ALBANY – A high-ranking White House official countered Governor Andrew Cuomo Tuesday, tweeting Democrats “alone to blame” for the closure of New York’s slow coronavirus, and the large number of deaths in nursing homes related to the virus.

“My statement regarding Governor Cuomo’s silly comments that seek to redirect mistakes and remove his direct responsibility for so many lives lost in New York,” Hogan Gidley, deputy assistant and deputy chief secretary of the press secretary for President Donald Trump quote tweeted ahead of the screenshot of the actual statement Tuesday morning.

“Governor Cuomo alone is to blame for refusing to sit in New York and forcing seniors who tested positive for Coronavirus to return to their country’s nursing home. His careless response did not follow the CMS and CDC guidelines that destroyed the senior population – and no revisionist history could erase Governor Cuomo’s extremely incompetent decision or the fact that President Trump’s bold and aggressive actions saved millions of lives, “he wrote.

Cuomo appeared in two television interviews ahead of criticism, in which he defended himself – and the New York State Department of Health – a controversial order issued on March 25 that prohibited nursing homes denying the entry of coronavirus-positive patients after being discharged from hospital.

“No, it’s not a mistake because … You don’t want to leave senior citizens in the hospital for two weeks if you don’t need to be in a hospital bed for two weeks,” the third-term Democrat said on MSNBC.

He also blamed the rapid spread of the virus on facility staff who tested positive for the disease, but were allowed to work under state guidance because they showed no symptoms.

Cuomo continued to defend the order, arguing that directives issued in line with federal guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control began March 16 and the federal government was deemed inappropriate.

6,250 deaths in New York nursing homes on Monday have risen to the national platform, with the Republican congress looking for data and direct testimony from Governor Andrew Cuomo on the topic.

The request came last week to Cuomo and four other Democratic governors whose nursing home policy has also been under supervision by Rep. Steve Scalise of Louisiana, Republican ranking in the Select Council Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis, along with other GOP committee members.

New York is the only state that has not yet responded to the panel’s request, with four other states – New Jersey, California, Pennsylvania and Michigan – answering separately, in the form of a letter last week.

“I know history shows that if you do not submit to the will of the president, you will be fired, but enough of a lie,” Cuomo’s senior adviser Rich Azzopardi responded to Gidley in a statement, quoting part of the country’s law that says nursing homes should only accept residents if they can provide “adequate care” – part of the law that governors have used in the past to defend their orders.

“That is always true in NY, and consistent with every federal guideline issued – all of which is still valid – and the fact that it takes months to say anything shows how dishonest this is,” he continued.

“More than a dozen other states adopted the same policy of the same federal guidelines – but the Republic of Washington was very adamant about politically targeting five Democratic states in their election year. The point is that the federal response to this pandemic has been a total disaster, everyone knows that and no one is stupid enough to fall in love with this diversion. “