Cuomo 'Eager' to Counter Harassment Claims, Defends Nursing Homes Data

Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Thursday defended his administration’s handling of data on COVID-19 deaths at nursing homes, and said he’s eager to counter claims of sexual harassment made against him in recent weeks.

Cuomo said he wouldn’t respond to the sexual harassment claims publicly, but would participate in a review into the allegations currently underway from the Attorney General’s Office.

“The complainants have continued to go to the press and make their complaints in the press, and I have not been able to respond. That’s not fair,” Cuomo said. “So, I’m trying to be respectful, but I’m very eager to tell my side of the story.”

Earlier this week, Cuomo issued a blanket denial to the multiple claims of sexual harassment leveled against him over the last two months. 

He’s been accused by several former and current staffers of inappropriate behavior, ranging from lewd remarks to an incident where he’s said to have groped a woman at the Executive Mansion in Albany.

Those allegations are currently the subject of a review by the Attorney General’s Office, which has retained a pair of nonpartisan, independent attorneys to oversee the probe. 

They’re also one of a handful of matters the State Assembly is investigating as part of its ongoing impeachment inquiry into Cuomo. That probe is also being led by an independent law firm, but its scope is broader than the attorney general’s review.

The Assembly is also investigating whether the Cuomo administration mishandled data related to COVID-19 deaths at nursing homes for political purposes, if officials covered up concerns about the structural integrity of the Mario M. Cuomo Bridge, and more.

Top aides to Cuomo were accused in an article from the New York Times this week of withholding data on the true number of COVID-19 deaths at nursing homes for months.

While the state Department of Health had compiled a preliminary death toll of nursing home residents in New York, top aides to Cuomo were alleged to have pressured the agency to conceal that number, instead only releasing part of the data.

The state had reported the number of residents who died at nursing homes from the virus, but left out those who died after they were transferred to a hospital.

The result was thousands of deaths of nursing home residents that the public didn’t know about. The complete data was released in January after the attorney general’s office published a report suggesting the Cuomo administration had failed to report the true data.

When asked about his administration’s decision to withhold the true number of nursing home deaths from the public, Cuomo said his office wanted to wait until they could verify the numbers before they disclosed them.

“it was a political food fight,” Cuomo said. “We want to make sure the numbers are accurate. Because the number changes every day. And it was never about any particular number. It was about the accuracy of the number.”

Cuomo said his office wanted to avoid a situation in which the Trump administration tried to poke holes in their data for political reasons. The U.S. Department of Justice had  launched an investigation into the state’s handling of nursing homes last summer. 

“I think it was despicable and unethical that [Trump used] the Department of Justice to make a political investigation right after the Republican convention,” Cuomo said.

But for some — including Democrats in the state Legislature and members of the media — the total number of nursing home residents who died from COVID-19 was a data point sought as early as the spring.

It didn’t materialize until January. As of Thursday, more than 13,800 nursing home residents in New York have died of COVID-19, with more at other adult care facilities.