Many members from both sides of the aisle including Hillary Clinton and Nancy Pelosi, have weighed in when it comes to the allegations of sexual harassment against Gov. Andrew Cuomo, but VP Kamala Harris has been silent.
This puts Harris in a tough spot as she believed the women who had accused President Biden of inappropriate touching in the past and even used it against him in the presidential debates as well as interrogated Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh when he faced allegations from Dr. Christine Blasey Ford during his confirmation process.
“I believe them, and I respect them being able to tell their story and having the courage to do it,” Harris said about Biden’s accusers.
Now, in the wake of three women accusing Cuomo of harassment — two of whom worked for the governor at the time — Harris is silent while she holds the second highest office in the country.
Harris was a staunch critic of Kavanaugh and a supporter of Ford. She grilled the justice during his confirmation hearing, and then called for his impeachment after he had been confirmed to the Supreme Court.
“Christine Blasey Ford, who literally had nothing to gain by coming forward … she looked at the fact that this guy was being nominated and said, ‘the American people had the right to know what I know,’ and she was treated like a criminal,” Harris told MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow in September 2019.
“So yes, I call for impeachment,” Harris continued. “I believe that is the clearest way for us to get an investigation of these allegations and we should open an investigation of these allegations.”
Pressure is mounting for Harris to speak up with even Hillary Clinton saying, “These stories are difficult to read, and the allegations brought forth raise serious questions that the women who have come forward and all New Yorkers deserve answers to.”
Pelosi has called for an independent investigation stating, “The women who have come forward with serious and credible charges against Governor Cuomo deserve to be heard and to be treated with dignity.”
Report: Cuomo Admin Being Investigated by U.S. Attorney, FBI Over COVID-19 Response
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo is reportedly being investigated by the US Attorney’s office in Brooklyn and the FBI over his coronavirus task force’s response to the pandemic.
According to the Albany Times Union, the investigation by the U.S. attorney’s office is in its early stages and focuses on the work of “some of the senior members of the governor’s task force.”
The Times Union reports:
Nearly three weeks after the governor’s task force was announced last year, the state health department issued an order directing nursing homes and other long-term care facilities that they must accept residents who were being discharged from hospitals even if they were still testing positive for the infectious disease, as long as they were able to care for them properly.
That directive, which was rescinded less than two months later, has been the focus of a firestorm of criticism directed at Cuomo’s administration, including allegations that the order — which the governor said was based on federal guidance — had contributed to the high number of fatalities of nursing home residents in New York. That assertion was largely dismissed in a report by the Department of Health that was released in July.
In January, New York Attorney General Letitia James issued a report which concluded the Cuomo Administration delayed reporting that thousands of nursing home patients died after getting infected at their facilities and that New York’s nursing home policy may have increased COVID infections.
Last night, CNN issued a statement that it’s host Chris Cuomo, who is the brother of the governor, will no longer be covering the administration after offering the New York leader fawning coverage of his COVID-19 response for months after the pandemic began.
For the full report, click HERE.
Gov. Cuomo says addicts in rehab facilities will get COVID vaccine this week ahead of general population, elderly
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Monday that addicts in the state’s rehabilitation facilities will be inoculated with the coronavirus vaccine this week, cutting in front of the general population and elderly people that aren’t living in nursing homes.
Meanwhile, the elderly are the most at-risk for contracting the virus.
At a press conference in Albany, Cuomo said that residents in facilities operated by the Office of Addiction Service and Supports will be given the vaccine, as well as employees at urgent care centers and health care workers tasked with administering the vaccines.
Cuomo said that after giving the vaccine to front line healthcare workers and nursing home residents last week, the state is expected to receive 259,000 combined doses of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines this week, BizPacReview reports.
Cuomo said that OASAS is next in line because residents live in close quarters.
“That’s where you have a lot of people in concentration,” Cuomo said.
Individual states have set their own vaccine rollout plans. Some states, including Massachusetts, have announced plans to prioritize prisoners for vaccination.
