Former Gov. George Pataki unloaded Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who described the death of the COVID-19 nursing home as a “cover-up” scandal as “one of the worst things I’ve ever seen in state government.” .
During an interview on WMCA radio AM 570, Pataki described the policies and actions of Cuomo care centers as “inhuman,” “reprehensible,” “outrageous,” “despicable,” and “beyond the pale.” “.
He called for a criminal investigation by the Biden Department of Justice, State Attorney General Letitia James, and an independent investigation conducted by the state legislature.
“This is one of the worst things I’ve seen in the New York state government, and I’ve been following this for a long time,” Pataki said about the coverage of the nursing home’s death.
He also said the legislature should curb Cuomo’s emergency powers, which would “accelerate” the deployment of vaccines against COVID-19 and end Albany’s “micromanagement”.
“You won’t have people worried about getting a $ 1 million fine or losing a license if you give someone a vaccine in category 2CW instead of category 2AB. It’s a donkey micromanagement,” he said.
There is growing support among Democrats controlling the State Assembly and Senate to withdraw Cuomo from the powers granted to him last year to respond quickly to the deadly outbreak of COVID-19. These powers expire on April 30th.
Pataki said the Cuomo team and its health department only began removing deaths from residences after Attorney General Letitia James’ publication, which found they were misleading the public by declaring 50% of deaths by coronavirus among facility residents, excluding people who died. after being transferred to hospitals.
A state judge also recently ordered Cuomo to publish more complete data on the deaths of nursing homes after deciding that his administration illegally withheld the information for months at the Empire Center for Public Policy. . The monitoring group filed a legal request to obtain the figures.
“We know they were hiding the death toll. It’s just despicable, “said Pataki.
Last May, Pataki criticized the State Department of Health directive ordering nursing homes to admit or re-admit coronavirus patients in recovery discharged from hospitals during the height of the pandemic.
Critics have noted that the policy contributed to the spread of the killer error in facilities that house vulnerable people.
“Just a few weeks ago we were told that there were a little over 8,000 dead. Now they tell us the number exceeds 13,000, ”Pataki said Friday.
Pataki also described Cuomo’s selfish decision to publish a book on his COVID-19 leadership lessons just months after the pandemic.
“Writing a book about how great his leadership was when, in fact, he is aware that he is covering thousands of deaths … Then this farce continues about the great response there was. It’s incomprehensible,” he said. the former Republican governor.
Pataki, who led the state after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, said: “I was not out there two months after the 9/11 attacks, waving the flag and saying what great job i did.
“It simply came to our notice then. It was everyone who responded: firefighters, construction workers, first responders, the people of New York. “
Pataki also snatched comments from a Cuomo chief aide, Melissa DeRosa, from a private meeting with state lawmakers about the refusal to release a full death toll at nursing homes due to a federal investigation into course.
Trump’s justice departments “used against us” the condemnation numbers. The Post first reported DeRosa’s explanation after getting an audio tape from the Zoom chat.
Pataki called his comments “a cover-up to prevent a possible criminal investigation. It certainly smells like obstruction of justice.”
He was also criticized for DeRosa’s apology to Democrats who complained that the death of the nursing home left them open to criticism from Republican opponents.
“The fact that the administration apologized to Democratic politicians for their inconvenience, but never apologized to the people or families of those who died, is inhumane,” said Pataki, who ruled from 1995 to 2006.
In a statement Friday morning, DeRosa stated that, in his statements, “he explained that when we received the DOJ investigation, we had to temporarily set aside the legislature’s request to first deal with the federal request. “.
In response to Pataki, the governor’s office forwarded The Post to a statement issued by DeRosa last Friday.
“He explained that when we received the investigation from the DOJ, we had to temporarily leave the request of the legislature [for nursing home death data] to meet the federal application first. At that moment we reported it to the houses “, said DeRosa.
“We were thorough and transparent in our responses to the Department of Justice, and then we had to immediately focus our resources on the second wave and the deployment of vaccines. As I said in a call with lawmakers, we were unable to comply. your request as quickly as no one would have wished.
“But we are committed to being better partners in the future, as we share the same goal of keeping New Yorkers as healthy as possible during the pandemic.”