Former New York Democrat Gov. Andrew Cuomo will appear before a House select committee Tuesday to answer questions about his state’s high number of nursing home deaths during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The GOP-led House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic will question Cuomo behind closed doors. The transcribed testimony marks the first time the former governor is officially interviewed by congressional investigators, the New York Post reported.

A main focus for the panel will be Cuomo’s order that New York nursing homes accept COVID-positive patients. It’s likely lawmakers also will ask about the former governor writing a $5 million profit-making book about his response to COVID-19 in the middle of the pandemic.

“He’ll be arrogant, he’ll be his usual arrogant and smug self,” Rep. Nicole Malliotakis, R-N.Y., told Politico. “A tough New Yorker — that’s what you can expect from him.

“Appearing before the committee will remind New Yorkers how Andrew Cuomo made arbitrary decisions that destroyed livelihoods and businesses, created a tremendous amount of anxiety and emotional health issues with our youth and led to thousands of our senior citizens being killed in nursing homes.”

The subcommittee already has met with relatives of New York nursing home residents who died during the shutdown, the Post reported.

Cuomo resigned from office in August 2021 after being accused of sexually harassing female employees. Evidence obtained during his impeachment inquiry found that the number of nursing home deaths from the New York State Department of Health report had been edited by the governor’s office.

Cuomo’s team claims lawmakers are politically motivated to attack the former governor.

“Every member of this administration from the governor on down worked hard to save lives and keep people safe with constantly shifting facts from the ‘experts,’ personal protective equipment and medical equipment shortages and no national strategy,” Cuomo spokesperson Rich Azzopardi said.

The former governor likely will say his nursing home order was consistent with federal guidance at the time.

“The Department of Justice has looked at this issue three times, as have the Manhattan District Attorney, the Attorney General, and the New York State Assembly, all determining that the actual facts and evidence did not support any claim of wrongdoing, and no MAGA farce of a congressional hearing is going to change that,” Azzopardi said.

The House panel recently received a detailed timeline from Peter Arbeeny, whose father, Norman, died from COVID after being released from a Brooklyn nursing home.

The 121-page document, which is on the wecarewall.com website, claims Cuomo and his administration’s decisions and alleged cover-ups contributed to COVID-related deaths in nursing homes.

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