NY assemblyman on Cuomo nursing home controversy: ‘I am not going to be complicit’
New York State Assemblyman Ron Kim joins ‘Fox & Friends’ ahead of a rally calling for accountability. He’s joined by senior meteorologist Janice Dean.
New York State Assemblyman Ron Kim said a recent phone call from New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo was a "terrorizing moment" that left his wife "crying and shaking."
"It’s a pattern of his abusive behavior," Kim, D-Queens, told "Fox & Friends" on Wednesday. "It’s also his abuse of power in his position, calling me at eight o’clock while I was just getting ready to bathe my kids with my wife and berating me for ten minutes, which seemed like one hour at the time, and putting my wife in shock for two hours where she was literally crying and shaking."
RON KIM, NY DEM THREATENED BY CUOMO, SAYS HE WON'T SUPPORT HIM POLITICALLY AMID NURSING HOME SCANDAL
"Just think about that terrorizing moment when the most powerful politician in the state, if not in the country, tells you that he will ruin you [and] ruin your livelihood," he added.
Kim is one of several lawmakers on both sides of the aisle who have criticized Cuomo’s order requiring nursing homes to accept coronavirus-positive patients released from hospitals. The directive was enacted on March 25 and rescinded in May.
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Kim told Brian Kilmeade the Cuomo administration "might have broken the law" by withholding nursing home data.
"They admitted to potentially obstructing justice by hiding information from the Department of Justice for political reasons," he said, noting that officials have a duty to cooperate with federal law enforcement whether they disagree politically with the president in power.
"They admitted an obstruction of justice, and I had a duty to tell the public," he added later. "They might have broken the law, and I’m not going to be complicit in the cover-up."
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Kim joined "Fox & Friends" ahead of a rally Wednesday, where he and others will call for accountability.
"[We are] calling on Cuomo to return every dollar he took from the biggest hospital and nursing lobbyist group … We also are requesting them to turn over every single correspondence with this lobbyist to the media, press and the public," Kim said.
Senior meteorologist Janice Dean, who lost both of her parents-in-law to COVID-19, praised Kim for his support.
"I think there’s a lot of corruption, and thanks to Ron Kim, we’re starting to see the rot underneath the floorboards," she said.
"Ron Kim is a hero," she added. "He’s been with me right from the very beginning when a lot of Democratic lawmakers were not."
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Dean argued lawmakers should put politics aside and come together in order to support grieving families.
"This is not, by the way, about politics … We need both sides of the aisle to come together," she said. "This is about good and bad and what we do going forward for families that won’t ever have to deal with something like this again."
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Dean said she and others will continue their fight for accountability and justice.
"It’s not a feel-good moment, we are talking about our relatives that we don't have anymore, but we’ll continue to shout from the rooftops," she said.
"The angels are on our side. And that’s the bottom line," she added.
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