With just weeks to go until New York City’s mayoral primary, one of the leading candidates, former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, finds himself under investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice. He seems to think it might actually help. In a new advertisement released Wednesday, the Cuomo campaign seized on the investigation as a potential selling point to voters, calling it an attempt by the Trump administration to “interfere with New York City’s election.” “Why? Because Andrew Cuomo is the last person they want as mayor,” the ad says. “If Donald Trump doesn’t want Andrew Cuomo as mayor, you do.” It added that Cuomo would be a mayor who stood up to “bullies.” The investigation, according to an Associated Press source, is centered on the truthfulness of statements Cuomo made to Congress last year about his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic as it spread through nursing homes. The person was not authorized to discuss the investigation publicly and spoke on the condition of anonymity. In other times, revelations so close to an election that a major candidate was the subject of a criminal probe might mean political doom. But while some of Cuomo’s opponents in the Democratic primary pounced, accusing the former governor of perjury during his Congressional testimony, others said they were disturbed by what they characterized as the political weaponization of federal law enforcement. The Justice Department recently launched an investigation of New York Attorney General Letitia James, who has battled Trump in civil court, over paperwork related to a home she helped a relative buy in Virginia. It filed criminal charges against a Democratic member of Congress for jostling with federal agents as they arrested the Democratic mayor of Newark, New Jersey outside an immigration detention center. The Secret Service interviewed former F.B.I. director James B. Comey about a message critical of Trump that he posted on social media. Trump’s Justice Department also scuttled a criminal case against New York City Mayor Eric Adams — a Trump ally on immigration policy. Zohran Mamdani, a Democratic state lawmaker who is running for mayor, said that while he believed Cuomo had lied to Congress, “Donald Trump cannot be trusted to pursue justice.” “While I believe New Yorkers should reject the disgraced ex-Governor at the ballot box, the Trump administration’s actions are dangerous,” Mamdani said in a statement. Cuomo questioned over handling of report about nursing home deaths Cuomo, who touts his leadership during the COVID-19 pandemic on the campaign trail, has been dogged by a short-lived state directive that temporarily prevented nursing homes from refusing to accept patients recovering from the virus. The policy, intended to help alleviate hospital overcrowding, was reversed after criticism that it might accelerate virus outbreaks in nursing homes. Amid the scrutiny, Cuomo’s administration substantially understated deaths in nursing homes in its public reports for several months, fueling more criticism that it was engaged in a cover-up. Cuomo was grilled on the subject by a congressional panel last year, with the group saying it had evidence that Cuomo had reviewed, edited and drafted parts of a state health department report on nursing home deaths. Cuomo told the panel he was not involved in the report, but then later said he did not recall being involved. The panel referred Cuomo to the Biden administration’s Justice Department for criminal prosecution over accusations that he lied to Congress, but no […]