New York Assemblyman Ron Kim (D-Queens) has apparently been a little too outspoken concerning Governor Andrew Cuomo's cover-up of nursing home deaths in New York state. Last week, after Cuomo's top aide Melissa DeRosa accidentally admitted to the cover-up during a phone call with state legislators, Assemblyman Kim decided to open his mouth to the public about it.
Assemblyman Ron Kim (D-Queens), who took part in the call, told The Post on Thursday that DeRosa's remarks sounded "like they admitted that they were trying to dodge having any incriminating evidence that might put the administration or the [Health Department] in further trouble with the Department of Justice."
"That's how I understand their reasoning of why they were unable to share, in real time, the data," Kim said.
"They had to first make sure that the state was protected against federal investigation."
Well apparently that made Andrew Cuomo very mad.
So Andrew Cuomo gave Assemblyman Kim a call.
The New York Post also talked to Mr. Kim:
"At first, there was a silence on the phone," Kim said.
"Then the governor says, ‘Mr. Kim, are you an honorable man?'"
Kim, who had taken part in the Feb. 10 conference call with DeRosa and who lashed out at Cuomo over the cover-up in The Post article, said he was "in the middle of bathing my kids" when Cuomo called.
Cuomo, he said, asked him to draft a statement "to say that Melissa DeRosa said there was a federal investigation and they had to deal with that first."
The conversation quickly turned medieval, Kim said, with Cuomo warning him, "You have not seen my wrath. I have been biting my tongue for months."
"I can tell the whole world what a bad person you are and you will be finished," Kim recalled Cuomo saying.
"You will be destroyed."
Cuomo was so angry, Kim said, that "my wife could hear the governor yelling into the phone."
At one point, Cuomo — a former state attorney general — also asked Kim if he was a lawyer, which he is not.
"After that call, we were devastated. My wife didn't sleep at all," Kim said.
Later, Cuomo "called me four or five times on Saturday" but he didn't pick up, Kim said.
And look at this, even New York Mayor Bill de Blasio wasn't surprised by Cuomo's bullying:
WOW, THAT'S TELLING!
So now Assemblyman Kim has introduced a bill which accuses Cuomo of obstruction of justice, and will strip him of his emergency powers which the assembly voted in favor of almost a year ago.
You can read the letter which introduces the bill here.
So there's one BIG rule in New York that we all understand now:
DON'T YOU DARE MESS WITH ANDREW CUOMO!
But you wait, and this'll be very interesting to watch, but in a few weeks the rule might read "don't mess with Ron Kim" instead.