The U.S. Department of Justice has launched an investigation into former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo over allegations that he lied to Congress about nursing home deaths in the state during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a report from The New York Times.
The probe, initiated roughly a month ago by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia, comes as Cuomo mounts a political comeback with a campaign for New York City mayor. At the time the investigation began, the office was led by Ed Martin, who has since been reassigned within the DOJ and replaced by Jeanine Pirro, following opposition to Martin’s nomination from Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC).
The Republican-led House Oversight Committee had previously urged Attorney General Pam Bondi to pursue criminal charges against Andrew Cuomo for allegedly making “criminally false statements” during a June 11, 2024, interview with the House COVID subcommittee, according to two sources familiar with the investigation who spoke to The New York Times.
“Overwhelming evidence uncovered by the Select Subcommittee proves that Mr. Cuomo reviewed, edited, and even drafted portions of a purportedly independent and peer-reviewed New York State Department of Health (NYSDOH) Report that was used to combat criticism of his Administration’s pandemic-era nursing home policies,” House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer (R-KY) wrote in an April 25 press release.
The panel accused Cuomo of overseeing a July 6, 2020, audit that underreported COVID-19 deaths in New York senior care facilities by 46 percent.
Committee Chairman James Comer’s initial criminal referral was rejected by then-Attorney General Merrick Garland in 2024, but the committee renewed its request for a review under Attorney General Pam Bondi this past April.
In a statement to the New York Post, Cuomo spokesperson Rich Azzopardi said he was unaware of any investigation and dismissed the allegation as “lawfare and election interference.”
“We have never been informed of any such matter, so why would someone leak it now?” he said in a statement. “The answer is obvious: This is lawfare and election interference plain and simple — something President Trump and his top Department of Justice officials say they are against.”
The statement continued, “Governor Cuomo testified truthfully to the best of his recollection about events from four years earlier, and he offered to address any follow-up questions from the Subcommittee — but from the beginning this was all transparently political.”
