An outside law firm that was hired to investigate how former Gov. Andrew Cuomo's 2020 book came to be said he met with staff, including those involved in managing and responding to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, to work on the memoir while the health emergency was unfolding.

In a report released Thursday, Hogan Lovells, the outside law firm, said Cuomo's executive chamber "overpowered" the New York Joint Commission on Public Ethics to expedite approval for writing the book, while JCOPE failed to assert itself as a watchdog against the Cuomo administration, instead rushing through the process with minimal due diligence.