A federal report determined that former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, seen testifying in September before the Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic at the U.S. Capitol, was targeted by the Justice Department during the first Trump administration, which leaked information about an investigation for partisan reasons.

President-elect Donald Trump complains, with justification, that the Department of Justice was weaponized against him but — hypocrisy alert! — his administration was guilty of much the same.

For evidence, consider a new report by Inspector General Michael Horowitz, obtained and released by ABC News. It found that Trump’s Justice Department targeted former Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo and leaked information about an investigation for partisan reasons.

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That probe was about nursing home deaths during the pandemic and it focused on four states run by Democrats — New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Michigan — that had issued orders requiring, to varying degrees, that the facilities accept COVID-19 patients. The investigation ignored Republican-run states with similar orders.

The IG report questions the conduct of three unnamed Justice Department officials and says their behavior raises “serious questions about the partisan political motivation for their actions in proximity to the 2020 election.”

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I’d like to say that the report’s conclusion is shocking. It should be........

© Times Union