Flashback: Cuomo said to 'blame me' for 'careful approach' to coronavirus reopening

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NY Dem lawmakers, families rally in response to Cuomo scandal

Bryan Llenas reports from the site of a rally to push for accountability in New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo's handling of COVID-19 nursing home deaths.

A glance at New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s Twitter history shows the Democratic leader was -- at least at one point -- willing to take the blame for the way the state was handling the coronavirus pandemic and reopening. 

But recent reports and past social media activity show Cuomo has placed blame on the media, Republicans and former President Donald Trump, and even nursing home staff, in the wake of a bombshell New York Post article that his office withheld information related to deaths at the eldercare facilities.

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However, in April 2020, the governor was willing to take the blame as he called for the state to remain under tight restrictions during the height of the pandemic.

"People will die if we get cocky about reopening," he tweeted at the time. "To those who are upset about our careful approach — don't blame your local official. Blame me."

Cuomo’s office has not responded to Fox News' multiple past requests seeking comment regarding the nursing home scandal.

Secretary to the Governor Melissa DeRosa, his top aide, revealed during a conference call that the Cuomo administration hid unfavorable information about the state’s nursing home COVID-19 deaths out of concern that it "was going to be used against us," the Post first reported.

Speaking to Democratic leaders, DeRosa said the governor’s office officials "froze" after then-President Donald Trump turned the pandemic into "a giant political football" and began tweeting about the state’s shoddy handling, according to the report.

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"He starts tweeting that we killed everyone in nursing homes," DeRosa reportedly said. "He starts going after [New Jersey Gov. Phil] Murphy, starts going after [California Gov. Gavin] Newsom, starts going after [Michigan Gov.] Gretchen Whitmer."

Trump then instructed the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) to investigate the state’s response, she continued.

Secretary to Governor Melissa DeRosa and NYS Governor Andrew Cuomo as he makes an announcement and holds media briefing at 3rd Avenue office. (Lev Radin/Pacific Press/LightRocket via Getty Images)

"And basically, we froze," she reportedly said. "Because then we were in a position where we weren’t sure if what we were going to give to the Department of Justice, or what we give to you guys, what we start saying, was going to be used against us while we weren’t sure if there was going to be an investigation."

"That played a very large role into this," she reportedly added.

DeRosa later released a public response in which she tried to clarify her statements, writing: "I was explaining that when we received the DOJ inquiry, we needed to temporarily set aside the Legislature’s request to deal with the federal request first. We informed the houses of this at the time."

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"We were comprehensive and transparent in our responses to the DOJ, and then had to immediately focus our resources on the second wave and vaccine rollout," she said, in part. "As I said on the call with legislators, we could not fulfill their requests as quick as anyone would have liked."

But even before the bombshell report, in late January, Cuomo neglected to hold himself or his office accountable after a scathing report released in January by New York Attorney General (AG) Letitia James’ office showed his office might have undercounted the number of COVID-19 deaths at nursing homes by over 50%.

The AG report solidified previous reporting from The Associated Press, which found that the state was one of only a few that counted residents who died in the nursing home facilities -- but not those who ultimately died at hospitals. If not for doing so, Cuomo’s office’s official tally of 8,711 would have actually been more than 13,000, according to the report.

"It’s not about pointing fingers or blame, it’s that this became a political football, right?" Cuomo noted during a news conference at the time. "Look, whether a person died in a hospital or died in a nursing home … people died. People died. … By the way, the same people are dying today."

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The controversy surrounding Cuomo’s response to coronavirus in nursing homes first began in March 2020, when state officials called for COVID-19 patients to be released from hospitals and into nursing homes.

His office later changed course in May, ruling that any hospital patients being moved into nursing homes must first test negative for the virus.

After a flood of criticism regarding the March 25 directive, Cuomo was asked in mid-May if he had a comment for families who are seeking accountability and felt as though they had been failed.

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"How do we get justice for those families? Who can we prosecute for those deaths? Nobody," he responded at the time. "Mother Nature, God, where did this virus come from? People are going to die by this virus. That is the truth."

"Older people, vulnerable people, are going to die from this virus," Cuomo added. "That is going to happen despite whatever you do, with all our progress as a society, we can't keep everyone alive. Older people are more vulnerable. That is a fact that is not going to change."