Cuomo sought to cash in on book sales while hiding nursing homes death toll, report says

Embattled New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo looked to cash in with his book, "American Crisis: Leadership Lessons from the COVID-19 Pandemic," only four days after aides allegedly covered up nursing home data in the Empire State, according to a new story in The New York Times.

Cuomo’s most senior aides rewrote a report originally written by state health officials to remove a reference to 9,000 nursing home deaths "just as Mr. Cuomo was starting to write a book on his pandemic achievements," the Times reported.

Cuomo had been under fire for an executive order during the beginning of the pandemic that prevented nursing homes from rejecting people with coronavirus. The move was eventually reversed after thousands of nursing home residents died. The report by the state Health Department was released in July, and the governor began discussing a possible book on leadership only four days later, according to the report.

"I am now thinking about writing a book about what we went through," Cuomo said, according to the Times.

At that time he was already "seeking formal approval from a state ethics agency to earn outside income from book sales," the Times reported, citing "a person with knowledge of his planning at the time."

Cuomo’s book was released in October. It raised eyebrows even before the fudged data was revealed, with some critics describing its release as premature given that the nation was preparing for a surge in cases, hospitalizations and deaths.

The focus on the Democratic governor comes as he also faces several sexual harrasment allegations. Initially, CNN and the governor's brother, anchor Chris Cuomo, gave the controversies little to no airtime. Over the past two weeks the liberal network has given them more attention, but previously it gave the younger Cuomo fre... (Read more)

Latest News