New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who is currently staring down impeachment prospects for covering up an alleged nursing-home scandal, may not be the only one in hot water.
Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer was one of four other Democrat governors who followed the same practice of forcing healthy nursing-home residents to co-mingle with infected coronavirus patients.
Now, Whitmer, too, is facing investigations into her coronavirus policies from Macomb County prosecutor Peter Lucido and journalist Charlie LeDuff, as well as a possible probe by state Attorney General Dana Nessel.
State Sen. Jim Runestad, R-White Lake, and seven more Republican legislators sent letters to Nessel and acting U.S. Attorney General Monty Wilkinson in which they outlined the accusations against Whitmer, Fox News reported.
“Gov. Whitmer’s regional hub policy placed patients with and without COVID-19 in the same facilities and may have exacerbated the death toll in those facilities,” Runestad said on Wednesday.
In addition to Whitmer and Cuomo, three other Democrat state executives—California Gov. Gavin Newsom, Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf and New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy—also allegedly placed coronavirus-positive patients into nursing homes alongside healthy people.
In response to a letter from Michigan House Republicans Nessel—a Democrat—said in a strange statement that her office would consider an investigation, Click on Detroit reported.
“I think oftentimes it is appropriate for the office to investigate,” she said. “But not just when you say, ‘We don’t like what this policy is.'”
The Republicans said Whitmer’s policies led to thousands of elderly people needlessly dying.
“If you can give us some evidence that there’s been violations of the law, and you can give us some evidence that there was not just conduct that, again, is bad policy but conduct that violates state or federal statutes, let us know about it for certain,” Nessel said. “But if not, I get weary of the constant calls for our department to investigate things that are not crimes.”
About 36%, or 5,537, of Michigan’s coronavirus-related deaths occurred in long-term care facilities.
While Nessel remains loyal to the governor, Macomb County prosecutor Peter Lucido, a former Republican state representative and senator, said he’s also investigating nursing home deaths in his metro-Detroit county but cannot access all the data he needs.
He said HIPAA has stalled his investigation, WXYZ reported.
“If we find there’s been willful neglect of office, if we find there’s been reckless endangerment of a person’s life by bringing them in, then we would move forward with charges against the Governor,” he said. “Of course, we would. Nobody’s above the law in this state.”
Lucido said families who believe they needlessly lost their loved ones to the coronavirus while in a long-term care facility should compile evidence and file a wrongful death report at their local police station.
He said will instruct the Macomb County Police on how to process the reports.
Meanwhile, reporter Charlie LeDuff said on “Tucker Carlson Tonight” that he is suing Whitmer because he cannot get data about coronavirus deaths in long-term care facilities, Fox News reported.
“You can’t get them. I’ve been asking for months,” he said.
LeDuff said Whitmer’s nursing home policy exceeds Cuomo’s in negligence.
“Cuomo institutes this policy in March,” LeDuff said. “He issues blanket liability to the nursing homes. Whitmer follows two days later and does the same thing.’
But from there, the two governors’ paths tragically diverged.
“Cuomo is keeping statistics and getting called out in New York, so by May, he ends the practice,” LeDuff said. “Whitmer doubles down in May, and we’re still doing it to this day.”
