New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio Thursday slammed New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo as a bully after a Democrat assemblyman claimed the governor had threatened him in a phone call over a letter calling for accountability in the deaths of seniors in the state's nursing homes during the early days of the pandemic.
"That's classic Andrew Cuomo," said de Blasio on MSNBC's "Morning Joe" after the assemblyman, Ron Kim, appeared on the program to talk about Cuomo and his phone call. "A lot of people in New York State have received those phone calls … the bullying is nothing new. I believe Ron Kim.”
Kim, who has been questioning the nursing home data for months, told MSNBC Thursday that Cuomo and members of his staff called him several times after a letter he and other Assembly members signed was published in The New York Post Tuesday.
The document cited the governor's delays about releasing a complete tally of the deaths and accused him of "intentional obstruction of justice," and was released as federal officials are starting to investigate Cuomo's handling of the nursing home deaths.
“Gov. Cuomo called me the next day at 8 p.m., while I was about to bathe my kids — I was with my wife,” Kim said. "For 10 minutes he berated me, he yelled at me, he told me that my career would be over, he’s been biting his tongue for months against me, and I had tonight — not tomorrow — tonight to issue a new statement, essentially asking me to lie.”
He also alleged that Cuomo called him four times and Cuomo’s staff called about five times after that, telling him that he needed to immediately release a statement contradicting the earlier statements about the governor.
Cuomo’s office released a statement accusing the assemblyman of lying about what was said during the call and engaging in a "years-long pattern of lies" against the administration, reports Politico.
"The threats, the belittling, the demand that someone change their statement right that moment, many, many times I've heard that and I know a lot of other people in the state have heard that," de Blasio said.
"It's not the way people should be treated," said de Blasio. "A lot of people get intimidated by that. I give (Kim) credit for not being intimidated."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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