Andrew Cuomo to testify before Congressional panel on COVID response

Washington — Former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo is set to testify publicly before a Republican-led House subcommittee next week on his administration’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic in nursing homes, the panel announced on Tuesday. 

Cuomo’s administration has faced significant criticism for how it handled nursing home residents who contracted COVID-19 in the early months of the pandemic. New York mandated in March 2020 that nursing homes must admit patients who tested positive for COVID. The administration was later accused of underreporting deaths in nursing homes, including by New York Attorney General Letitia James, who released a 2021 report asserting that the state may have undercounted COVID-19 deaths in nursing home patients by as much as 50%.

“Andrew Cuomo owes answers to the 15,000 families who lost loved ones in New York’s nursing homes during the COVID-19 pandemic,” the chairman of the select subcommittee on the coronavirus pandemic, Rep. Brad Wenstrup, said in a statement. 

Wenstrup said Americans will have a chance to hear from Cuomo about “New York’s potentially fatal nursing home policies” after the former governor testified before the panel behind closed doors in June following a subpoena for his testimony. The Ohio Republican said Cuomo was “shockingly callous” when asked about nursing home death counts and “repeatedly deflected responsibility.” 

“We hope that during his public hearing next week, Mr. Cuomo will stop dodging accountability and honestly answer the American people,” Wenstrup added.

Rich Azzopardi, a spokesperson for Cuomo, said the former governor agreed to testify voluntarily at the Sept. 10 hearing, while criticizing the committee for continuing to “engage in false political attacks blaming New York for nursing home deaths” despite the state following federal guidance. Cuomo resigned from office in 2021 amid sexual harassment allegations. Cuomo has denied the allegations.

Azzopardi put the blame back on Republicans and former President Donald Trump, saying the “key question” concerns the death toll from COVID-19 under the Trump administration — and how to prevent it from happening again. 

“It will be Governor Cuomo’s pleasure to join the committee once again to try to get an answer,” Azzopardi said. “The American people deserve the truth, and these partisan political games must stop because this is a matter of life and death.”