Cuomo publisher halts book promotion amid probe of COVID-19 in nursing homes

Crown Publishing Group has "paused active support" of New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo's book on leadership lessons from the pandemic and has "no plans to reprint or reissue in paperback," citing a federal investigation into Cuomo's handling of COVID-19 in nursing homes, the New York Times reports.

Why it matters: The embattled governor, who is simultaneously facing several allegations of sexual harassment, was heavily criticized for his decision to publish a book last October about his response to the coronavirus, as the pandemic was still raging.

The big picture: Cuomo's book, “American Crisis: Leadership Lessons from the Covid-19 Pandemic," was vaulted to the top of best-seller lists after the New York governor became a popular national figure for his daily coronavirus briefings.

• But over the last two months, as it was revealed that the Cuomo administration concealed the true number of coronavirus deaths in nursing homes, book sales have slowed to a crawl.
• According to the Times, Cuomo defends his nursing home policy in one chapter of the book, writing that "New York was No. 46 out of 50 in the nation when it came to percentage of deaths in nursing homes" and accusing critics of politically motivated attacks.
• But the state's true ranking would have been much higher if officials hadn't undercounted the number of deaths in nursing homes by as much as 50%, according to a report by the New York attorney general.

Go deeper: Cuomo advisers reportedly altered July COVID-19 nursing homes report