Andrew Cuomo denies former adviser sexual harassment allegations

Lindsey Boylan claimed that in 2018, the Democratic governor kissed her on the lips after an individual meeting in his New York City office.

“When I got up to go out and walk towards an open door, he stepped in front of me and kissed me on the mouth,” wrote Boylan, describing the meeting. “I was in shock, but I kept walking.” Boylan first accused the governor of sexual harassment on a Twitter topic in December.

“As we said earlier, Boylan’s claims about inappropriate behavior are simply false,” Caitlin Girouard, the governor’s press secretary, said in a statement on Wednesday.

In the same statement, the office also denied the presence of four current and former employees about a specific interaction on a flight where Boylan said the governor suggested they play strip poker. The four employees, who flew with Cuomo and Boylan, said it never happened.

Cuomo also firmly denied the accusations at a news conference in December, when Boylan first made them.

National star of Cuomo threatened by increased scrutiny on how to deal with deaths in nursing homes

CNN was unable to corroborate the allegations and, when asked about further comments, Boylan replied that he was letting his Medium post speak for itself.

The posting, however, generated another series of bad headlines for the Cuomo government.

New York State Senate majority leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins, a Democrat, released a statement on Wednesday calling the charge “disturbing”.

“This is deeply disturbing. Clearly, there is no place for such behavior in the workplace or elsewhere,” wrote Stewart-Cousins.

Cuomo, who enjoyed extremely high popularity and national recognition for his treatment of the coronavirus pandemic last spring, is now facing growing criticism from lawmakers on both sides of the corridor in his state regarding his government’s treatment of mortality data in nursing homes. CNN reported that he has been pleading with lawmakers for support and even accused of threatening political retribution against Democrats who criticized him in an aggressive effort to contain the political consequences of the revelations.
CNN also reported that the United States Attorney General’s Brooklyn office, along with the FBI, is examining the handling of some of the data related to Covid-19 deaths at long-term care facilities in New York. The inquiry was described as preliminary and it was not clear whether the authorities are looking at the governor himself or members of his government.

Boylan is currently running for the Manhattan district presidency. She unsuccessfully challenged Congressman Jerry Nadler in the Democratic primaries in 2020.

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