Free Republic

When he was talking about his daughter’s boyfriend, or making meatballs for the family dinner, or yukking it up with his brother on CNN, it was easy to forget Gov Cuomo’s prickly side. But when the criticism cascaded with allegations that his administration was covering up the number of coronavirus deaths in nursing homes, the shine began to wear off. The bully was back. To hear Cuomo — who faces a federal investigation over the crisis — tell the story, he’s just a Queens tough guy, forged in the outer borough fire of political and personal survival. But his detractors...

New York Democrats are lining up alongside Republican lawmakers to accuse Governor Andrew Cuomo of controlling the state through fear, intimidation and very personal threatening phone calls. Lawmakers from both political parties are piling on long-held criticisms of Cuomo Saturday as his office responds to accusations they covered up nursing home deaths from COVID-19. **SNIP** State Senator Alessandra Biaggi joined the steady stream of Democratic dissent against Cuomo being shared this week across Twitter threads and cable news outlets. Biaggi told The New Yorker Cuomo has threatened her career "so many times" through thinly veiled remarks. Additionally, two-time Democratic House...

...Cuomo for weeks fixated on the need for more ventilators. Claiming a lack of ventilators was his “most significant challenge,” Cuomo’s state health department authorized the conversion of BiPAP machines into ventilators; New York, Cuomo warned on April 2, would run out of the machines within a week. He signed an executive order to seize ventilators from private hospitals and redistribute them to overwhelmed facilities. “Am I willing to (do this) to save a couple of hundred lives? You’re damn right I am,” Cuomo preened. But like nearly every decision and prediction he made during the crisis, Cuomo was wrong—and...

A Democratic state assemblyman in New York says that lawmakers are “inching toward” opening an impeachment probe of Gov. Andrew Cuomo over his handling of coronavirus deaths in nursing homes. In an interview on the “Skullduggery” podcast, Ronald Kim, a Queens assemblyman, also said he is willing to cooperate with federal investigators in an ongoing probe of the Cuomo administration. “Of course, I’m prepared to comply and spend as much time handing over as much evidence as they want,” he said, adding that many lawmakers expect to be contacted by investigators “very soon.” Kim came forward this week with allegations...

Somebody needs to tell Gov. Andrew Cuomo that when you are in a hole, it’s time to stop digging. Once again at his Emmy Award-winning press conference on Friday, Cuomo deflected and denied when faced with his mishandling of nursing homes and state data. He continued to blame something he calls a “void” in information. Friday there was even a picture of the void in his PowerPoint presentation. It looked like a black hole in space, and Cuomo looked like a shaken shell of a governor. It’s almost sad how the mighty have fallen. The only void at work here...

A defensive Gov. Andrew Cuomo went on a 15-minute rant Friday in which he vowed to counter what he claimed were “lies” and “misinformation” about his handling of nursing homes amid the COVID-19 pandemic — and accused his critics of “causing pain” to the relatives of residents killed by the disease. During a virtual news conference from Albany, Cuomo said, “I’m not going to let you hurt New Yorkers by lying about what happened. Surrounding the death of a loved one.” “So, I’m going to take on the lies and the unscrupulous actors, especially when they cause pain and damage...

WASHINGTON — NY Rep. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez is calling for an investigation into Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s mounting nursing home crisis on Friday. “I support our state’s return to co-equal governance and stand with our local officials calling for a full investigation of the Cuomo administration’s handling of nursing homes during COVID-19,” she wrote in a statement.

In his State of the State address, Gov. Andrew Cuomo touted the $306 billion in current and proposed infrastructure projects around New York that he said would revitalize the economy after COVID-19 shut down businesses and non-essential construction. In his Jan. 14 speech, the governor said a total $51 billion was being spent for projects to revive Manhattan's Midtown West neighborhoods, citing potential new projects as well as those well into planning. That figure includes the $1.6 billion Moynihan Train Hall, which opened Jan. 1; the $1.5 billion Jacob K. Javits Center expansion, expected to be completed this year; and...

Now, Saturday Night Live Donald Trump impersonator Alec Baldwin has thrown support behind Kim on social media. “If Cuomo threatened Ron Kim’s career, Cuomo should resign,” Baldwin tweeted Thursday morning. The tweet comes approximately one month after Baldwin’s public exit from the social media platform, in the wake of wife Hillaria Baldwin’s “Spanish heritage” controversy. “Twitter is like a party where everyone is screaming. Not much of a party,” the actor tweeted on January 18. “Goodbye for now.” Hillaria later apologized.

An Albany-based watchdog group says that New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo's nursing home directive was likely responsible for more than 1,000 additional resident deaths during the coronavirus pandemic, despite numerous denials by the administration that their order was heavily to blame. Cuomo's office has been silent on the contents of the report released by the nonprofit Empire Center for Public Policy on Thursday and reviewed by Fox News, which relies on the information provided to them by the New York State Department of Health (DOH).

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) seemingly dismissed concerns over New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic and the fallout in the Empire State following reports that his administration covered up coronavirus fatality data in nursing homes out of fears of a federal investigation. Speaking to reporters on Friday morning, Gillibrand made it clear she was aware of the ongoing federal investigation into the Cuomo administration’s actions taken during the coronavirus pandemic and insisted she would monitor the situation, but said she is focused on her job in the United States Senate. Gillibrand said: I sit on the aging...

The biggest October surprise of the 2020 elections came in the form of a laptop, reportedly belonging to Hunter Biden, discovered in a Delaware computer repair shop. The device, and its damning contents, have grown into a campaign-killing scandal for Hunter’s father, Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden. ... Unfortunately, not everyone in Washington, D.C., is itching to get to the bottom of this case. Some, like Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, are actively working to suppress an investigation into the laptop allegedly belonging to Hunter Biden. “We write regarding press reports concerning materials allegedly describing activities by Hunter Biden, and...

Newly-released documents from Tony Bobulinski, Hunter Biden's ex-business partner, show Hunter worked on a business adventure involving Joe Biden and prominent Democrats. The goal was allegedly to obtain contracts for projects across the country, the New York Post reported. Jim Biden, Joe Biden's brother, allegedly sent a memo on May 15, 2017 to Hunter and three other partners about a limited liability company (LLC). The LLC was to be used "to partner with another firm on 'global and/or domestic' projects involving 'infrastructure, energy, financial services and other strategic sectors,' the documents show." Bobulinski, who served as CEO of the joint...

WASHINGTON—Today, Rep. Omar, along with U.S. Senator Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) and Congresswoman Deb Haaland (NM-01) and a coalition of grassroots groups; labor unions; Black, Brown and Indigenous leaders from across the country to introduce a bold plan for economic renewal known as the Agenda to Transform, Heal, and Renew by Investing in a Vibrant Economy, or THRIVE Agenda. In the Senate the resolution is led by Senator Markey, Cory A. Booker (D-N.J.), Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Tom Udall (D-N.M.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), Jeffrey A. Merkley (D-Ore.), and...

All but three Senate Democrats now openly support infanticide of babies who manage to be born alive despite an attempted abortion.  A total of 60 votes were needed to overcome a promised filibuster, and the measure gained only 53 votes.  But the field of presidential contenders from the Senate are now all on the record.  As the Washington Post notes: All of the announced 2020 Democratic presidential candidates — Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand (N.Y.), Cory Booker (N.J.), Kamala D. Harris (Calif.), Amy Klobuchar (Minn.), Elizabeth Warren (Mass.) and Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) — voted "no." Senator Ben Sasse's sponsorship of the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act and Mitch McConnell's...

Thursday on MSNBC’s “Andrea Mitchell Reports,” Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) weighed in on the possibility of President Donald Trump giving his speech accepting the Republican Party presidential nomination from the White House, despite some suggesting it could a violation of the Hatch Act. -snip “I think it’s an outrage,” Gillibrand lamented. “President Trump continues to demean his office. He continues to break norms, and if anyone helps him do his speech, it’s in violation of the Hatch Act. So he may well be exempt, but again, to misuse federal resources for political gain is something that we do not tolerate...

Hillary Clinton's female surrogates attacked the GOP's record on women's issues Monday ahead of the New York primary, as the Democratic front-runner seeks to turn out women voters. "A woman voting for Ted Cruz is like a chicken voting for Col. Sanders," Planned Parenthood President Cecile Richards said at the midtown Manhattan rally as she introduced the Democratic front-runner. In a fundraising email last week, Richards described Cruz as Planned Parenthood's "biggest threat" this election cycle, as the pro-life Texas senator wants to defund the organization. Planned Parenthood endorsed Clinton in January, marking their first-ever presidential primary endorsement. Along with...

GOP rallies around Trump after firing of Manhattan US attorney BY ALEXANDER BOLTON - 06/22/20 08:05 PM EDT — GOP rallies around Trump after firing of Manhattan US attorney Senate Republicans on Monday largely defended President Trump following his controversial decision this week to fire Geoffrey Berman, the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York. Senate Majority Whip John Thune (R-S.D.) said Trump was within his right to fire Berman, who was involved in a number of politically sensitive investigations that touched on Trump and his advisers. “It’s kind of like previous firings, I would say,” Thune said....

Sen. Lindsey Graham said Saturday he will not take up President Trump's nomination for a new U.S. attorney for Manhattan unless New York's Democratic senators sign off. Graham, a Republican from South Carolina who chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee, said he will honor the "blue slip" tradition and require the consent of home state senators to proceed -- in this case, Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand. Graham's statement signals an uphill climb for Trump to get a new Senate-confirmed federal prosecutor in one of the nation’s most high-profile districts. It comes hours after Attorney General Bill Barr made a Friday...

Stacey Abrams, a former Georgia State House leader, is aggressively marketing herself as a potential vice president for Joe Biden — increasingly irritating those in the former veep’s orbit, an insider said. Meanwhile, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand has her sights set on something else — secretary of defense, say those familiar with her plans. “If they go with a black woman, it would be Kamala Harris, but she’s a clunky communicator and couldn’t generate any excitement for her own campaign with black or white voters,” the Biden insider said.” While campaigning for vice president traditionally requires a delicate dance of private...