The Justice Department’s (DOJ) reported probe into former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D), the front-runner for the Democratic nomination for mayor of New York City, is drawing accusations of political interference.

The U.S. attorney’s office in Washington, D.C., has launched an investigation into the former governor over his testimony last year concerning his nursing home policies during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to multiple reports.

The move, which The Hill has reached out to confirm, comes after the Trump administration had bribery charges dropped against sitting Mayor Eric Adams, who is running as an independent in the same race.

The apparent actions have raised questions over whether the administration is putting its thumb on the scale in the mayoral race.

“I think there's a lot of reasons for an average voter to look at the system right now and say it's not working, and this would just be one more example of that,” said Alix Fraser, the vice president of advocacy for the cross-partisan group Issue One, which works to educate and advocate on issues concerning U.S. democracy, elections and government.

The main issue apparently drawing DOJ scrutiny is far from new.

Cuomo, in his last year as governor in 2021, faced allegations that he intentionally underreported the number of deaths in nursing homes during the pandemic.

Cuomo denied wrongdoing and argued that he and other governors were simply following federal guidance. But New York Attorney General Letitia James found his administration significantly miscounted the number of nursing home deaths. A Biden-era DOJ inspector general report later concluded that Cuomo’s policies were similar to that of other states, and that he and other Democratic governors’ states were politically targeted for investigations.

But a Republican-led report from a House subcommittee investigating the U.S. handling of the pandemic

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