On Monday, NBC participated in a political stunt by New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, sending a reporter along as the Democrat flew down to Georgia to lecture others on their handling of the coronavirus – despite his own abysmal failures that cost thousands of lives. The network hacks actually allowed Cuomo to do this, while spending only seconds on his disastrous nursing home policy that spread the deadly disease to the most vulnerable.
NBC Nightly News anchor Lester Holt touted the exclusive softball interview Monday night: “As New York City entered a new phase of reopening today, Governor Andrew Cuomo headed south on a mission, he says, to prevent the virus from returning to the northeast. He spoke one-on-one with NBC’s Gabe Gutierrez.”
“Why head down to Georgia today?,” Gutierrez wondered. The sanctimonious Cuomo scolded: “Georgia has a real problem.” It conveniently wasn't mentioned that the CDC director recently suggested that northerners traveling south from states like New York were likely responsible for causing outbreaks in southern states.
The supposed “reporter” then set the scene:
We rode with the Governor on a chartered flight down to Savannah, Georgia, among the many states now battling a dramatic surge....Today, Cuomo met with Savannah’s Democratic mayor, who’s been sharply critical of Georgia’s Republican governor, who’s refused to mandate masks.
A soundbite played of Cuomo playing scientist: “Health care professionals say this can save lives. Health care researchers say if we had a national mask policy, we would save 40,000 lives.”
Gutierrez even invited the leftist politician to lash out at the President: “Cuomo dismisses the Trump administration’s insistence that more cases are simply due to more testing.” Cuomo ranted: “This president has refused to accept reality. He is still in denial about the COVID virus.”
Only late in the over two-minute report, did the correspondent bother to spend a few seconds on Cuomo forcing COVID patients into nursing homes across New York: “But Cuomo has also faced controversy himself for ordering COVID patients to be transferred from hospitals to nursing homes, back in March, to free up bed space. Critics say that decision cost lives.” Gutierrez made sure to add: “Though the Governor strongly disputes that.”
The exchange went like this:
GUTIERREZ: If you had to do it over again, would you have issued that same directive or was it a mistake?
CUOMO: We looked at this factually. If you look at when the nursing home deaths happened, it has no correlation to that order. Where the spread came from were from the workers. There’s a chance that the virus may have come from visitors early on.
Gutierrez didn’t even try to push back or fact-check the statement, he just let it stand unchallenged.
Incredibly, Tuesday’s NBC Today show dishonestly edited out that portion of the exchange completely, when Gutierrez provided a similar report for the morning broadcast.
The desperation by the media to rewrite history and pretend that Democrats like Cuomo did such great job handling the pandemic that he can know lecture others is truly disturbing and the very definition of fake news.
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Here is a full transcript of the July 20 segment:
7:15 PM ET
LESTER HOLT: Now to our NBC News exclusive. As New York City entered a new phase of reopening today, Governor Andrew Cuomo headed south on a mission, he says, to prevent the virus from returning to the northeast. He spoke one-on-one with NBC’s Gabe Gutierrez.
GABE GUTIERREZ: New York Governor Andrew Cuomo is still on the move. Even though most of his state is no longer at a standstill. Why head down to Georgia today?
GOV. ANDREW CUOMO [D-NY]: Georgia has a real problem.
GUTIERREZ: We rode with the Governor on a chartered flight down to Savannah, Georgia, among the many states now battling a dramatic surge.
CUOMO: And it’s so unnecessary in a way, right? Because we knew what we needed to do.
GUTIERREZ: Today, Cuomo met with Savannah’s Democratic mayor, who’s been sharply critical of Georgia’s Republican governor, who’s refused to mandate masks.
CUOMO: Health care professionals say this can save lives. Health care researchers say if we had a national mask policy, we would save 40,000 lives.
GUTIERREZ: Back in April, New York State saw more than 800 COVID deaths a day. Today that number is down to eight. Months ago, thousands of volunteers rushed to New York to help fight the virus. Now the state has sent PPE, medication, test kits, and contact tracers to new hot spots in Georgia, Florida and Texas. Cuomo dismisses the Trump administration’s insistence that more cases are simply due to more testing.
CUOMO: This president has refused to accept reality. He is still in denial about the COVID virus.
GUTIERREZ: But Cuomo has also faced controversy himself for ordering COVID patients to be transferred from hospitals to nursing homes, back in March, to free up bed space. Critics say that decision cost lives. Though the Governor strongly disputes that.
If you had to do it over again, would you have issued that same directive or was it a mistake?
CUOMO: We looked at this factually. If you look at when the nursing home deaths happened, it has no correlation to that order. Where the spread came from were from the workers. There’s a chance that the virus may have come from visitors early on.
GUTIERREZ: Governor Cuomo says an outbreak anywhere is an outbreak everywhere, and he doesn’t want to fight a resurgence of this virus back in New York. Lester?
HOLT: Gabe Gutierrez tonight, thank you.
