'You are culpable': Stefanik demands Cuomo apologize for COVID nursing home deaths in heated exchange

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Stefanik demands Cuomo apologize for COVID nursing home deaths in heated exchange

New York Rep. Elise Stefanik grilled former Gov. Andrew Cuomo while he testified before congress on Tuesday.

Lawmakers grilled former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo regarding his handling of controversial COVID-era nursing home policies, demanding he apologize to families who lost loved ones during the coronavirus pandemic.

Cuomo testified before the House select committee investigating coronavirus on Tuesday regarding elderly deaths after patients were being admitted into nursing homes without COVID-19 testing.

On March 25, 2020, the New York State Department of Health issued an advisory under Cuomo's leadership stating nursing homes "are prohibited from requiring a hospitalized resident who is determined medically stable to be tested for COVID-19 prior to admission or readmission."

Cuomo claimed during the hearing that it was ultimately up to the nursing homes to decide whether they could take care of the patients, but lawmakers counterclaimed that the advisory prevented nursing homes from denying COVID positive patient admission.

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WASHINGTON, DC - SEPTEMBER 10: Former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo arrives to testify before the Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic in the Rayburn House Office Building at the U.S. Capitol on September 10, 2024, in Washington, DC. (Kent Nishimura)

"After months of inquiry and investigation, we now know irrefutable what New Yorkers have known for years that Governor Cuomo himself and his most senior aides ordered, directed and executed this deadly executive order counter to CMS and CDC guidance," Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., said.

"You are culpable for this," Stefanik told the former governor. "There are families sitting here. I want you to turn around, look them in the eye, and apologize, which you have failed to do. How do you do it?"  

The former New York governor also testified during the hearing that he did not speak to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) or Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) before or after the advisory was sent.

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"And they never called me after. You would think if they had a problem with the directive, they would have called if it was so outrageous you didn't even call it." Cuomo told the committee, adding that the advisory was "in total compliance with federal guidelines."

Representative Elise Stefanik, a Republican from New York, grilled Cuomo during the hearing. (Haiyun Jiang/Bloomberg)

Cuomo was blamed for thousands of COVID-related deaths that occurred in nursing homes, which a 2023 report from the NYS Department of Health calculated to be 826 in Suffolk County, 813 in Erie County – which includes Buffalo – and 623 in Queens County.

The former governor directed blame to former President Donald Trump during the hearing, saying that the investigation is part of "old diversions to blame New York and other states for the culpability of the federal response, which was malpractice."

Republican members on the committee railed Cuomo for shifting the blame on the issue.

"I was hoping that we would see a Governor Cuomo that was less defensive and that was remorseful over what happened in New York. But I see that that person has not shown up today," Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks, R-Iowa, said.

WASHINGTON, DC - SEPTEMBER 10: Former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo is sworn in to testify before the Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic in the Rayburn House Office Building at the U.S. Capitol on September 10, 2024, in Washington, DC.  (Kent Nishimura)

In closing, Chairman Wenstrup added that he was "deeply skeptical of the abdication of responsibility on to others that we've witnessed, not only here, but publicly."

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"It appears there's to be no soul-searching from you, governor. I'm sorry. No self- critique of what could have been done better and improved upon. Just doubling down, blaming others," Wenstrup said.

Fox News' Charles Creitz contributed to this report.