House Subcommittee subpoenas Andrew Cuomo over COVID-19 response
ALBANY, N.Y. (NEWS10) -- On Tuesday, former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo was issued a subpoena to provide testimony on an executive order issued on March 25, 2020. The executive order reportedly placed COVID-positive patients in nursing homes, placing vulnerable New Yorkers in harm's way.
According to a letter from the Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic, the Cuomo Administration downplayed and even covered up the impacts of the order. The Subcommittee cited that the number of nursing home deaths was falsely reported in the NYSDOH Report. Furthermore, a report by New York Attorney General Letitia James claims that the number of nursing home deaths in New York was undercounted by as much as 50 percent.
According to reports, Governor Cuomo did not respond to the Select Subcommittee's request for documents related to their investigation. The Subcommittee also states that they asked for a transcribed interview, but Cuomo's attorney kept postponing the dates for the interview. Eventually, the attorney offered to reschedule the interview for August 2024.
Cuomo’s spokesman, Rich Azzopardi, said the subpoena was unnecessary because the former governor’s attorney, Rita Glavin, offered several dates in which Cuomo would voluntarily appear.“To be clear, Governor Cuomo has been and remains cooperative,” Glavin said in a letter to the committee, a copy of which was obtained by ABC News.
The subpoena requests Cuomo testify at a deposition on May 24.