Andrew Cuomo defends record, offers no apology for controversial COVID policies in Post interview
He’s taking Cuo-no responsibility.
Ex-Gov. Andrew Cuomo repeatedly deflected blame and stubbornly refused to admit mistakes on his lengthy record during an often testy two-hour Post editorial meeting Monday, as he mounts a comeback bid for New York City’s mayor.
Cuomo claimed it was left-wing, “antisemitic” Democratic Socialists of America pols who were the true architects of the lenient criminal justice laws he signed — and of the woes facing New York and beyond, generally.
Even when Cuomo couldn’t shift the onus — such as the COVID-19 pandemic’s worst days, when he was governor — he still didn’t admit fault.
He defended the much-criticized March 25, 2020, directive issued by his health department requiring nursing homes to accept recovering coronavirus patients discharged from hospitals — a quickly rescinded policy that critics argue fanned the spread and death toll among frail, elderly, immunocompromised residents.
Not only that, Cuomo — who brought along a slideshow presentation reminiscent of his daily pandemic-era briefings — continued to deny any link.
“You want the state to say ‘We killed people’ and that’s not true,” Cuomo insisted during one spirited exchange when he was asked why he wouldn’t own up to the mistake.
When Cuomo did ‘fess up, he mostly did so in retrospect — such as conceding that relaxing lockdown rules and school closures could have been done sooner.
And so it went.
Cuomo defended his approval of the cashless bail law in 2019 that was approved by fellow Democrats in the state Legislature, insinuating that the pernicious influence of the far-left DSA lawmakers had tied his hands.
“A governor is not a dictator,” he said, deflecting responsibility.
“You do the best you can when you can … given the finances, given the political environment, given what you can get done with the legislative.”
At one point, he even insisted he was not “a timid flower.”
Elsewhere, he defended his sanctuary city and state policies.
Cuomo signed the Green Light Law allowing illegal immigrants to obtain driver’s licences and proudly recalled blocking the last Trump administration from getting access to state Department of Motor Vehicles data.
“We wouldn’t give them the database … I said, ‘We’ll work together, but I can’t give you the whole database of people who did nothing,’” he recalled telling President Trump during his previous term.
He also blamed the politicized environment of the pandemic for saying Americans should be skeptical of the COVID vaccine pushed by the Trump admin.
Cuomo dismissed as “cruel” and “bizarre” any accusations that he steered recovering COVID-19 patients into nursing homes at the behest of politically influential hospital executives who were worried about being overrun with patients stricken with the deadly virus.
The pugnacious former governor also denied that he deliberately undercounted the number of nursing home residents who died from COVID, while he was writing a $5 million profit-making book about his handling of the pandemic.
Reports by both the state attorney general and comptroller concluded he lowballed the number of deaths.
“If you produced incorrect information that you submitted to the federal government, that is a felony and the simplest felony to prosecute,” Cuomo said, referring to a Justice Department probe under Trump.
He also defended writing the book, claiming it was “ludicrous” and “really offensive” for critics to claim he was manipulating policy to make a profit and cashing in on the back of people who died of COVID.
“I thought there was a benefit to saying, ‘We went first. We went worst. Let us tell you what we know,’” Cuomo said. “I thought it would be of assistance. ‘Don’t make the mistakes we made and learn the lessons we learned.’”
But he claimed not to remember, under questioning by The Post, one of his administration’s most mocked autocratic pandemic rules — requiring cash-strapped bars to sell food with drinks.
Some pubs dubbed the mandated snacks “Cuomo Chips,” even as state regulators said noshing did not meet the food requirement during social distancing.
“I don’t even remember that one. What was that one again? That was not my idea,” Cuomo said with a chuckle, claiming experts advised him on it.
The strange memory lapse wasn’t Cuomo’s only bizarre stumble.
He referred to City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams, who is also running for mayor, as the “speaker of the Assembly.”
He also mixed up the NYPD and MTA police. And at certain points, he appeared to have difficulty hearing people at the end of a conference room table. Cuomo quickly corrected himself on the mixup of the police forces.
Meanwhile, he also defended his green energy policies that critics have slammed as unworkable.
Cuomo pushed Entergy’s Indian Point nuclear power plant in Westchester — which provided energy to New York City utilities — to shut down, while banning fracking for natural gas.
He also approved the the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act.
The law requires New York to reduce economy-wide greenhouse gas emissions by 40 percent by 2030 and no less than 85 percent by 2050 from 1990 levels.
But reps from the auto industry — which is required to ramp up sales of electric vehicles — said the targets are a pipedream.
“If you can’t meet the goal on 2030, what happens? You just violate the goal,” he said.
