Fox News senior meteorologist Janice Dean says she is being ‘trolled’ by political commentator Matthew Dowd

Fox News senior meteorologist Janice Dean claims she is being trolled by political commentator Matthew Dowd after she called for an investigation into COVID-19 nursing home deaths in New York State – which include the deaths of her in-laws.

Dean also posted a quote from herself that read: ‘Every one of Cuomo’s victims deserves to be heard. But thousands of them aren’t with us anymore.’

It led to political analyst Dowd to respond: ‘Now that Texas has surpassed New York in COVID deaths I am awaiting for Ms Dean to hold GOP governor Abbott accountable.’

Texas has suffered 53,420 deaths from the coronavirus while New York has had 53,274 deaths as of Sunday night.

Dean, who is grieving the loss of her mother-in-law and father-in-law, tweeted in response: ‘This ‘journalist’ has trolled me from the beginning of my quest for accountability from the governor of New York who ordered COVID positive patients into nursing homes that helped kill thousands of elderly. I’d call this harassment.’

Fox News senior meteorologist Janice Dean says she is being ‘trolled’ by political commentator Matthew Dowd

She demanded accountability from New York Governor Andrew Cuomo whose policy of allowing covid positive patients into nursing homes lead to deaths of her in-laws

Dean tweeted symbolically, a photograph comparing the January 6 Capitol Riots investigation, with one into nursing home deaths, which depicted an empty debating chamber

Dean’s own mother-and father-in law, Dolores and Michael Newman (above), are among the patients who died of coronavirus in nursing homes and assisted living facilities

Dowd defended himself in a follow-up tweet: ‘So weird. Been many months since I commented. And I think I have only ever tweeted a couple things over more than a year. Always factual. And hypocrisy should always be called out.’

Speaking to DailyMail.com, Dean said that the issue of nursing home deaths ‘is personal’ for her after the deaths of her in-laws in state nursing homes.

Dean’s in-laws , Michael and Dolores Newman, both died from the virus.

The Newmans were married for 59 years and lived in Brooklyn for the majority of their lives.

Matthew Dowd was a political commentator for ABC News until the start of this year

Her father-in-law was the first of the two to become sick, in late March, and he passed away not long after. Two weeks later, her mother-in-law caught coronavirus at an assisted living facility and died at a hospital.

‘The reason I am vocal is because I’m trying to seek some kind of justice for my husbands’ parents and the thousands of other families out there,’ she said.

‘My response is we care because they’re our are family members an we are not going to give up on this.’

She added that she feels as though she is now being ‘trolled’ by Dowd.

‘Matthew Dowd has come after me, trolling me, asking me why I am not taking on Trump or the governors in Republican states. I’ve never been a political person. I’ve taken on this role because I’ve been personally affected and feel that our New York Governor hasn’t been held accountable.’

Dean has long called for Cuomo’s resignation and for him to face consequences for his actions.

‘There has to be some accountability in the form of an investigation,’ she said.

Fox News senior meteorologist Janice Dean claims she is being trolled by political commentator Matthew Dowd

Dowd defended himself in a follow-up tweet saying he was ‘always factual’ and that ‘hypocrisy should always be called out’

In January, a shocking report from New York Attorney General Letitia James’ office detailed how the state had undercounted the number of nursing home deaths by as much as 50 percent.

It forced New York State’s Department of Health to reveal the true death toll among nursing home residents was 12,743, rather than the previously acknowledged figure of 8,711.

Among those deaths are Dean’s own father- and mother-in-law, who died from COVID-19 in March and April 2020, respectively.

Last week, the Feds dropped their Cuomo nursing home investigation leading to Dean to tweet symbolically, a photograph comparing the January 6 Capitol Riots investigation, with one into nursing home deaths, which depicted an empty debating chamber.

It was March 25, 2020 when Governor Cuomo ordered nursing homes to readmit patients who were positive for COVID-19 patients due to concerns about hospital capacity .

He later reversed the ruling, on May 10, 2020 barring nursing homes from accepting COVID-19 patients without a negative test first.

Dean has said she feels that personal attacks by Dowd are unwarranted and believes she is likely being targeted because she works for Fox News.

It was March 25, 2020 when Governor Cuomo ordered nursing homes to readmit patients who were positive for COVID-19 patients due to concerns about hospital capacity. He reversed the decision 46 days later following thousands of deaths

Michael and Dolores ‘Dee’ Newman died from COVID-19 in spring last year

The Newmans were married for 59 years and lived in Brooklyn for the majority of their lives. They are pictured above in an undated family photo

‘Dowd has chimed in several times when I post about the loss of my in-laws and he will say ‘Now do Trump’. I respond by saying its personal with the loss of family members. He knows this but he continues to troll,’ Dean explained.

‘I think we all have to have investigations into our leaders when it comes to Covid and we may not know that for months or years down the road. Gov. Cuomo put Covid positive patients into nursing homes and that’s why there was a DOJ investigation. For me, it is personal and I feel like had I not raised red flags I wonder if he would have gotten away with it. This is not something I am comfortable with so I keep it to New York state because that’s what I’ve been experiencing. If other Governors in other sates have done something wrong, then they should also be held accountable.

‘[Dowd] asks me why I haven’t commented on Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott. Other than this, I have never commented on political matters at all. It is personal and it is in New York. I said that I was trying to get accountability for the deaths of by husband’s parents.’

The governor and his office had been accused of intentionally misreporting the number of COVID-19 deaths linked to nursing homes by not listing patients who were transferred to hospital and died there.

Cuomo has claimed that his office was always honest about the figures but that it simply came down to differences in categorization.

Matthew Dowd did not respond to a request for comment for this story.