The House Oversight Committee recommended criminal charges against former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo after an investigation concluded he lied to Congress about thousands of nursing home deaths in his state.
Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-KY) announced Monday he was referring Cuomo to the Justice Department for the second time after the department turned down his request under the Biden administration.
Comer is seeking the charges due to a New York audit that concluded Cuomo’s administration presented nursing home data that concealed the deaths of 4,100 senior citizens in the Empire State during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The chairman cited a congressional report released last year that found Cuomo lied to Congress regarding his role in the nursing home controversy, with Comer saying the former New York governor was involved in a “calculated cover-up” and must be “prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law” for lying to Congress.
“Andrew Cuomo is a man with a history of corruption and deceit, now caught red-handed lying to Congress during the Select Subcommittee’s investigation into the COVID-19 nursing home tragedy in New York,” Comer said in a statement on the committee’s criminal referral to Attorney General Pam Bondi. “This wasn’t a slip-up—it was a calculated cover-up by a man seeking to shield himself from responsibility for the devastating loss of life in New York’s nursing homes.”
“Let’s be clear: lying to Congress is a federal crime,” the chairman continued. “The House Oversight Committee is prepared to fully cooperate with the Justice Department’s investigation into Andrew Cuomo’s actions and ensure he’s held to account.”
The news comes as Cuomo, a Democrat, has picked up steam in his race for New York City mayor against incumbent Eric Adams, who is running as an independent. The latest polling show Cuomo holds a wide lead against his Democratic primary challengers, signaling a rise in public favor after he resigned in disgrace from the governor’s office in 2021 over sexual harassment allegations. The Department of Justice concluded in 2024 that he had sexually harassed 13 state employees, findings Cuomo has steadfastly denied.
Cuomo spokesman Rich Azzopardi denounced the House Oversight Committee’s latest referral to Bondi as “a meritless press release” in comments to the Washington Examiner.
“This is nothing more than a meritless press release that was nonsense last year and is even more so now,” he said. “As the DOJ constantly reminds people, this kind of transparent attempt at election interference and lawfare violates their own policies.”
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“Referrals like these — which have been also made against Planned Parenthood, Hillary Clinton, and Anthony Fauci — don’t have to be resubmitted with a new administration, so the only point to doing this is politics,” Azzopardi continued.
The committee’s latest action comes after the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic concluded in December that Cuomo “knowingly and willfully made false statements” related to the nursing home deaths “on numerous occasions.”
Several House Republicans representing New York districts celebrated Comer’s action on Monday.
