Janice Dean: My grief turned to rage when I saw Cuomos' CNN 'comedy hour'
FOX Weather Senior Meteorologist, Janice Dean on continuing to find answers after her mom and dad in-laws died in New York nursing homes and the Cuomo brothers finally receiving justice for their actions
Fox News' senior meteorologist Janice Dean is speaking out amid reports that top allies of now-ousted Democratic New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo plotted to discredit her behind the scenes for becoming a vocal critic of the nursing home scandal.
"The story for me has always been about trying to find answers and accountability as to what happened in New York nursing homes in the spring of 2020 and why Cuomo and his administration tried to cover it up," Dean tweeted on Sunday. "It’s a shame that many tried to dig up information to try and demean me through my profession ('weather girl') where I work (Fox News) and who I voted for. Sadly, it wasn’t just the Cuomo team, but blue checks and reporters scouring through tweets and articles I’ve written in the past to support their own beliefs and a political narrative."
"This won’t stop my mission on behalf of thousands of families, but it has opened my eyes to how the powerful will do anything to protect themselves, those around them, and to what lengths they will go to silence the people who question their motivations and deadly decisions," Dean added.
Dean also commemorated the heavenly birthday of Dolores Newman, her mother-in-law who would have turned 80 years old Sunday but died in April 2020 from COVID while in a nursing home.
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Newman's husband, Dean's father-in-law Michael Newman, passed away just days prior after having also contracted the virus in a nursing home. He was 83 years old.
Following the deaths of both her in-laws, Dean began speaking out on then-Gov. Cuomo's controversial policy ordering assisted-living facilities to accept COVID-positive patients in the early weeks of the pandemic.
However, the New York Post reported Friday that recently-fired CNN anchor Chris Cuomo, brother of Andrew Cuomo, was in close contact with the governor's office and expressed his desire to target the Fox News star, according to a source.
"The source said Chris allegedly asked in a text to an Andrew Cuomo staffer how he could go after ‘this Fox weather b----……Any help painting her as a far right crazy?’" the Post wrote.
The Post also alleged that it was "believed he participated in calls with the governor’s staff, including Melissa DeRosa, about how to hit back at Dean by focusing on her political leanings."
Rich Azzopardi, a spokesman for Andrew Cuomo, told the Post, "I have no knowledge of this ever happening, and you must ask, why then did the attorney general not put anything about it in her report or ask any of the relevant people about it?"
(Getty Images/CNN/Getty Images)
Another report from CNBC alleged DeRosa, a top Cuomo aide, "ripped Dean behind the scenes and sought to craft a public messaging strategy that would paint the Fox News personality as merely a right-wing commentator" and also cited Chris Cuomo's involvement in discussions about Dean.
Fox News has reached out to Chris Cuomo's spokesperson for comment.
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Dean, who has long said she never identified as being a political person prior to the nursing home scandal, was encouraged to speak out amid the media's glowing coverage of the New York governor and saw very little scrutiny toward the brewing controversy.
It wasn't until Chris Cuomo invited his brother on-air in May 2020 to perform prop comedy with giant cotton swabs that motivated her to come forward and shine a light on the governor's deadly policy.
CNN’s Chris Cuomo performed prop comedy with his brother New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo during a widely panned segment in 2020. (CNN)
Chris Cuomo was fired by CNN after a new sexual misconduct allegation emerged against the anchor over alleged behavior that took place at another network, which he denied. This followed Cuomo's first accuser, veteran TV producer Shelley Ross, who came forward in September and claimed he grabbed her buttock at a 2005 work function while the two of them worked at ABC News.
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Cuomo had already been suspended following the damning revelations that emerged from the New York Attorney General's investigation into his brother, revealing that the anchor was far more involved with the governor's office than previously known.
Documents showed that Cuomo relied on his own media sources to find information about his brother's accusers.
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