New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo could soon find himself on the outside looking in, at least according to one insider’s prediction.
“I do believe in justice, and I do believe that they are going to find something on this Governor,” Fox News meteorologist Janice Dean told the Daily Caller. “I don’t think he is going to be able to be re-elected again, I don’t.”
Both of her in-laws died in nursing homes – the setting of one of the biggest scandals related to the coronavirus pandemic.
Those homes were essentially forced under orders from the Cuomo administration to accept patients who were sick with COVID-19, which critics say led to widespread infections in those facilities.
Cuomo and his aides are accused of covering up the true death toll, undercounting fatalities by thousands.
But earlier this year, after a judge ordered the release of records related to the nursing homes, the state was forced to admit that more than 15,000 patients died in those conditions… far more than they initially let on.
That scandal is now the centerpiece of a major investigation into Cuomo, his administration and his response to the pandemic… which was initially lauded by the liberal media.
Now, it could be his downfall.
“At the end of the day we are on the side of the angels, and you know, I really believe that my husband’s parents have kept me going all of this time this full year,” Dean told The Daily Caller. “And I have to believe that being on side of the angels is stronger than the name Cuomo.”
But that’s just one issue facing Cuomo that could see him leave office long before he has a chance to face voters in November 2022.
He’s also been accused in a series of sexual harassment allegations, involving multiple women who’ve said he made unwanted advances and engaged in other inappropriate behavior.
At least nine women have come forward since last year, and that’s just what we know so far.
Cuomo has denied any wrongdoing, but both the nursing home scandal and the sexual harassment claims have led to multiple probes by state lawmakers including an impeachment inquiry.
Davis Polk & Wardwell, a law firm assisting in the investigation, has spoken with the attorneys for 75 witnesses, examined tens of thousands of documents, and received 290 tips via email and voicemail regarding the governor’s scandals, according to local media reports.
“The documents include email and text correspondence, photographs, personnel records, training materials, and policies,” Assembly Judiciary Committee Chair Charles Lavine told NBC New York.
Amazingly, he’s also facing yet another set of allegations: Allegations that staffers on the government payroll may have helped him to write a book that he made millions off of personally.
Cuomo has claimed the work was “voluntary,” and done on “personal time,” but that was news to at least some of those staffers.
“It was not optional,” an unnamed former staffer told the Times-Union. “It was considered a part of your job. Everyone knew that you did what was asked of you and opting-out was never really an option.”
That staffer said there was a “clear expectation that we would do political work to help with his campaign and run the governor’s personal errands in the Executive Chamber.”
Cuomo hauled in a $5.1 million advance for the book – a number so out of whack with any expected sales that it raised eyebrows among industry insiders.
“Across the publishing world, the revelation of Mr. Cuomo’s payment elicited shock,” the New York Times reported last month. “The amount appeared to be a staggering sum to pay to a politician who already had a meager sales record for his previous book, a memoir that sold just a few thousand print copies.”
The new book sold just 50,000 copies, the newspaper said.
But despite his book windfall… and despite a $17 million campaign war chest… the New York Post said Cuomo is billing taxpayers $2.5 million for his legal defense in those investigations.
— Walter W. Murray is a reporter for The Horn News. He is an outspoken conservative and a survival expert.