Gov. Andrew Cuomo avoided reporters on Friday amid growing controversy over The Post’s revelation that a top aide admitted his administration covered up nursing home death data due to a pending federal probe.
Despite traveling to Washington, DC, for a high-profile meeting at the White House, Cuomo laid low afterward and didn’t appear in public — even though Republican Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson addressed journalists outside.
Both men were among a bipartisan group of governors and mayors who sat down with President Biden in the Oval Office to discuss Biden’s $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief plan.
In a statement issued later in the afternoon, Cuomo and Hutchinson — who are the chairman and vice-chairman of the National Governors Association, respectively — said that “the president and his team made clear that they recognize and appreciate how critical this targeted relief is for our ability to recover from this pandemic.”
Biden’s “American Rescue Plan” earmarks more than $50 billion for the cash-strapped Empire State, The Post exclusively reported earlier Friday.
During Friday’s daily White House news conference, press secretary Jen Psaki deflected a reporter’s question about whether Biden still had confidence in Cuomo’s handling of the pandemic and if the subject of the nursing home death toll came up at their meeting.
Source: Cuomo ducks reporters after WH meeting amid nursing home scandal
