Close allies of former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, including his top aide and his former CNN anchor brother, plotted to find ways to discredit Fox News meteorologist and host Janice Dean after she became one of the most vocal critics of the governor’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic, according to people familiar with the matter.

Melissa DeRosa, who had served as secretary to the governor, was among the Cuomo aides who ripped Dean behind the scenes and sought to craft a public messaging strategy that would paint the Fox News personality as merely a right-wing commentator, people familiar with the effort told CNBC. Dean’s criticism of Cuomo stemmed mainly from the 2020 deaths of her husband’s parents, whom she said died of Covid in their elder-care facilities.

It remains unclear if DeRosa or Cuomo’s team ever went ahead with initiating such a plan.

Andrew Cuomo himself was present during some of the strategy sessions during which Dean was mentioned, one of the people said. These sessions mainly focused on the governor’s response to Covid.

In a statement to CNBC, Dean took aim again at Cuomo’s handling of nursing home patients and ripped the former governor’s allies.

Dean emerged as one of the most prominent critics of Andrew Cuomo’s response to Covid, particularly how he handled nursing homes, when the much of the media and the nation looked on him favorably. Her father- and mother-in-law both died of Covid in their elder-care facilities, Dean wrote in a USA Today op-ed published in July 2020.

“The fact that this governor refuses to accept responsibility for his actions makes our grief and anger far worse,” she wrote. “I know I speak for many when I say we need a nonpartisan investigation on both the state and federal level so that this never happens again.”

“As I have said from day one, this was never about politics. I watched first-hand how the governor’s office treated grieving families trying to get answers about the March 25th 2020 executive order to admit over 9,000 Covid positive patients into nursing homes. Instead of addressing our concerns or expressing their condolences, Cuomo’s spokesperson Rich Azzopardi called us a ‘death cult’ and told my sister in law to ‘get a life’ not long after both her parents died. Over the last year and a half I have seen victims of Andrew Cuomo and those demanding accountability demeaned and smeared in the press and on social media. In January of this year, Azzopardi was particularly misogynistic by responding to my inquiries and reporting as ‘not a credible source on anything except maybe the weather.’ So while I am not surprised to hear that the Cuomo’s administration alongside his brother Chris Cuomo were doing the same with me, I am glad these details are coming to light.”

https://www.cnbc.com/2021/12/10/chris-cuomo-melissa-derosa-plotted-to-discredit-fox-news-janice-dean-sources.html