Cuomo aide Melissa DeRosa admits they hid nursing home data
so feds wouldn’t find out
By Bernadette Hogan, Carl Campanile and Bruce Golding, NY Post
February 11, 2021 | 6:51pm | Updated
Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s top aide privately apologized to Democratic lawmakers for withholding the state’s nursing home death toll from COVID-19 — telling them “we froze” out of fear that the true numbers would “be used against us” by federal prosecutors, The Post has learned.
The stunning admission of a coverup was made by secretary to the Governor Melissa DeRosa during a video conference call with state Democratic leaders in which she said the Cuomo administration had rebuffed a legislative request for the tally in August because “right around the same time, [then-President Donald Trump] turns this into a giant political football,” according to an audio recording of the two-hour-plus meeting.
“He starts tweeting that we killed everyone in nursing homes,” DeRosa said. “He starts going after [New Jersey Gov. Phil] Murphy, starts going after [California Gov. Gavin] Newsom, starts going after [Michigan Gov.] Gretchen Whitmer.”
In addition to attacking Cuomo’s fellow Democratic governors, DeRosa said, Trump “directs the Department of Justice to do an investigation into us.”
“And basically, we froze,” she told the lawmakers on the call.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo dismissed the matter of where nursing home fatalities actually took place.
Lev Radin/Pacific Press/Shutterstock
“Because then we were in a position where we weren’t sure if what we were going to give to the Department of Justice, or what we give to you guys, what we start saying, was going to be used against us while we weren’t sure if there was going to be an investigation.”
DeRosa added: “That played a very large role into this.”
Telling the truth should never be debated! Democracy doesn't work when lying is considered politically justifiable. Trump's hyperbole probably did not help here at all.
After dropping the bombshell, DeRosa asked for “a little bit of appreciation of the context” and offered what appears to be the Cuomo administration’s first apology for its handling of nursing homes amid the pandemic.
But instead of a mea culpa to the grieving family members of more than 13,000 dead seniors or the critics who say the Health Department spread COVID-19 in the care facilities with a March 25 state Health Department directive that nursing homes admit infected patients, DeRosa tried to make amends with the fellow Democrats for the political inconvenience it caused them.
And no guilt for lying to the President of the United States! Liberals believe that the end justifies the means.
“So we do apologize,” she said. “I do understand the position that you were put in. I know that it is not fair. It was not our intention to put you in that political position with the Republicans.”
Assembly Health Committee Chairman Richard Gottfried (D-Manhattan) immediately rejected DeRosa’s expression of remorse, according to the recording.
“I don’t have enough time today to explain all the reasons why I don’t give that any credit at all,” said Gottfried, one of the lawmakers who demanded the death-toll data in August.
State Senate Aging Committee Chairwoman Rachel May (D-Syracuse) — who was battered during her re-election bid last year over the issue of nursing home deaths — also ripped into DeRosa, saying her former opponent had launched another broadside earlier in the day.
“And the issue for me, the biggest issue of all is feeling like I needed to defend — or at least not attack — an administration that was appearing to be covering something up,” she said.
“And in a, in a pandemic, when you want the public to trust the public health officials, and there is this clear feeling that they’re not coming, being forthcoming with you, that is really hard and it remains difficult.”
Assemblyman Ron Kim (D-Queens), who took part in the call, told The Post on Thursday that DeRosa’s remarks sounded “like they admitted that they were trying to dodge having any incriminating evidence that might put the administration or the [Health Department] in further trouble with the Department of Justice.”
“That’s how I understand their reasoning of why they were unable to share, in real time, the data,” Kim said.
“They had to first make sure that the state was protected against federal investigation.”
Kim, whose uncle is presumed to have died of COVID-19 in a nursing home in April, also said he wasn’t satisfied with DeRosa’s apology.
“It’s not enough how contrite they are with us,” he said. “They need to show that to the public and the families — and they haven’t done that.”
In addition to stonewalling lawmakers on the total number of nursing home residents killed by COVID-19, Cuomo’s administration refused requests from the news media — including The Post — and fought a Freedom of Information lawsuit filed by the Empire Center on Public Policy.
Instead, it only disclosed data on the numbers of residents who died in their nursing homes.
But after state Attorney General Letitia James last month released a damning report that estimated the deaths of nursing home residents in hospitals would boost the grim tally by more than 50 percent, Health Commissioner Howard Zucker finally released figures showing the combined total was 12,743 as of Jan. 19.
Just a day earlier, the DOH was only publicly acknowledging 8,711 deaths in nursing homes.
In a Wednesday letter to lawmakers, Zucker said the total number of nursing home residents killed by COVID-19 had increased to 13,297. That number jumps to 15,049 when assisted living/adult care facilities are factored in.
The controversy generated by James’ report led to an infamous news conference at which Cuomo callously dismissed the matter of where nursing home fatalities actually took place.
“Who cares [if they] died in the hospital, died in a nursing home? They died,” he said.
During Wednesday’s conference call, DeRosa said it appeared the DOJ was no longer focused on New York’s nursing home deaths.
“All signs point to they are not looking at this, they’ve dropped it,” she said.
“They never formally opened an investigation. They sent a letter asking a number of questions and then we satisfied those questions and it appears that they’re gone.”
Because they foolishly believed you would tell them the truth! Now, with a Democrat President, there will be no more will to investigate. Cuomo and DeRosa's behavior is deplorable and should be dealt with not ignored.
In a prepared statement, Cuomo spokesman Rich Azzopardi said, “We explained that the Trump administration was in the midst of a politically motivated effort to blame democratic states for COVID deaths and that we were cooperating with Federal document productions and that was the priority and now that it is over we can address the state legislature.”
“That said, we were working simultaneously to complete the audit of information they were asking for,” he added.
The DOJ declined to comment.
‘I will destroy you’: Deputy White House spokesman suspended for a week
over threatening reporter
No ifs, ands, or buts
12 Feb, 2021 19:17
Deputy White House press secretary TJ Ducklo (left) was 2020 campaign spokesman for President Joe Biden (right)
© C-SPAN screenshot; REUTERS/Carlos Barria
While US President Joe Biden vowed to fire anyone for disrespectful behavior, deputy White House spokesman TJ Ducklo has merely been suspended without pay and made to apologize to a reporter he had threatened.
Ducklo’s suspension was announced on Friday by White House press secretary Jen Psaki, who said he apologized and sent a personal note expressing “profound regret” over the “heated conversation” about his personal life.
He has been suspended without pay for a week and will “no longer be assigned to work with any reporters at Politico” once he returns, Psaki added.
Earlier in the day, Vanity Fair reported that Ducklo had made “derogatory and misogynistic” comments to Politico’s Tara Palmeri, apparently trying to quash a story about his romantic involvement with Axios reporter Alexi McCammond.
Palmeri had called McCammond, and a male colleague of hers had left a message to Ducklo, on Inauguration Day. Ducklo then called Palmeri and threatened to ruin her reputation if she published the story.
“I will destroy you,” he said, according to Vanity Fair’s sources. He also reportedly accused Palmeri of reporting on the relationship because she was “jealous” of McCammond.
Politico’s editors called the White House the following day and Ducklo’s conduct was discussed by Psaki, White House Communications Director Kate Bedingfield, and senior adviser Anita Dunn, among others – but no action was taken until after Vanity Fair published the story.
McCammond and Ducklo had been friends for a while but became openly romantically involved after the 2020 election, at least according to a friendly profile in People published on Monday. Politico finally reported on their relationship the day after.
McCammond had previously covered the Biden campaign. After she disclosed the relationship to her editors in November, she was reassigned to cover Vice President Kamala Harris and “progressives” across the US.
So, does that mean that Politico was also determined to keep the affair secret? Why?
Ducklo’s suspension was met with mixed reactions. While some people were sympathetic to someone with lung cancer who had after all apologized, others quoted Biden’s own words upon taking office, that he would fire anyone who disrespected colleagues or talked down to someone, “no ifs, ands or buts.”
“Serious question on our minds this morning: Does this standard apply to how mid-level press aides treat reporters?” was how the Politico Playbook, for which Palmeri writes, commented on Biden’s announcement on January 21 – in reference to Ducklo and his hostile call, as it now appears.
Palmeri has also attracted the White House’s ire for accusing Psaki of demanding questions from reporters in advance, so as to avoid the “circling back” she has become notorious for. However, she is not the only one to make such a claim – the Daily Beast has done the same, for example.
Hours before the Ducklo scandal broke, Psaki had retweeted First Lady Jill Biden and said, “Compassion and kindness is back.”
Did Psaki fail English in High School?
Fresh off banning Project Veritas, Twitter accused of giving anti-Trump Lincoln Project a pass for publishing ex-member’s PMs
12 Feb, 2021 21:41
The Twitter logo, seen alongside the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, DC
© Reuters / Brendan McDermid and Wikipedia
Twitter is under fire for seemingly opting to take no action when the Lincoln Project posted one of its ex-members’ direct messages without her consent. Critics saw it as a proof that “all’s fair when you hate Donald Trump.”
Formed before last year’s election to oust Donald Trump from the White House and return the Republican Party to its pre-Trump incarnation, the Lincoln Project has fallen on hard times since Joe Biden’s victory. Founding member John Weaver was outed (2nd story on link) as a sex pest (read: child sex predator) who allegedly bothered boys as young as 14, and the group’s claim that it was unaware of Weaver’s alleged perversion has largely fallen on deaf ears.
In what appeared to be a bizarre act of retribution, the Lincoln Project published messages exchanged between one of these former employees – Jennifer Horn – and a reporter, Amanda Becker. Accompanying the messages was a multi-tweet meltdown, which was deleted soon after George Conway, another co-founder, suggested that tweeting out the private conversations could be “a violation of federal law.”
It is unclear how the Lincoln Project got their hands on Horn’s messages. Based on the screenshots tweeted out, they were taken from a device signed in to her Twitter account. Horn herself said that she did not give consent to their publication, and tried to tip off Twitter.
According to journalist Yashar Ali, Twitter was uninterested in punishing the Lincoln Project. Ali claimed that a Twitter spokesperson told him the tweets “did NOT violate Twitter rules,” and were not “a violation of their hacked materials policy.”
If Ali’s statement is true, Twitter is treating the Lincoln Project vastly differently than it treated the New York Post (which it banned for publishing the allegedly “hacked” contents of Hunter Biden’s laptop before November’s election), or Project Veritas, which it suspended on Thursday for a video which supposedly revealed the personal details of a top Facebook official (apparently by showing his house number).
Conservative pundits raged at the platform for allegedly showing its hypocrisy again, both for taking no action over Thursday’s Lincoln Project tweets, or Weaver’s creepy direct messages to young boys and men. “Twitter,” pundit Mike Cernovich tweeted, “is part of the Lincoln Project coverup.”
Despite the Lincoln Project’s ongoing troubles, the group has still received favorable coverage by some media outlets. Speaking to George Conway on Thursday night, CNN’s Anderson Cooper opted not to question the former member about Weaver’s proclivities, or even his own insistence that the group be investigated by an outside counsel, made hours before the interview.
Lincoln Project co-founder Steve Schmidt resigns amid series of scandals
13 Feb, 2021 00:54
© MSNBC
Claiming victimhood, fatigue and victory over the hated Donald Trump alike, co-founder Steve Schmidt has resigned from the Lincoln Project as the outfit found itself rocked by sexual abuse and doxxing scandals.
In a lengthy resignation letter posted on Friday evening, Schmidt took credit for the group’s “decisive role” in President Donald Trump’s 2020 electoral defeat and said he was leaving because the organization’s board is made up of “four middle-aged white men” and needs a female member for the sake of diversity and professionalism, among other things.
Schmidt’s resignation was made public half an hour after Axios reported it was forthcoming. The outlet said three other members have resigned – spokesman Kurt Bardella, video host Nayyera Haq and columnist Tom Nichols, who was their unpaid advisor.
Another co-founder, Jennifer Horn, left the group only to see her private messages with a reporter leaked online on Thursday. While Twitter refused to punish Project Lincoln for the clear violation of their rules, the group hastily deleted the messages and ran damage control. (See above story).
The exodus comes after a torrent of scandalous revelations, starting with last month’s expose of another Lincoln Project co-founder John Weaver as someone who sexually preyed on boys for decades.
While the group angrily pushed back on the reports and claimed total ignorance of Weaver’s proclivities, on Monday the AP published an investigation strongly suggesting otherwise.
In his resignation letter, Schmidt maintained that the first time he learned about Weaver’s misconduct – grooming and sexual abuse of boys – was last month when it was revealed, and had “never heard a single person ever whisper” he was a predator when they worked for Sen. John McCain (R-Arizona) during his 2008 presidential bid.
Along with Weaver, Rick Wilson and George Conway, Schmidt was the most prominent member of Project Lincoln, milking their status as establishment Republican strategists and campaign aides to McCain, President George W. Bush or California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger for appearances on CNN and MSNBC where they campaigned against Trump and Republicans who supported him.
In the letter, Schmidt wrote that he had been “consumed by anger and rage” over the “attacks from the rancid collection of liars, thugs and fascists” such as Donald Trump Jr. and Fox News host Laura Ingraham on his character and the Lincoln Project.
He also claimed that the Project was the “most successful and politically lethal super PAC” in US history that played a “decisive role” in Trump’s defeat, and urged people who agreed to him to continue fighting as the US remains “one election away from seeing the end of American democracy.”
Funny. I completely agree with him, but I think it is inevitable regardless of who is elected President.
According to the AP expose, however, only $27 million of the $90 million raised by the group was spent on political advertising – often in reliably Democrat strongholds – while the rest actually found its way to consulting firms run by members as payments for “services” rendered.
This is how elections are bought by wealthy oligarchs.
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