During an interview on AM 570 WMCA radio, Pataki called Cuomo\u2019s nursing home policies and actions “inhumane,” “reprehensible,” “outrageous,” “despicable” and “beyond the pale.”<\/p>\n
He called for a criminal probe by the Biden\u00a0Justice Department<\/a>, state Attorney General Letitia James and independent investigation conducted by the\u00a0state Legislature<\/a>.<\/p>\n “This is one of the worst things I have seen in New York State government, and I\u2019ve been following this for a long time,” Pataki said of the nursing home death cover-up.<\/p>\n “This is one of the worst things I have seen in New York State government, and I\u2019ve been following this for a long time.”<\/p>\n \u2014 George Pataki, Republican former governor of New York<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n He also said the Legislature should\u00a0curb Cuomo\u2019s emergency powers<\/a>, which would “speed up” the COVID-19 vaccination rollout and end Albany\u2019s “micro-management.”<\/p>\n CUOMO AVOIDS REPORTERS DURING WHITE HOUSE VISIT AS NEW YORK NURSING HOME SCANDAL GROWS<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n “You won\u2019t have people worried about getting fined a million dollars or losing your license if you give someone in category 2CW a vaccine as opposed to category 2AB. This is asinine micro-management,” he said.<\/p>\n There\u2019s\u00a0growing support<\/a>\u00a0among fellow Democrats who control the state Assembly and Senate to strip Cuomo of the powers they granted him last year to swiftly respond to the deadly COVID-19 outbreak following. Those powers expire on April 30.<\/p>\n Pataki said team Cuomo and his health department only started coming clean on nursing home deaths after state Attorney General Letitia James issued\u00a0a stinging report\u00a0<\/a>that found that they misled the public by underreporting coronavirus deaths among facility residents by 50 percent \u2014 all by excluding people who died after being transported to hospitals.<\/p>\n A state judge also recently ordered Cuomo to release more complete nursing home death data after ruling his administration\u00a0illegally withheld\u00a0<\/a>the information for months from the Empire Center for Public Policy. The watchdog group filed a legal request for the figures.<\/p>\n “We know they were hiding the number of deaths. It\u2019s just despicable,” said Pataki.<\/p>\n Last May, Pataki criticized the state Health Department\u2019s directive ordering nursing homes to admit or re-admit recovering coronavirus patients discharged from hospitals during the height of the pandemic.<\/p>\n Critics have noted the policy contributed to the spread of the killer bug in the facilities housing the frail elderly.<\/p>\n “Just a few weeks we were told there were a little over 8,000 deaths. Now we\u2019re told the number is over 13,000,” Pataki said Friday.<\/p>\n Pataki also described as selfish Cuomo\u2019s decision to publish\u00a0a book about<\/a> his COVID-19 leadership lessons just months into the pandemic.<\/p>\n “Writing a book about how great your leadership was when in fact you\u2019re aware you\u2019re covering up thousands of deaths \u2026 Then continuing this charade about what a tremendous response there was. It\u2019s incomprehensible,” the former Republican governor said.<\/p>\n “Writing a book about how great your leadership was when in fact you\u2019re aware you\u2019re covering up thousands of deaths \u2026 It\u2019s incomprehensible.”<\/p>\n \u2014 George Pataki, Republican former governor of New York<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, left, has drawn some sharp criticism from a Republican predecessor, former Gov. George Pataki.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Pataki, who led the state following the 9\/11 terrorist attacks in 2001, said, “I wasn\u2019t out there two months after the attack of Sept. 11 waving the flag and saying what a great job I did.<\/p>\n “It wasn\u2019t about me. It was about everyone who responded \u2014 the firefighters, the construction workers, the first responders, the people of New York.”<\/p>\n Pataki also ripped Cuomo chief aide\u00a0Melissa DeRosa\u2019s<\/a>\u00a0comments from a private meeting with state lawmakers Wednesday about refusing to release a full count of nursing home deaths because of an ongoing federal inquiry.<\/p>\n The damning numbers would be “used against us” by Trump\u2019s Justice Department, she said. The Post\u00a0first reported<\/a>\u00a0DeRosa\u2019s explanation after obtaining an audiotape of the Zoom chat.<\/p>\n Pataki called her comments “a cover-up to avoid a possible criminal investigation. It certainly smells of obstruction of justice.”<\/p>\n He also was slammed DeRosa\u2019s apology to Democrats who complained the stonewalling over the nursing home death left them open to criticism from Republican opponents.<\/p>\n “The fact that the administration apologized to Democrat politicians for their inconvenience but never apologized to the people or the families of those who died \u2014 that\u2019s inhumane,” Pataki, who governed from 1995-2006, said.<\/p>\n In a statement Friday morning, DeRosa claimed that in her remarks, “I was explaining that when we received the DOJ inquiry, we needed to temporarily set aside the Legislature\u2019s request to deal with the federal request first.”<\/p>\n In response to Pataki, the governor\u2019s office referred The Post to a statement issued by DeRosa earlier Friday.<\/p>\n “I was explaining that when we received the DOJ inquiry, we needed to temporarily set aside the Legislature\u2019s request [for nursing home death data] to deal with the federal request first. We informed the houses of this at the time,” DeRosa said.<\/p>\n “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. As I said on a call with legislators, we could not fulfill their request as quickly as anyone would have liked.<\/p>\n “But we are committed to being better partners going forward as we share the same goal of keeping New Yorkers as healthy as possible during the pandemic.”<\/p>\n ___ Cuomo\u2019s nursing home death coverup one of NY\u2019s worst scandals: Ex-Gov. George Pataki Pataki also described as selfish Cuomo\u2019s decision to publish a book about his COVID-19 leadership lessons just months into the pandemic. By Carl Campanile | New York … Continue reading \n
\n
![\"New](\"https:\/\/a57.foxnews.com\/static.foxnews.com\/foxnews.com\/content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/1470\/828\/Cuomo-Pataki_Getty.jpg?ve=1&tl=1)
<\/picture><\/div>\n
\nhttps:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/politics\/cuomos-nursing-home-death-coverup-one-of-nys-worst-scandals-ex-gov-george-pataki<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"