Rep. Lee Zeldin Wednesday praised New York state Assemblyman Ron Kim for speaking out about threats he said he got from New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and said a march Kim and Democrats were holding to protest the governor's actions shows the tide is turning against him.
"That's one of the many things that feel different about this, whether it's Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez calling for an investigation or New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio calling for accountability," the New York Republican said on Fox News' "The Faulkner Focus."
Zeldin said Kim's call to investigate campaign contributions that had been given to Cuomo, including asking House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., for an investigation, is warranted.
He added that Cuomo "totally misplayed" his actions during the early part of the coronavirus pandemic, both by ordering nursing homes to admit COVID-positive patients from hospitals and by underreporting the number of people who had died.
"Rather than apologizing, saying he made a mistake, showing remorse, choosing to confront it head-on early on, he decided to cover it up and then lied to the public about it," said Zeldin. "He said the reason why he wasn't providing this information was that he was too busy. The problem is at the same time what we saw earlier this month was the admission from the secretary to the governor that the reason why this information wasn't provided was that they were concerned about a Department of Justice investigation."
The public is also well-aware that while Cuomo was saying he was too busy, he had time to "write a self-congratulatory book on leadership and accept his Emmy Award on communications," said Zeldin.
"The cover-up, admission, and the bullying you are seeing the chickens coming home to roost with Democrats speaking up on what they have experienced on the receiving end of Gov. Cuomo's wrath," said Zeldin. "He has misplayed this from the beginning and why you're seeing the poll numbers."
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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