WASHINGTON — The Justice Department is conducting a criminal investigation into former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, a leading contender in the New York City mayoral race, over his testimony to Congress last year, according to a person familiar with the matter.
House Republicans had requested a federal investigation into Cuomo, a Democrat, arguing he lied to the House Oversight Committee last year when he said he hadn’t been involved in reviewing a report from the state Health Department about the state’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic when he was governor.
A Justice Department spokesperson declined to comment Tuesday night. The New York Times first reported the investigation.
Rich Azzopardi, a spokesperson for Cuomo, questioned the timing of the news.
“We have never been informed of any such matter, so why would someone leak it now? The answer is obvious: This is lawfare and election interference plain and simple—something President Trump and his top Department of Justice officials say they are against,” Azzopardi said in a statement.
He also defended Cuomo’s congressional testimony.
“Governor Cuomo testified truthfully to the best of his recollection about events from four years earlier, and he offered to address any follow-up questions from the Subcommittee — but from the beginning this was all transparently political,” Azzopardi said.
The Republican-led committee said that it had questioned Cuomo about whether he knew people outside the Health Department who played roles in drafting or editing the review; Cuomo indicated he didn’t.
A former executive assistant to Cuomo had testified that the notes written on a draft of the report looked like they were in his handwriting, the committee said. It also put forward a June 2020 email addressed to staffers in the governor’s office that the “Governor’s edits are attached for your review.”
Cuomo resigned as governor in August 2021 after state Attorney General Letitia James’ office published a report that found he had sexually harassed multiple women, including former aides, and the state Assembly launched an impeachment investigation. Cuomo has denied the allegations in James’ report.
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The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia launched the probe before former Fox News host Jeanine Pirro replaced Ed Martin as interim U.S. attorney, according to the person familiar with the matter.
Martin, who revealed on his last day in office that he faces an investigation by Washington’s Office of Disciplinary Counsel, said last week that he planned to “shame” people whom the Justice Department didn’t charge with crimes — a major departure from Justice Department protocol.
Early in Trump’s second term, several Justice Department officials resigned over the handling of a federal case against New York Mayor Eric Adams, a Democrat who is seeking re-election as an independent.
Trump administration officials wanted the corruption case against Adams dropped after he began cooperating with the Trump administration on immigration enforcement. Then-acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove said the criminal investigation was hampering Adams’ ability to tackle “illegal immigration and violent crime.”
A federal judge last month permanently dismissed the charges against Adams, saying potential future charges couldn’t be used as “leverage” over him.
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