Washington Examiner By Mike Brest
A Democratic New York assemblyman claims Gov. Andrew Cuomo threatened his career after he criticized the governor’s handling of the pandemic.
Ron Kim, the assemblyman, told CNN that he received a phone call from Cuomo as Cuomo’s team sought to keep under wraps the full extent of COVID-19 deaths linked to nursing homes, which has become a burgeoning controversy for the Democratic governor.
“Gov. Cuomo called me directly on Thursday to threaten my career if I did not cover up for Melissa [DeRosa] and what she said. He tried to pressure me to issue a statement, and it was a very traumatizing experience,” Kim said.
Cuomo then said, “We’re in this business together, and we don’t cross certain lines,” according to Kim, who said the governor warned that he had not yet experienced his “wrath,” which could “destroy” him.
“No man has ever spoken to me like that in my entire life,” Kim said of the call. “At some point he tried to humiliate me, asking: ‘Are you a lawyer? I didn’t think so. You’re not a lawyer.’ It almost felt like in retrospect he was trying to bait me and anger me and say something inappropriate. I’m glad I didn’t.”
A spokesperson for the governor denied that Cuomo threatened to “destroy” Kim. “The Governor has three witnesses to the conversation. The operable words were to the effect of, ‘I am from Queens, too, and people still expect honor and integrity in politics,'” communications director Peter Ajemian said in a statement to CNN.
Cuomo senior adviser Rich Azzopardi accused Kim of “lying” in a statement to the Washington Examiner, adding, “I know, because I was one of three other people in the room when the phone call occurred. At no time did anyone threaten to ‘destroy’ anyone with their ‘wrath,’ nor engage in a ‘coverup.’ That’s beyond the pale and is unfortunately part of a yearslong pattern of lies by Mr. Kim against this administration.”
Kim, an assemblyman representing a district in Queens, emerged as a Cuomo critic when he posted a 23-part Twitter thread on Feb. 4 documenting allegations of corruption in the governor’s handling of the public health crisis. After first suspecting impropriety in April 2020, Kim asked President Biden to provide full data behind New York’s nursing home fatalities on Jan. 20. Eight days later, New York Attorney General Letitia James released a report outlining what Kim called a “cover up” from Cuomo due to the underreporting of nursing home deaths.
Weeks later, Cuomo aide Melissa DeRosa admitted to state Democrats that the administration “froze” when the Trump Justice Department started asking questions about its handling of the nursing home situation.
“Because then we were in a position where we weren’t sure if what we were going to give to the Department of Justice, or what we give to you guys, what we start saying, was going to be used against us while we weren’t sure if there was going to be an investigation,” DeRosa added. “That played a very large role into this.”
The number of deaths from COVID-19 in nursing and long-term care facilities went up to approximately 15,000 this week, up from 12,743 late last month, according to the New York Times.
Following DeRosa’s admission, Kim told the New York Post that it looked “like [Cuomo’s office] admitted that they were trying to dodge having any incriminating evidence that might put the administration or the [Health Department] in further trouble with the Department of Justice.”
The alleged conversation between Cuomo and Kim took place shortly after that story was published, according to the New York Times.
Kim and other Assembly members signed a letter, published by the New York Post on Wednesday, that accused Cuomo’s office of engaging in “intentional” obstruction of justice.
Cuomo went on the offensive shortly thereafter during a press briefing, saying his administration has had a “long and hostile relationship” with Kim and accusing the assemblyman of “unethical if not illegal” behavior stemming from an unrelated dispute.
The governor added that refusing to comply with a request from the state Assembly is not a crime. “There is no obstruction of justice in not providing the state legislature with information,” he said.
Azzopardi reiterated the allegations against Kim, saying his “actions are, at a minimum, unethical and, when and if investigated, will prove to be illegal.”
Kim did not immediately reply to the Washington Examiner’s request for comment.
