New York Gov. Cuomo Could Be Impeached: Here's Why

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo may face an impeachment trial over the lack of transparency about coronavirus-related nursing home deaths under his administration.

Dutchess County Executive Marcus Molinaro urged state authorities on Monday to launch a criminal investigation into Cuomo’s alleged cover-up of nursing home deaths in New York.

Molinaro, a Republican who lost to Cuomo for governor in 2018, believes that the Democrat is unfit to hold office and accused him of handing over “manipulated data” to the federal government.

“We’ve known all along that this is the most corrupted and least transparent administration in America,” Molinaro told Fox News' “America Reports.” “We now know it’s also the deadliest.”

He urged the New York State Assembly to begin impeachment proceedings against Cuomo and called on federal authorities to launch a probe.

Molinaro had previously been the target of calls for an investigation over "possible corruption" in the Dutchess County's bidding process. According to the members of the Dutchess County Legislature, the Republican official was involved in a pay-for-play scheme.

Typically, the "pay for play" scheme involves an individual or a corporation making a significant contribution to an elected official in exchange for favoritism over government contracts or legislation.

Aides to Governor Cuomo previously revealed that the state’s laws were too lenient toward long-term care facilities, noting that no nursing homes were shut down despite widespread coronavirus infections and deaths.

“I think a lot of these nursing homes, frankly, retrospectively, even prior to COVID have been getting away with a lot for a lot of years,” Melissa DeRosa, a top Cuomo aide, said.

“I think that if there is any evidence that anyone was willful, or anyone was negligent in a way that goes beyond the normal course that costs people’s lives, I think that we all share the same goal, which is to hold them accountable,” she added.

Cuomo on Monday admitted that his administration’s lack of transparency over the scope of COVID-19 deaths in the state’s nursing homes was a mistake. However, he stopped short of a full apology and said lawmakers who threatened to remove him from his seat are committing “extortion.”

“You can’t use a subpoena or the threat of investigation to leverage a person,” Cuomo said during a briefing. “That’s a crime, it’s called abuse of process, it’s called extortion.”

He also defended his enforcement of a policy that required nursing homes to accept patients diagnosed with COVID-19 after they were discharged from the hospital. Cuomo argued that it was the visitors and staff members, not the sick residents, who caused the coronavirus outbreak in nursing homes.

“COVID did not get into the nursing homes by people coming from hospitals,” Cuomo said. “COVID got into the nursing homes by staff walking in to the nursing homes when we didn't even know we had COVID. Staff walking into a nursing home even if they were asymptomatic because the national experts all told us you could only spread COVID if you had symptoms and they were wrong.”