NY Democrat Accuses Gov. Cuomo of Threatening to ‘Destroy’ Him in Angry Phone Call Over Nursing Home Scandal
Governor Andrew Cuomo held a press conference this week trying to respond to the growing outcry over covid nursing home deaths in New York, with even a number of New York Democrats publicly criticizing the governor.
One of those Democrats was Assemblyman Ron Kim, who Cuomo made a point of publicly attacking in a press conference on Wednesday over unrelated matters.
Oh my goodness. Gov. Cuomo is using his audio press conference to come out swinging against @rontkim, in a very personal way.
— Laura Nahmias (@nahmias) February 17, 2021
.@DanClarkReports with solid question as to whether the attack on @rontkim is in line with the need to lower the temperature on political rhetoric.
“He attacked me, he attacked me,” he said. https://t.co/7LvQAxJSCB
— Jesse McKinley (@jessemckinley) February 17, 2021
Cuomo accused Ron Kim of self-dealing on the unrelated issue of nail salon regulations. He implored reporters to read the transcript of the DeRosa call, only a portion of which has been released by his administration.
— Nick Reisman (@NickReisman) February 17, 2021
Cuomo is explaining a situation between @rontkim and @NYGovCuomo about nail salons…
Cuomo says he believes “Kim acted unethically if not illegally in that situation.”@CBS6Albany
— Anne McCloy (@AnneMcCloyNews) February 17, 2021
But now, Kim has come forward alleging that Cuomo called him last week and threatened to — as Kim relayed it — “destroy” him.
Kim told CNN and the New York Times that the governor berated him over the phone for his statements on the scandal — including a letter he co-signed — to try and pressure him to “issue a new statement clarifying his remarks.”
Per the Times:
“He goes off about how I hadn’t seen his wrath and anger, that he would destroy me and he would go out tomorrow and start telling how bad of a person I am and I would be finished and how he had bit his tongue about me for months,” Mr. Kim said. “This was all yelling. It wasn’t a pleasant tone.”
Mr. Kim said Mr. Cuomo then asked him to issue a new statement saying he had effectively misheard Ms. DeRosa. He said the governor wanted Mr. Kim to say that Ms. DeRosa told lawmakers that the reason they withheld nursing home data from them was because the administration was busy answering the Justice Department’s request.
CNN reached out to Cuomo’s office and reported this is what they received in response:
Ultimately, the office sent a statement from senior adviser Rich Azzopardi late Wednesday morning that said: “Kim’s assertion that the governor said he would ‘destroy him’ is false.”
“The Governor has three witnesses to the conversation. The operable words were to the effect of, ‘I am from Queens, too, and people still expect honor and integrity in politics,'” Azzopardi said.
Kim told CNN he’s standing by his description of the call. “No man has ever spoken to me like that in my entire life,” he said.
He even bluntly told the Times, “Basically, I saw a crime and he’s asking me to say that I did not see that crime.”
