Cuomo heads to DC to meet with Biden as NY nursing-home scandal explodes

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo is getting away from the state, at least for a few hours, as his nursing-home scandal appears to grow wider.

Cuomo was scheduled Friday to travel to Washington for a planned meeting with President Biden over the federal American Rescue Plan for dealing with the coronavirus.

The White House visit – Cuomo’s first since Biden took office Jan. 20 – comes as Cuomo faces growing scrutiny in New York over his handling of the coronavirus, specifically his administration’s coronavirus safety measures for the state’s nursing homes.

On Thursday, Cuomo faced a bombshell report by the New York Post that said a Cuomo aide had told New York Democrats that the Cuomo administration allegedly hid data on nursing home deaths in a bid to avoid scrutiny by former President Donald Trump’s Justice Department.

CUOMO AIDE TELLS NY DEMOCRATS ADMINISTRATION HID NURSING HOME DATA TO KEEP IT FROM TRUMP DOJ: REPORT

The Cuomo staffers feared the data about nursing home deaths in the state, related to the coronavirus, could "be used against us," the governor’s secretary, Melissa DeRosa, told state lawmakers, according to the Post.

The DeRosa revelation followed earlier reports that the state had undercounted nursing-home coronavirus deaths by as much as 50%, according to New York state Attorney General Letitia James.

The Post report drew immediate outrage from congressional Republicans representing New York.