NBC Nightly News may have been the lone network to dare report on how Democratic New York Governor Andrew Cuomo had forced nursing homes to take in COVID patients (and then deny them access to the state’s supply of personal protective equipment) last week, but come Wednesday, they were just as silent as ABC’s World News Tonight and the CBS Evening News on reporting on calls to appoint outside counsel and investigate.
Instead, CBS and NBC focused on the efforts of congressional Democrats to investigate President Trump for firing inspectors general.
But while those three were silent, Fox News Channel’s Special Report was on the case. “Tonight legislators are calling for independent investigations into nursing home policies in New York and New Jersey. Critics say actions by the Democratic governors in both states may have cost many people their lives,” anchor Bret Baier announced at the top of the segment.
Fox News correspondent Bryan Llenas began his report by noting that New York and New Jersey accounted for over a third of all nursing home deaths in the country.
“New York legislators are renewing a bipartisan call to launch an independent investigation into whether or not Governor Andrew Cuomo's policy forcing the state's long-term care facilities to accept COVID-19 patients led to needless deaths of vulnerable elderly people,” he reported.
Llenas spoke with a Republican state senator and a Democratic state assemblyman to get their input:
ROB ORTT (R-New York State Senate): There’s no question the number of deaths that we have seen in New York could have – and I believe – should have been lower. This is a direct result of the policies that Governor Cuomo put in place early on.
(…)
RICHARD GOTTFRIED (D-New York State Assembly): The attorney general ought to do what is sometimes done, which is appoint an outside counsel. And that should be well funded.
Of course, Cuomo attempted to “deflected blame to President Trump” earlier in the day.
Later in the show, during their panel discussion, Axios reporter Jonathan Swan shared how baffled he was that Cuomo was still polling well despite the massive amount of death in his stateL “That's the thing that I find really tough to explain. He's obviously been very vocal, public, you know, with these press conferences. I wonder whether that is going to kind of match up against the outcome in New York.”
As they were shifting away from the topic, and possibly giving an explanation to Swan, Baier pointed out the fact that Cuomo “really hasn't been pressed about that fully.”
He added: “We welcome him to come on Special Report. We’ve invited him numerous times and we hope he does.”
Editor's Note: Want to comment on this post? Since NewsBusters no longer has a comments section, feel free to hop on Twitter and join the conversation there by engaging with the tweet below:
.@ABC, @CBSNews, and @NBCNews skip bipartisan calls to investigate why @NYGovCuomo put COVID patients in nursing homes https://t.co/ILUo681G8n
— Nicholas Fondacaro (@NickFondacaro) May 21, 2020
The transcript is below, click "expand" to read:
Fox News Channel’s Special Report
May 20, 2020
6:11:40 p.m. EasternBRET BAIER: Tonight legislators are calling for independent investigations into nursing home policies in New York and New Jersey. Critics say actions by the Democratic governors in both states may have cost many people their lives. Correspondent Bryan Llenas has the story tonight from Queens.
[Cuts to video]
BRYAN LLENAS: Of the about 28,000 COVID-19 nursing home deaths nationwide, more than 10,000 were in New Jersey and New York.
ROB ORTT (R-New York State Senate): There’s no question the number of deaths that we have seen in New York could have – and I believe – should have been lower. This is a direct result of the policies that Governor Cuomo put in place early on.
LLENAS: New York legislators are renewing a bipartisan call to launch an independent investigation into whether or not Governor Andrew Cuomo's policy forcing the state's long-term care facilities to accept COVID-19 patients led to needless deaths of vulnerable elderly people. The March policy was rescinded this month.
RICHARD GOTTFRIED (D-New York State Assembly): The attorney general ought to do what is sometimes done, which is appoint an outside counsel. And that should be well funded.
LLENAS: Today, Governor Cuomo deflected blame to President Trump.
GOV. ANDREW CUOMO (D-NY): It’s because the state followed President Trump’s CDC guidance. The CDC guidance said, a nursing home cannot discriminate against a COVID patient, because of that time the issue was hospital capacity.
LLENAS: In New Jersey, 15 Republican state senators calling for a Senate select committee to be formed to investigate Governor Phil Murphy, who instituted a similar directive. Writing: “It's unfathomable that the administration would prevent patients entering long-term care centers from being tested at the same time governor was calling for broad statewide testing.” New Jersey is now requiring testing at its facilities.
[Cuts back to live]
The government accountability office released a report today highlighting that nursing homes had major problems before the pandemic, finding infection control deficiencies in 82 percent of nursing homes nationwide. Bret?
BAIER: Bryan, thank you.
(…)
6:40:34 p.m. Eastern
BAIER: Jonathan. Even still, recent polls suggest that some eight in ten people polled have – they’re worried about states opening up and worried about this thing possibly spiking again. How do you reconcile the two of those things?
JONATHAN SWAN: I think you reconcile them by the fact that more than 91,000 Americans have died from this virus. Which-- Forget China, we all know that the numbers can't be taken at face value out of China, but that's a vastly worse than South Korea, Japan, Germany. Pick a serious industrialized country. So, it's terrible.
But in saying all of that it hasn't been uniform across the country. Most of that death -- Much of that death, I should say, has happened in New York City. And what I find interesting in the polling –-
BAIER: And New Jersey.
SWAN: And New Jersey. But New York City in particular, New York State is Governor Cuomo remains remarkably popular among his constituents when the death outcome in his state has been just eye-popping. That's the thing that I find really tough to explain. He's obviously been very vocal, public, you know, with these press conferences. I wonder whether that is going to kind of match up against the outcome in New York.
BAIER: And the nursing home deaths is staggering in New York—
SWAN: Yep.
BAIER: -- and the decisions about nursing homes in New York, he really hasn't been pressed about that fully. We welcome him to come on Special Report. We’ve invited him numerous times and we hope he does.
