenge, [the Cuomo administration] chose to continue to work with the business interest and suppress the data for six months. Someone has to pay for that decision. My role is to continue to push, investigate, and do my job as a chair of the aging committee. What do you think the governor can do to make this right? Should he resign? Should he face any other sanctions? I think only Cuomo can answer that question for himself, at this point. My colleagues are moving toward a number of different ways to protect the integrity of our Senate and Assembly. And I trust that the leadership in the Assembly and Senate will get us to the right place. People keep forgetting 15,000 died [in New York nursing homes]. I feel like people don't understand that number of deaths. It's almost like we helped dehumanize these lives by constantly putting the number up for like six months. It is a shocking, dramatic number of people who died. If we truly understood, we wouldn't be able to go ahead and have lunches and dinners without feeling sick to our stomach every day over the fact that we had a state that allowed these many deaths. You said that Gov. Cuomo called and threatened you. It's got to be unnerving for the governor to be yelling at you while you're standing around with your family, especially after you've put your chin out there as an adversary in his own party. How did that call end? Did it just trail off? Or did you push back on Cuomo?No, I was terrified. I didn't push back. I wanted to get off as quickly as possible. I just wanted to acknowledge whatever he was saying and get off as soon as possible. No man has ever in my life spoken to me that way. I just told myself, "Don't say anything stupid. Don't take the bait."What made you want to go public with it? Because obviously that was going to invite more of Cuomo's wrath. I think if it had just been regular useless yelling, I think that's fine, and I probably could just yell back and call it a day. But the moment he instructed me - more or less - to write a statement that sounded different from what I heard [Cuomo advisor Melissa DeRosa] saying [<a href="https://nypost.com/2021/02/11/cuomo-aide-admits-they-hid-nursing-home-data-from-feds/">on a conference call with Democrats</a>], I realized he crossed an unethical and perhaps illegal line and <a href="https://www.ny1.com/nyc/all-boroughs/politics/2021/02/19/ron-kim-cuomo-phone-call-reaction-cuomo-nursing-homes">I needed to protect myself</a>. I wasn't sure at the time that I was going to go public, but after hearing Monday's press conference where he continued to double down and tried to implicate the legislature in the coverup basically because we knew about the DOJ investigation, I realized what his pattern is, which is roping as many people into his coverup and his lies, and implicating them. I sent a memo out Monday night, with my colleagues, pushing for repeal of Cuomo's emergency powers, and also possible impeachment. [Editor's note: Cuomo's senior adviser <a href="https://13wham.com/news/local/governor-democratic-lawmakers-brawl-after-dems-propose-stripping-govs-emergency-powers">Rich Azzopardi said</a> Kim is "lying" about the details of this call as "part of a years-long pattern of lies by Mr. Kim against this administration." Gov. Cuomo on Monday <a href="https://www.democratandchronicle.com/story/news/2021/02/18/andrew-cuomo-under-investigation-limit-covid-emergency-powers-new-york-nursing-homes/6794064002/">argued for the need</a> to retain emergency powers, saying they "have nothing to do with nursing homes." On Wednesday <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/17/nyregion/nursing-homes-cuomo-ron-kim.html">the governor flatly-denied Kim's accusations</a> and said the assemblyman engaged in "unethical if not illegal" behavior in accepting nail salon owners' campaign donations.]We wanted to wake up our colleagues. This is corrupt, potentially illegal obstruction of justice. We need to wake up and we can't be affiliated with this executive. We have to do our jobs. It was a very intense memo. And I got a lot of angry phone calls because of the memo, but I felt like [my colleagues] needed to wake up. Once that memo went out, I knew that everything had to move forward and we had to deploy everything possible to hold him accountable. And part of that is making sure the public knows that he is an abuser. He tries to abuse people with his powers, for doing their jobs.

Ron Kim, a New York Democrat who's called out Cuomo's nursing home coverup for months, says it's time for the governor to face the music

<ul class="summary-list"><li><keyword id="6355838" type="LOCATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="new-york">New York</keyword> Gov. <keyword id="196530" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Andrew-Cuomo">Andrew Cuomo</keyword> still enjoys high approval ratings after ending his over 100 day streak of <keyword id="1754604" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="coronavirus">coronavirus</keyword> daily press briefings.</li><li>Yet as Cuomo has made more targeted returns to the airwaves — including an appearance on The Tonight Show with <keyword id="480228" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Jimmy-Fallon">Jimmy Fallon</keyword> on Monday — his early response to the pandemic has come under increased scrutiny.</li><li>Particularly on the issue of an executive order he signed sending COVID-19 patients to nursing homes, a new Associated Press report features numerous medical experts and scientists <a href="https://apnews.com/4247aa5d314e87c994a69b49d6ad011e">casting doubt</a> on a study conducted by New York's Department of Health.</li><li>The conflict between Cuomo's newly found popularity and the closer examination of how he presided over the highest death toll of any state in the country foreshadows the formation of his legacy as one of the most prominent American figures during the pandemic.</li></ul>After presiding over more than 30,000 deaths and subsequently bringing new COVID-19 cases down to under 1,000 on a seven-day rolling average, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo has placed himself in a unique and contradictory position.Since ending his streak of over 100 consecutive daily press briefings in June — which became the subject of <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/inside-gov-andrew-cuomos-daily-coronavirus-press-briefings-2020-4">international intrigue</a> and <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/andrew-cuomo-best-powerpoint-slides-memes-nys-governor-coronavirus-briefings-2020-5">copious memes</a> — Cuomo has done more targeted media appearances, both in the form of snap <keyword id="6355005" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="news">news</keyword> conferences and TV interviews.The governor's recent media strategy, coupled with new reporting on his early handling of the coronavirus pandemic, reveals Cuomo's unmatched strengths and flaws as one of the most consequential governors in modern American history.Cuomo's apparent victory lap also foreshadows his complicated legacy as one of the most prominent political leaders during the COVID-era.He is one of the most trusted figures among the American public when it comes to handling the virus, according to <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/kushner-and-trump-least-trusted-leaders-on-coronavirus-poll-2020-4">Insider's polling</a>, but he has also overseen the worst death toll of any state in the country.The conflict between the two has largely played out under the surface for most Americans, and the fate of his legacy as a leader remains unclear. <h3>'Learn from New York'</h3><div type="image" title="andrew cuomo" height="2484" width="4968" msid="76989099" hostid="261"></div>Since ending the mega-streak of coronavirus daily briefings last month, Cuomo's news conferences have often centered around various warnings to other states seeing spikes in new cases and hospitalizations.These briefings have had a distinct I-told-you-so tone, at times, coupled with Cuomo touting his notorious slideshows to demonstrate how New York was able to bring its cases down as other states barely flattened the curve amid a rush to reopen businesses."Just learn from what New York did, learn from the numbers, learn from the data," Cuomo said on Monday. "And we knew that if you reopen recklessly the virus was going to take off again."Later that day, one of Cuomo's most eye-catching TV appearances came on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon on NBC.The rather light-hearted nature of the interview did not sit well with some pundits, such as CNN's Jake Tapper.<blockquote class="twitter-tweet blockquote" data-lang="en" data-cards="" data-conversation="">—Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) <a href="https://twitter.com/mims/statuses/1283050476850819073?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 14, 2020</a></blockquote>"I tell ya, everything is good," Cuomo told Fallon. "We went through hell and back ... but we went from having, Jimmy, the worst infection rate in the country. We now have the best infection rate.""So we really turned the corner," he continued. "New Yorkers stepped up ... and we tamed the beast here in New York. So we just have to cross our fingers and hope that it stays there."Tapper described Cuomo's Fallon appearance and recent comments on how New York brought down its cases as "a victory tour" and "revisionism" during his CNN show yesterday. The Republican Governor's Association was quick to post the video.<blockquote class="twitter-tweet blockquote" data-lang="en" data-cards="" data-conversation="">—The RGA (@The_RGA) <a href="https://twitter.com/mims/statuses/1283150446077632515?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 14, 2020</a></blockquote>Cuomo could have laid low after he ended the press briefing streak with new cases falling to their lowest levels since the beginning of the outbreak in March.Instead, he indulged in a late night interview to tout his response.<h3>'An untenable policy'</h3><div type="image" title="coronavirus new york" height="1941" width="2911" msid="76989102" hostid="261"></div>Within hours of Cuomo going on Fallon, the Associated Press published a lengthy story examining New York's July <a href="https://apnews.com/b29d0a5eb51a5aed21d5efe132c33374">report on how 6,300 coronavirus patients ended up in nursing homes</a>, a move that has led to the most staunch criticism of Cuomo during the pandemic as deaths ensued."Scientists, health care professionals and elected officials assailed the report released last week for flawed methodology and selective stats that sidestepped the actual impact of the March 25 order, which by the state's own count ushered more than 6,300 recovering virus patients into nursing homes at the height of the pandemic," the <a href="https://apnews.com/4247aa5d314e87c994a69b49d6ad011e">AP reported</a> on Tuesday.The scientists who spoke with the AP for the story described New York's study as narrowly tailored to arrive at the governor's previously stated conclusion, which is that the virus was already in lots of nursing homes and Cuomo's executive order to send COVID-19 patients to them did not have a substantial impact on the spread or deaths."It seems like the Department of Health is trying to justify what was an untenable policy," Charlene Harrington, a professor emerita of nursing and sociology at the University of California at San Francisco, told the AP."Would this get published in an academic journal? No," Catherine Troisi, an epidemiologist at the University of Texas, Houston, added.Central to the experts' contentions with the study was the unanswered question of what happened in the 20% of New York nursing homes that saw COVID-19 positive residents arrive when there were no cases in the facilities to begin with.The study emphasized that 80% of state nursing homes had positive cases before the infected arrivals under the executive order, but did not detail the other side of the equation.New York's count for coronavirus deaths also does not include those who had the virus at nursing homes but later died in a hospital, while states like California include such incidents in their tally.Cuomo's office defended the order by saying they were following the CDC's guidelines, but Cuomo demonstrated a willingness to push back on President Trump's decisions throughout the outbreak."They really need to own the fact that they made a mistake, that it was never right to send COVID patients into nursing homes and that people died because of it," Dr. Michael Wasserman, president of the California Association of Long Term Care Medicine, told the AP.The governor's office did not return Insider's request for comment.<h3>The mountain</h3><div type="image" title="cuomo mountain" height="1048" width="2095" msid="76989104" hostid="261"></div>There is perhaps no better distillation of Cuomo's signature style of micromanaging and crafting optics than the much discussed poster he unveiled at Monday's press conference."What if somebody said, 'OK, no words? Paint me a picture that tells the story of what you're trying to say,'" Cuomo said while reiterating his love for turn of the century-style posters.He then unveiled the "New York Tough" poster, depicting Cuomo's proverbial "mountain" of COVID-19 cases that eventually came back down.Cuomo had already brought out a mountain prop at earlier briefings, resembling the model of Devils Tower from "Close Encounters of the Third Kind."Yet the poster really said it all.<blockquote class="twitter-tweet blockquote" data-lang="en" data-cards="" data-conversation="">—Rich Azzopardi (@RichAzzopardi) <a href="https://twitter.com/mims/statuses/1282717278673547267?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 13, 2020</a></blockquote>From the Salvador Dali-esque rendition of a nose getting swabbed to the inside joke detail of "boyfriend cliff" — referring to <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/ny-gov-cuomo-picks-daughter-mariah-for-covid-pro-mask-ad-campaign-2020-5">"the boyfriend" of Cuomo's daughter, Mariah</a>, who stayed with the governor's family during lockdown — Cuomo's poster provides an unvarnished lens into his view on New York's pandemic response.A boyfriend hanging off a cliff with one hand may not bear any relevance to how New York's government sought to mitigate the virus, but it does fit Cuomo's notion of being the protagonist in the COVID-19 saga.During the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/inside-gov-andrew-cuomos-daily-coronavirus-press-briefings-2020-4">peak popularity of Cuomo's press briefings</a> in April, one of his former campaign communications advisers, Lis Smith — who rose to national prominence atop Pete Buttigieg's presidential campaign — told Insider that "what we're seeing right now is the best of Andrew Cuomo, and it's the Andrew Cuomo that the people who are close to him know and love."By May, New York State lawmakers were criticizing Cuomo for taking "<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/dictatorial-powers-cuomos-executive-power-grab-rankles-lawmakers-2020-5">dictatorial powers</a>" amid the pandemic.Cuomo reached an <a href="https://scri.siena.edu/2020/03/30/87-of-nyers-approve-of-cuomos-handling-of-the-coronavirus/">87% approval rating</a> for his handling of the virus in a late-March Siena poll, and his overall approval is still <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/07/09/voters-are-figuring-out-whos-responsible/">remaining steady between 65% and 70%</a>.Through it all, he has been at the center of the coronavirus story. And at least for now, his perceived flaws have been buttressed by newly found admiration from the public."He's a bully, but he's a bully with 85% approval ratings," a longtime Democratic lawmaker <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/dictatorial-powers-cuomos-executive-power-grab-rankles-lawmakers-2020-5">told Insider</a> back in May, when Cuomo still had plenty of mountain to descend.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo is on a 'victory tour' as his coronavirus response comes under deeper scrutiny

<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/58544629ca7f0c43228b60fd-1721/ap16349622823624.jpg" alt="Deer" data-mce-source="AP" data-mce-caption="Not the deer in question." />APNot the deer in question.</div></div></div>A white-tailed deer whose fate became entangled in a day-long feud between New York City and state offices died Friday from the stress of captivity, the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation said.The one-antlered buck named Lefty died while awaiting potential transportation upstate, said Eric Phillips, a spokesman for New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio. Its death came after an extraordinary political tussle between the city and state over whether to transfer the deer upstate or euthanize it."Unfortunately the deer has died due to stress," said Sam Biederman, a spokesman for the parks department. "This is why the city's preference in this circumstance was humane euthanasia rather than subjecting the animal to the stress of transportation and relocation."The city announced plans on Thursday to kill the deer, which was captured at the Polo Grounds Towers in Harlem that morning and taken to a nearby animal shelter. His presence at a nearby park had drawn crowds for weeks.That was when New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo stepped in, hours after de Blasio had announced plans to euthanize the deer. A spokesman for Cuomo <a href="https://www.governor.ny.gov/news/statement-james-allen-spokesman-governor-cuomo" target="_blank">said</a> that the state's Department of Environmental Conservation had advised the city that there were alternative options to euthanasia. Cuomo's spokesman said he had directed the DEC to "offer assistance to the City to transport and find a new habitat for it immediately."The city initially held to its original position, even as de Blasio came under increasing fire. On a radio show Friday, he was asked by a Twitter user whether it was "really necessary" to have the deer killed. He argued, based on information he received from city officials, that relocating the deer could actually be more traumatizing in the long run for the deer."You take, like any other creature that is used to a certain environment," he said. "You put them in a new environment even in nature. It's traumatizing. It creates all sorts of extended pain and usually leads to death. So I think this is a case where it's a really bad situation, unfortunately, if a deer ends up in the middle of an urban area and it's nothing any of us want. But, I think it's a question of is it going to be a quick and merciful death versus a potentially and very long, painful process."A few hours later, however, the city's parks department relented and said it would allow the state to transport the animal."Due to the stress caused by travel and low survival rates of relocated deer, we believe euthanasia is the most humane option. But we defer to the state as the regulatory authority on wildlife," Biederman said.Sean Mahar, a spokesman for the DEC, suggested that the state department had moved in to transport the deer."After repeated attempts to provide the city with alternative options to euthanasia, including relocation, the state is securing the safe transport of the deer to suitable habitat upstate in partnership with the United States Department of Agriculture's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Unit," he said.The feud between the city and state was yet another example of the at-times <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/bill-de-blasio-blasts-andrew-cuomo-2015-6" target="_blank">astonishing tussling between de Blasio and Cuomo</a>, who often inserts himself into city affairs. Cuomo and de Blasio aides publicly sniped at each other as the city and state worked out what to do with the deer."NYC isn't going to kill Harlem deer. State trying to transport it safely upstate. Inconsistent w/ experts/DEC policy, but we'll try &amp; help," Eric Phillips, a spokesman for de Blasio, wrote on Twitter as the city gave in to the state's request."Bureaucracy lost," Rich Azzopardi, a spokesman for Cuomo, <a href="https://twitter.com/EricFPhillips/status/809812635889926146" target="_blank">shot back</a>."Let's hope for the deer's sake you're right," Phillips <a href="https://twitter.com/EricFPhillips/status/809812635889926146" target="_blank">replied</a>.Bill Hyers, de Blasio's former campaign manager, <a href="https://twitter.com/HyersBill/status/809821362688823297" target="_blank">wrote on Twitter</a>: "Andrew Cuomo is an idiot." <div class="margin-top"> <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/roy-cohns-influence-donald-trump-king-intimidation-2016-12">Donald Trump learned his aggressive legal style from 'the king of intimidation,' Roy Cohn</a></h3> <div> <div> <script src="http://player.ooyala.com/v3/6e12e8b3387a44daacfb73afba25a76e"></script> <div class="ooyala-video-player" data-video-autoplay="false" data-video-id="41amlneDoCDifFb7RnHqVXF-nYjrH4HR" data-player-variable="ooyalapopvideo" id="ooyalaplayer_popvideo" style="width:1280px;height:720px"></div> <script> if (typeof RunFunctions === 'undefined') { var RunFunctions = []; } RunFunctions.push(function() { var ooyalapopvideo = OO.Player.create('ooyalaplayer_popvideo', '41amlneDoCDifFb7RnHqVXF-nYjrH4HR',{ autoplay: 'false' }); }); </script> <noscript><div>Please enable Javascript to watch this video</div></noscript></div> </div> <script>(function() { function createPlayer() { OO.ready(function() { RunFunctions.forEach(function(ooyalaFunction) { ooyalaFunction(); }); RunFunctions = [];}); } createPlayer(); }()); </script> </div>

You Searched For "rich azzopardi" and got 11 results

NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio says 'bullying is nothing new' for Cuomo after a state lawmaker accuses the governor of making a threatening phone call

Jake Lahut

CNN anchor Chris Cuomo got special priority COVID-19 tests at his home in the Hamptons at the height of the pandemic, report says

Kelsey Vlamis

A billionaire pharma exec close to Andrew Cuomo also got priority access to early COVID-19 tests, report says

Alexandra Ma

Cuomo hires Woody Allen lawyer as NY attorney general moves forward with investigation into sexual harassment allegations

Jake Lahut

Cuomo's COVID 'hero' myth was a house of cards that's come tumbling down

Anthony L. Fisher

An NYC nursing home forced to take coronavirus patients was also sent a supply of body bags for when they died

Ashley Collman

Andrew Cuomo is shamelessly trying to memory-hole his coronavirus nursing home fiasco

Anthony L. Fisher

The Trump administration won't let New Yorkers apply for or renew Global Entry due to 'sanctuary' law

David Slotnick

Ron Kim, a New York Democrat who's called out Cuomo's nursing home coverup for months, says it's time for the governor to face the music

Anthony L. Fisher

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo is on a 'victory tour' as his coronavirus response comes under deeper scrutiny

Jake Lahut

A deer captured in Harlem died amid a day-long New York political feud

Brett LoGiurato