Blagojevich Hammers Cuomo: ‘Bigger Scandal’ than Sexual Harassment Is His ‘Massacre at Nursing Homes’

Governor Andrew Cuomo / Facebook
Katherine Hamilton

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo “quit” the governorship on Tuesday while simultaneously attempting to maintain his innocence in a sexual harassment investigation.

But to former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, the bigger scandal is the thousands of nursing home deaths Cuomo allegedly covered up, and which President Joe Biden’s Department of Justice has declined to investigate.

“In the midst of the sexual harassment storm surrounding Gov. Cuomo, the bigger scandal is the massacre at the nursing homes in New York! Let’s not forget those victims and their families,” tweeted the former governor.

In early February 2021, Cuomo’s top aide admitted that her team withheld the number of deaths related to Chinese coronavirus in New York’s nursing homes to shield the Cuomo government from federal investigation and political scrutiny.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s aides rewrote a report from state health officials to hide 9,250 Chinese coronavirus deaths in nursing homes and long-term care facilities. The actual number of 9,250 nursing home deaths by June was much larger than the reported 6,432 nursing-home deaths — more than a 40 percent increase. The New York Times detailed the coverup citing new documents and interviews with six people involved in the concealment of deaths.

Blagojevich himself dealt with scandal while he served as governor of Illinois from 2003-2009. After being impeached following charges of public corruption, he ended up serving almost eight years of a 14-year sentence handed down after multiple trials finally resulted in partial convictions, some of which were later vacated on appeal.

“…The core allegation that he tried to sell Obama’s U.S. Senate seat when Obama was president-elect and Blagojevich was to appoint Obama’s successor, was one of the conviction charges vacated—or overturned—on appeal,” Breitbart News reported.

In early 2020, former President Donald Trump commuted his sentence—and let him out after eight years behind bars. Blagojevich to this day insists he did nothing wrong, and that what he was put away for was politics as usual. The former Democrat is now a self-avowed “Trumpocrat” who admires Trump’s “testicular virility” to right the wrong he considers was done to him by the criminal justice system.

Blagojevich used the same phrase — “testicular virility” — to mock Cuomo in another tweet for “quitting” the governorship while also attempting to maintain his innocence.

“Cuomo said he didn’t do anything wrong but then he quit! What? New Yorkers are tough but quitting when you say you didn’t do anything wrong isn’t New York tough. Typical politician. Long on tough talk but short on testicular virility,” Blagojevich said in a tweet.

Cuomo resigned Tuesday after 11 women accused him of sexual harassment, but he continued to deny the accusations during his resignation speech.

“In my mind, I’ve never crossed the line with anyone, but I didn’t realize the extent to which the line has been redrawn,” he said.

“I have slipped and called people honey, sweetheart, and darling. I meant it to be endearing, but women found it dated and offensive,” he continued.

Cuomo previously denied accusations of sexual harassment when the New York Attorney General first launched the sexual harassment investigation in April.

The third-term governor’s resignation will take effect in two weeks. Cuomo’s announcement comes after the Legislature began calling for his impeachment, and nearly the entire Democratic establishment turned against him, including President Joe Biden.

Cuomo could still possibly face criminal charges. Several prosecutors around the state are moving to investigate him, and at least one of his accusers has filed a criminal complaint against him.

Lt. Gov. Kathy Hochul, a 62-year-old Democrat and former member of Congress from the Buffalo area, will become the state’s 57th governor and the first woman to hold the post.

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