Cuomo administration’s withholding of nursing home data could amount to ‘obstruction of justice’: former DOJ official
Former DOJ official John Daukas argues the New York governor’s administration ‘clearly stonewalled’ when asked to release data on nursing home deaths.
CNN anchor Chris Cuomo, whose big brother Gov. Andrew Cuomo, D., is under fire because thousands of New Yorkers died in nursing homes amid the coronavirus pandemic on his watch, oddly claimed on Monday that American’s haven’t honored COVID victims as the death toll passed 500,000.
President Biden paid tribute to the staggering number of Americans who have lost a loved one during the pandemic with a moment of silence outside of the White House on Monday. Shortly afterwards, the "Cuomo Prime Time" namesake declared that Americans had previously failed to pay victims tribute.
CNN anchor Chris Cuomo claimed on Monday that American’s haven’t honored COVID victims as the death toll passed 500,000.
EX-CNN PRODUCER SAYS CHRIS CUOMO'S ‘CONFLICT OF INTEREST’ ON COVID GOES BEYOND HIS BROTHER
"Do you know that we never once stopped to honor the dead? We have never once come together as a nation to mourn because we have never really wanted to own the reality and that’s what death is, it is the real. But tonight that ends, it is time to say goodbye. It is time to own how horrible this has been and still is, and we have the right president to process this kind of pain," Cuomo told viewers.
Cuomo then played a clip of Biden’s remarks, when the president urged Americans to come together to beat the virus. The CNN host blamed "ignorant" President Trump for the growing death toll while not mentioning, per the network's rules, his big brother’s role in the national tragedy.
The scandal started when Gov. Cuomo ordered nursing homes in the Empire State to accept patients who had, or were suspected of having, COVID-19 in the early stages of the coronavirus pandemic. Cuomo, whom his younger brother sometimes adoringly refers to as the "Love Gov," eventually reversed the decision – but thousands had died from COVID-19 in New York nursing homes before Cuomo reversed course.
CNN AND THE DANGEROUS DISTORTION OF TRUTH WHILE NEW YORKERS DIED
The story took another turn when a top Cuomo aide told leading state Democratic lawmakers that the administration had withheld data on COVID-19 deaths at nursing homes to avoid federal scrutiny. He is now facing intense backlash, including a federal probe into his administration's handling of the crisis.
CNN allowed the Cuomo siblings to goof around on air during the early stages of the pandemic, but the liberal network has since reinstated a ban on its 9 p.m. ET host covering or interviewing his big brother.
Steve Krakauer, a former CNN digital producer who now edits the Fourth Watch media newsletter, recently pondered if Cuomo should be allowed to cover "anything having to do with COVID at all" to avoid a clear conflict of interest.
"Cuomo's show is aggressively and consistently about conflict - calling people in power out. That's the choice he and CNN have made, but it makes his own conflict of interest more glaring then, when he refuses to even say the words ‘Andrew Cuomo’ anymore on his program," Krakauer wrote.
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The CNN host essentially proved Krakauer’s point when he blamed Trump and "misinformation" for the mounting death toll without mentioning allegations that his brother’s administration purposely withheld data and underreported deaths.
Media Research Center news analyst Nicholas Fondacaro observed Cuomo’s monologue and bluntly asked, "Hey Fredo, what has your brother done to honor the nursing home residents he killed?"
Fox News’ Brittany De Lea contributed to this report.
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