ALBANY, N.Y. (AP - Modified) — New York’s comptroller has asked the state attorney general’s office to launch a potential criminal investigation into whether the governor used state resources to write and promote his book on leadership in the COVID-19 pandemic.
State Comptroller Tom DiNapoli’s office released Monday the April 13 letter, which authorized State Attorney General Letitia James to investigate whether the process of writing and promoting the book violated state laws.
James’ office said it received the referral letter from the state comptroller but didn’t comment further. The governor said Monday that he asked some people who he mentioned in the book to “review” it.
According to a report from the New York Times, aides and staffers assisted Cuomo with his book deal while working to handle the nursing home death report.
7 Eyewitness News contacted the governor's office for a statement regarding the report and Rich Azzopardi, Senior Advisor to the Governor, released the following statement:
We have officially jumped the shark – the idea there was criminality involved here is patently absurd on its face and is just the furthering of a political pile-on. Any state official who volunteered to assist on this project did so on his or her own time and without the use of state resources. To the extent a document was printed, it was incidental. This is Albany politics at its worst -- both the Comptroller and the Attorney General have spoken to people about running for Governor and it is unethical to wield criminal referral authority to further political self-interest.
