Former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo is being subpoenaed by a Republican-led U.S. House of Representatives subcommittee to answer questions about his administration's COVID response and nursing home policies during the pandemic.
The congressional subpoena filed Tuesday commands the ousted former governor to appear and answer questions regarding his executive order that forced nursing homes to admit COVID positive patients.
The Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic also sought to ask why a report by the New York State Department of Health that had appeared to be independent, but was actually revised by the governor's office, cut the death toll from 9,600 to 6,400.
Get Tri-state area news and weather forecasts to your inbox. Sign up for NBC New York newsletters.
The chair of the committee said Cuomo was previously warned, but for nine months, he refused to testify voluntarily. Tuesday’s letter from congressional members chides the former governor for delaying, deflecting and dismissing their investigation into the state’s nursing home death toll. The committee noted that Cuomo has been dodging their repeated requests to testify since May 2023.
After getting the subpoena, Cuomo must go to D.C. on May 24 to answer their questions.
Cuomo’s spokesperson disputed that the former governor was ducking accountability, claiming Cuomo offered up several dates two weeks ago and calling Congress "officially a circus" and "nothing but clowns." Cuomo’s lawyer Rita Glavin said in a statement that her client “has been entirely cooperative and provided four dates for that interview two weeks ago. There was no need for a subpoena and they know it.”
The letter to Cuomo from the subcommittee chair Brad Wenstrup — a Republican from Ohio — includes several pages outlining all the times they attempted to schedule meetings they say were either deferred, declined or cancelled claiming the former governor unjustifiably delayed their investigation.
