New York Republican Rep. Nicole Malliotakis asked the Biden administration to pull Melissa DeRosa, a senior adviser to Gov. Andrew Cuomo, from the White House’s coronavirus taskforce in the wake of her admission that she helped Cuomo cover-up the number of COVID-19 deaths in New York’s nursing homes to avoid a federal investigation.
The New York Post reported on Thursday that DeRosa apologized to Democratic lawmakers in a video conference call for withholding the actual number of senior citizens who died in New York’s nursing homes as a result of Cuomo’s policy forcing long-term care facilities to take care of coronavirus patients.
“We were in a position where we weren’t sure if what we were going to give to the Department of Justice, or what we give to you guys, what we start saying, was going to be used against us while we weren’t sure if there was going to be an investigation,” DeRosa told the lawmakers.
DeRosa currently serves as a senior adviser to White House counselor Steve Ricchetti, and she has helped the Biden White House craft its COVID-19 response.
Malliotakis argued she should be pulled from these roles immediately.
“While I have already called for a full DOJ investigation into these potentially criminal actions by DeRosa and Cuomo, it is incumbent upon the White House to immediately root out corrupt actors from the Biden administration who were aware of this admitted cover-up,” Malliotakis wrote in a letter to White House chief of staff Ron Klain.
“There is no place for Ms. DeRosa’s role on the President’s COVID-19 response team let alone her previous involvement in the White House at a time when she allegedly engaged in a politically motivated cover-up to conceal Governor Cuomo’s gross negligence,” she added.
Several other Republicans have also called for DeRosa to be investigated. Rep. Tom Reed, R-NY, said on Friday that DeRosa deserves to go to prison for her role in the scandal.
“I’m going to be looking at filing a personal criminal complaint against this individual today in local law enforcement offices as well as federal offices because she needs to be arrested today,” Reed told Fox Business’ Maria Bartiromo on Friday.
“The days of Cuomo are going to be numbered in Albany here, but most important we need to start with the second-in-command,” he said.
