Watchdog Identifies Indications that Political Motives Influenced Trump DOJ's Investigations into Pandemic Nursing Home Deaths
An inspector general's report reveals that a Justice Department official referred to the investigations, which were damaging to the governors of New York and New Jersey, as “our last play on them before election.”
TroibNews 
A Justice Department watchdog report examining leaks to the media regarding investigations into pandemic-related nursing home deaths in New York and New Jersey has revealed evidence suggesting that these disclosures aimed to influence the 2020 election.
Inspector General Michael Horowitz concluded that senior DOJ officials orchestrated the leaks, which breached department policies concerning interactions with the press about ongoing investigations. The DOJ's inquiries were politically damaging for New York Governor Andrew Cuomo and New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy, coinciding with then-President Donald Trump's criticism of Democratic governors over their pandemic responses as his own poll figures fell.
“Emails among senior officials expressing urgency about the Department’s actions from June through October 2020 and related direction from those officials to career personnel…suggest that the then upcoming 2020 election may have been a factor in the timing and manner of these actions and announcing them to the public,” the inspector general's report released last month indicated. A redacted version of the report was made public on Tuesday.
In one discovered message dated October 17, 2020, a DOJ official stated, “I’m trying to get [the Civil Rights Division] and [Civil Division] to do letters to [New York/New Jersey] respectively on nursing homes. Would like to package them together and let [New York Post] break it. Will be our last play on them before election but it’s a big one.”
The investigation found that the DOJ notified the New York Post about the requests for information on nursing home deaths before officials in New York or New Jersey were aware. Officials emailed Murphy’s office shortly after the Post story was published, and their request to the New York Department of Health was sent “by regular mail.” New York officials learned about the press coverage and contacted the DOJ two days later, eventually receiving their letter via email, according to the report.
Horowitz commented that DOJ actions that seemed intended to affect the election might have violated the Hatch Act, referring the matter to an agency that investigates such violations.
The names of several DOJ officials were redacted in the public version of the report, though Attorney General William Barr and Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Eric Dreiband were identified as having participated in discussions about the investigations.
Cuomo's aides remarked that the report validated their assertions that the DOJ targeted the former governor for political motives. “This blockbuster report confirms what we’ve said all along: The federal government corrupted and misused the Department of Justice to influence the 2020 presidential election – and in the process weaponized the real pain of those who lost loved ones to COVID in a nursing home,” remarked Cuomo spokesperson Rich Azzopardi, citing parts of the report showcasing similar nursing home death rates in states that the DOJ did not investigate.
The report also highlighted social media posts from an official DOJ account that seemed to corroborate reports from the New York Post and The Wall Street Journal concerning the investigations. While the public report did not specify which account issued the posts, they were believed to have appeared on the account of Kerri Kupec, who headed the DOJ’s Office of Public Affairs at the time.
Internal tensions within the DOJ over the handling of nursing home investigations were made evident in the report. Dreiband expressed frustration with officials at the Civil Division, overseen on an acting basis by Jeffrey Clark. The report noted that Dreiband “complained that the ‘tone’ of the draft letter [to New York officials] was ‘too deferential’ and that [the Civil Division] seemed ‘embarrassed’ by the request,” according to Horowitz's team.
Requests for comments from Barr, Dreiband, Kupec, and a spokesperson for Clark went unanswered. Barr and Dreiband also refused interviews with Horowitz's team, as noted in the report. While some former officials offered to respond to written questions, the inspector general declined those offers.
Murphy’s office did not provide comment on Tuesday but had previously implied that the timing of the DOJ inquiry's disclosure before the 2020 election was politically motivated.
Although neither Cuomo nor Murphy faced elections in 2020, Trump frequently criticized Cuomo's pandemic management and assigned blame for nursing home deaths to him. “Governors [sic] Andrew Cuomo of New York has the worst record on death and China Virus. 11,000 people alone died in Nursing Homes because of his incompetence!” Trump asserted
Ramin Sohrabi contributed to this report for TROIB News
Inspector General Michael Horowitz concluded that senior DOJ officials orchestrated the leaks, which breached department policies concerning interactions with the press about ongoing investigations. The DOJ's inquiries were politically damaging for New York Governor Andrew Cuomo and New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy, coinciding with then-President Donald Trump's criticism of Democratic governors over their pandemic responses as his own poll figures fell.
“Emails among senior officials expressing urgency about the Department’s actions from June through October 2020 and related direction from those officials to career personnel…suggest that the then upcoming 2020 election may have been a factor in the timing and manner of these actions and announcing them to the public,” the inspector general's report released last month indicated. A redacted version of the report was made public on Tuesday.
In one discovered message dated October 17, 2020, a DOJ official stated, “I’m trying to get [the Civil Rights Division] and [Civil Division] to do letters to [New York/New Jersey] respectively on nursing homes. Would like to package them together and let [New York Post] break it. Will be our last play on them before election but it’s a big one.”
The investigation found that the DOJ notified the New York Post about the requests for information on nursing home deaths before officials in New York or New Jersey were aware. Officials emailed Murphy’s office shortly after the Post story was published, and their request to the New York Department of Health was sent “by regular mail.” New York officials learned about the press coverage and contacted the DOJ two days later, eventually receiving their letter via email, according to the report.
Horowitz commented that DOJ actions that seemed intended to affect the election might have violated the Hatch Act, referring the matter to an agency that investigates such violations.
The names of several DOJ officials were redacted in the public version of the report, though Attorney General William Barr and Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Eric Dreiband were identified as having participated in discussions about the investigations.
Cuomo's aides remarked that the report validated their assertions that the DOJ targeted the former governor for political motives. “This blockbuster report confirms what we’ve said all along: The federal government corrupted and misused the Department of Justice to influence the 2020 presidential election – and in the process weaponized the real pain of those who lost loved ones to COVID in a nursing home,” remarked Cuomo spokesperson Rich Azzopardi, citing parts of the report showcasing similar nursing home death rates in states that the DOJ did not investigate.
The report also highlighted social media posts from an official DOJ account that seemed to corroborate reports from the New York Post and The Wall Street Journal concerning the investigations. While the public report did not specify which account issued the posts, they were believed to have appeared on the account of Kerri Kupec, who headed the DOJ’s Office of Public Affairs at the time.
Internal tensions within the DOJ over the handling of nursing home investigations were made evident in the report. Dreiband expressed frustration with officials at the Civil Division, overseen on an acting basis by Jeffrey Clark. The report noted that Dreiband “complained that the ‘tone’ of the draft letter [to New York officials] was ‘too deferential’ and that [the Civil Division] seemed ‘embarrassed’ by the request,” according to Horowitz's team.
Requests for comments from Barr, Dreiband, Kupec, and a spokesperson for Clark went unanswered. Barr and Dreiband also refused interviews with Horowitz's team, as noted in the report. While some former officials offered to respond to written questions, the inspector general declined those offers.
Murphy’s office did not provide comment on Tuesday but had previously implied that the timing of the DOJ inquiry's disclosure before the 2020 election was politically motivated.
Although neither Cuomo nor Murphy faced elections in 2020, Trump frequently criticized Cuomo's pandemic management and assigned blame for nursing home deaths to him. “Governors [sic] Andrew Cuomo of New York has the worst record on death and China Virus. 11,000 people alone died in Nursing Homes because of his incompetence!” Trump asserted
Ramin Sohrabi contributed to this report for TROIB News
