Andrew Cuomo, Melissa DeRosa could face subpoena in House COVID probe

Disgraced former Gov. Cuomo may be hauled before Congress this year to answer for the state’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic and his deadly executive order forcing nursing homes to accept infected individuals.

Cuomo, and other top state officials, are currently being scrutinized by the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic.

“It’s quite possible that the committee will subpoena either [former] Gov. Cuomo or his former chief of staff Melissa DeRosa,” said Rep. Nicole Malliotakis, a Staten Island Republican.

Past efforts by the GOP to get answers from top officials in New York were stymied because they were in the minority — something that is no longer the case.

“Now we’re in the majority and now we’re in a position to subpoena,” Malliotakis said, saying she had already raised the Cuomo issue to House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-Kentucky).

More than 15,000 New York nursing home residents died from COVID-19 during the pandemic — with Cuomo’s infamous order looming large over that figure. Rep. Lee Zeldin called for a special prosecutor during his unsuccessful gubernatorial campaign last year.

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“The questions that we have pertain to the decisions that were made to place individuals in nursing homes as opposed to utilizing the federal sites that had been set up, like the USNS Comfort ship, or the National Guard setting up extensions of hospitals,” Malliotakis said. “Cuomo left with a lot of New Yorkers having legitimate questions about his role in the death of thousands.”

The congresswoman said it was “quite possible” that criminal activity played a role in the state’s nursing home debacle.

“There was negligence, no doubt. Whether that was criminal, we have to drill down.”

Cuomo spokesman Rich Azzopardi dismissed the allegations.

“This is the same old Trump era retread. We were following CDC guidance and DOJ twice looked at this, as did the assembly, the Attorney General and the Manhattan district attorney‘s office and all found no there there. It’s incredibly sad that some continue to try to weaponize people’s pain for their own craven politics,” he said.