Former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo should be brought up on criminal charges for providing false statements to the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic earlier this year during its investigation into how his administration handled nursing home policies during the initial weeks of the COVID-19 pandemic, the chairman of the Republican-led panel said in a referral written Wednesday to U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland. 

Cuomo made untrue statements in an interview with members of the subcommittee about his involvement in and knowledge of the drafting of a July 6 state Health Department report, “Factors Associated with Nursing Home Infections and Fatalities in New York State During the COVID-19 Global Health Crisis,” according to the letter, signed by subcommittee chair Rep. Brad Wenstrup, a Republican from Ohio.

It alleges Cuomo provided false testimony when he said he did not have any discussions about the report being peer reviewed, or reviewed by persons outside of the state Health Department.

“Mr. Cuomo provided false statements to the Select Subcommittee in what appears to be a conscious, calculated effort to insulate himself from accountability,” Wenstrup wrote.

Cuomo spokesperson Rich Azzopardi refuted the subcommitte claims in a statement to Spectrum News on Wednesday night, calling it a "pre-election MAGA excercise."

"This is a joke — the governor said he didn't recall because he didn't recall. The committee lied in their referral just as they have been lying to the public and the press," Azzopardi said.

Cuomo's attorney Sarah Sulkowski sent a letter to the Justice Department, asking them to investigate the committee for misconduct, saying that under Wenstrup, it "has far exceeded its mandate and constitutional authority, as well as misused its investigatory powers for political purposes and to advance a private lawsuit for civil money damages. The meritless suit was dismissed earlier this month."

The panel is investigating the Cuomo administration’s nursing home policies in the first weeks of the pandemic, including a directive from March 2020 that barred nursing homes from refusing people just because they had COVID-19. 

Cuomo, who has maintained that he was following federal guidance with that directive, first appeared before lawmakers for closed door testimony in June. In September, Azzopardi said the committee “has continued to engage in false political attacks blaming New York for nursing home deaths despite the fact that New York was following guidance from Trump’s CDC and CMS. More than a dozen other states - Democratic and Republican - followed the guidance.”