Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, DN.Y. asks the New York attorney general to select an investigator to investigate the growing accusations of sexual harassment against Democratic state governor Andrew Cuomo.
“Lindsey Boylan and Charlotte Bennett’s detailed reports of sexual harassment by Governor Cuomo are extremely serious and painful to read,” Ocasio-Cortez responded to the latest allegations made against the governor on Sunday.
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“There must be an independent investigation – not conducted by an individual selected by the governor, but by the attorney general’s office,” added the Democratic “squad” member.
Ocasio-Cortez previously expressed support for a “thorough investigation” of the Cuomo nursing home scandal and the alleged cover-up of deaths in nursing homes in his state.
In a press release from the governor’s office, Cuomo’s special lawyer, Beth Garvey, announced that former federal judge Barbara Jones would conduct an “independent review” of the allegations.
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However, critics criticized Cuomo’s nomination. A spokeswoman for the Democratic majority leader in the New York State Senate, Andrea Stewart-Cousins said New York Focus that “no”, the governor cannot nominate someone for a “truly independent” investigation.
Jones herself is being examined for her ties to Cuomo after being hired by the law firm Zuckerman Spaeder by former Cuomo adviser Steven Cohen.
On Saturday, The New York Times released a bombshell report describing the allegations of sexual harassment by Charlotte Bennett, a former executive assistant and health policy advisor in the Cuomo government, who claimed that the governor “asked questions about his sex life, if she was monogamous in her relationships and if she ever had sex with older men. “
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In a press release on Saturday, Cuomo called Bennett “a valuable and hardworking member of our team during COVID”, who has “every right to speak up”.
“When she came to me and talked about being a sexual assault survivor and how it shaped her and her continued efforts to create an organization that would empower her voice to help other survivors, I tried to support and help,” said Cuomo in a statement, which was issued to the Times. “Mrs. Bennett’s initial impression was right: I was trying to be a mentor to her. I never made any progress towards Ms. Bennett nor did I intend to act inappropriately. The last thing I wanted was to do it feel any of the things that are being reported. “
Cuomo added that he “will not make further comments” until a “complete and complete external review” of Bennett’s allegations is conducted and completed.
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Bennett’s claims come just days after Lindsey Boylan, Cuomo’s former deputy secretary for economic development and special adviser, published a bombshell on Wednesday on the Medium website. She accused the governor of “going out of his way to touch me on the lower back, arms and legs”, forcibly kissing her on the lips during an individual meeting and suggesting that they “play strip poker” during an airplane trip.
Cuomo’s office denied Boylan’s allegations of harassment, calling them “simply false” and insisting that the strip poker comment “did not happen”.
The governor’s political problems escalated in January, when New York Attorney General Letitia James released a damning report accusing the Cuomo administration of underreporting deaths in COVID nursing homes by up to 50 percent.