New York state Rep. Colin Schmitt (R) believes the state “very well could” end up with a Republican governor following Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s (D) nursing home coverup, which he referred to as a “criminal conspiracy to the highest order.”
He told Breitbart News Sunday the scandal is bringing together progressive, far-left assembly members with Republicans and slammed New York Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney (D-NY), who recently hired an ex-gang member to serve as a senior adviser to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC), for remaining silent.
“This is a criminal conspiracy to the highest order. It is a criminal coverup by Cuomo and the administration,” Schmitt said of the Cuomo administration’s coverup which saw officials hiding the real number of people who died of the Chinese coronavirus in nursing homes due to fears of a federal investigation.
While he said he is glad to see investigations taking place, Schmitt said he also urged the attorney general to conduct a “full and thorough investigation.”
“I strongly believe criminal charges are needed up to and including the highest level of state government. Anyone who is complicit needs to be charged criminally,” he said, adding that the legislature also needs to take action, including removing officials from office.
Schmitt told Breitbart News Sunday he is cosponsoring a measure to form an independent impeachment commission that will “review and investigate all the information, all the truth, uncover all the truth that might be there and take appropriate action.”
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He is also composing a bipartisan bill to repeal Cuomo’s “extraordinary power,” which he said has “really caused a lot of the issues.” Cuomo, the assemblyman said, is used to having “extreme control.”
“The Office of the Governor of New York is extremely powerful constitutionally and Cuomo has taken that to the next level with his own strategy and use of power, and he’s used to getting away with much of the issues he’s had over his tenure. I think at this point it’s tipped too far,” he said. “Over 15,000 families have lost loved ones because of these decisions.”
The coverup afterward, he continued, enraged people of all ideologies.
“It’s bringing together the Republicans and the Democrats. It’s bringing — progressive, far-left assembly members are coming together with the minority, [the] assembly minority caucus which is the Republican caucus. It’s really shaken things up here where everyone agrees this is wrong,” he said. “This is criminal and there needs to be accountability both legislatively and criminally.”
“We’re not going to let off the gas; I’m not going to let off the gas,” he promised.
Schmitt said the scandal “very well could” result in New York electing a Republican governor. He said he would be “happy to be the first to line up and endorse” Rep. Lee Zeldin (R-NY), who, some have identified as a potential GOP challenger.
Schmitt also noted Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney (D-NY) has remained “completely silent” as the nursing home fallout has continued, also blasting him, the chair of the DCCC, for supporting the committee’s decision to hire an ex-gang member as a lead strategist.
“Sean Maloney claims to represent our district by appointing this individual as his senior political strategist, it shows just how out of touch he is with the Hudson Valley,” he said, noting that most counties are homes to active and retired law enforcement and pointing to the latest hire’s public anti-police sentiments. The hire, Dyjuan Tatro, once defended looting as a “vital” form of social protest and referred to Capitol police officers as “white supremacists.”
“It just shows that Sean Maloney and Nancy Pelosi and the House majority right now is so out of touch with what’s going on, with reality,” he said.
“And to have the congressman for the Hudson Valley turn his back on hundreds of officers who were injured [as a result of the 2020 BLM riots]” and support Tatro as a viable leader “is an affront to the entire district and really to the entire American people,” he said.
While the Republican assemblyman would not definitively say if he was considering a bid for Maloney’s seat, he told Breitbart News Sunday it is crucial to hold him accountable.
“I look forward to being a large part of that, and I think we’re going to continue to have conversations on how do we make sure we get a congressman in this district who actually represents the Hudson Valley and Hudson Valley values, because our current congressman sold the bill of goods in the campaign acting like a bipartisan, working across the aisle guy and he now has become the most partisan elected official in America,” he said. “The most partisan man in America should not hold this Hudson Valley seat.”
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