Governor Andrew Cuomo’s top aide, Melissa DeRosa, must resign because she helped Cuomo write his book of China Virus “leadership lessons,” New York assemblyman Ron Kim said yesterday.
Kim called for DeRosa to quit a day after the New York Times detailed the role DeRosa and other members of Cuomo’s crew played in preparing American Crisis: Leadership Lessons from the Covid-19 Pandemic. The newspaper also revealed that DeRosa and other Cuomo underlings lied about the number of virus deaths in nursing homes as they helped Cuomo prepare the book. The aides under-reported the number by almost 3,500 in a published report.
Kim told CBS affiliate WRGB6 in Albany that DeRosa broke the law that prohibits state employees from performing such work.
On Wednesday, when the Times broke the story, Kim called Cuomo a “sociopath” who must be impeached.
She’s Gotta Go
“My focus has been on Cuomo so far but in light of her latest involvement she [DeRosa] must step down,” Kim told the station. “Melissa DeRosa should have resigned yesterday,” Kim said.
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DeRosa, Kim said, misused state resources and defrauded the taxpayers:
When you are the top aide to the governor when you are telling people that you are spending every minute of your time and you’re going to bed crying and making phone calls to people who lost loved ones, that was clearly not the case if she had all this time to sit there and edit and write a book. They lied to the public, they committed fraud.
Moreover, he said, the explanation that DeRosa and other aides volunteered to help on their own time is a dog that just won’t hunt. “All of those things can’t be washed away under the guise of volunteerism,” he said.
DeRosa tried to quit the job after she confessed the virus lie in a phone call to state lawmakers, Kim said. But Cuomo talked her out of it.
“It’s my understanding Melissa wanted to resign February 12th, the day after the scandal broke of her admitting there was an obstruction of justice in her administration, that she wanted to step down, but the governor begged her to stay,” he said.
DeRosa must “admit the mistakes and do the right thing so we can get past this,” he said.
Cuomo’s spokesman said Kim’s account of DeRosa trying to resign is “complete fiction”
Fear or Trump Prosecutors
As the New York Post revealed in its story about her confession to state legislators, DeRosa told them that President Trump would eviscerate Cuomo and other governors who forced nursing homes to take virus carriers. Cuomo regime insiders, she said, were terrified of a federal probe:
“He starts tweeting that we killed everyone in nursing homes,” DeRosa said. “He starts going after [New Jersey Gov. Phil] Murphy, starts going after [California Gov. Gavin] Newsom, starts going after [Michigan Gov.] Gretchen Whitmer.”
In addition to attacking Cuomo’s fellow Democratic governors, DeRosa said, Trump “directs the Department of Justice to do an investigation into us.”
“And basically, we froze,” she told the lawmakers on the call.
“Because then we were in a position where we weren’t sure if what we were going to give to the Department of Justice, or what we give to you guys, what we start saying, was going to be used against us while we weren’t sure if there was going to be an investigation.”
Kim was on the phone call with DeRosa and attacked Cuomo afterward. Known for out-of-control anger, Cuomo called Kim and threatened to destroy him, the Post reported.
“I can tell the whole world what a bad person you are and you will be finished,” Cuomo told the Democrat assemblyman. “You will be destroyed.”
Kim’s uncle had the virus when he died in a nursing home.
Impeach Cuomo
After the Times revealed yet another scandal connected to Cuomo’s virus lie, Kim pounced with a three-line refrain:
Our Governor covered up nursing home deaths to sell books.
Our Governor covered up nursing home deaths to sell books.
Our Governor covered up nursing home deaths to sell book.
“Andrew Cuomo has shown us who he is,” Kim continued:
An abuser and a sociopath who believes he is above the law.
The state legislature now needs to show New Yorkers who we are and impeach Cuomo now.
