New York Governor Andrew Cuomo is facing pressure from both sides of the corridor over accusations of sexual harassment brought against him by two former aides.
The Democrat has been the target of criticism in recent days by Republicans such as Congresswoman Elise Stefanik, RN.Y., as well as members of her own party at the state, local and federal levels.
CUOMO SAYS IT WAS ‘FUN’, BUT ADMITS THAT ‘MAY HAVE BEEN INSENSITIVE’ IN THE MIDDLE OF SEXUAL HARASSMENT CLAIMS
“Governor Cuomo is a criminal sexual predator and must resign immediately,” Stefanik said in a statement in response to a New York Times report reporting on the allegations of former Cuomo counselor Charlotte Bennett.
According to the Times, Bennett said Cuomo asked her questions about her sex life, whether she was monogamous in her relationships and whether she had ever had sex with older men.
The 25-year-old official described to the Times an incident that occurred in June, when she was “alone” with the 63-year-old governor in her office at the State Capitol. According to the report, he allegedly asked her if she thought age made a difference in romantic relationships and that he was open to having relationships with women in their 20s, which were noted by the Times as “comments she interpreted as clear openings for a sexual relationship. “
In response to the allegations, Cuomo told the Times that he “never advanced against Mrs. Bennett nor did I intend to act inappropriately”.
Bennett’s allegations followed allegations made by former Cuomo employee Lindsey Boylan, who accused the governor of “going out of his way to touch me on the lower back, arms and legs”, kissing her while they were alone in his office and suggest 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”.
New York Mayor Bill de Blasio, a Democrat who has always had problems with Cuomo, called for an independent investigation by the governor after Boylan made his allegations.
“When a woman makes these kinds of very specific claims, we have to take them seriously,” said de Blasio. “We need a complete and independent investigation.”
On Sunday, following Bennett’s allegations, de Blasio issued a new statement, again calling for an investigation “conducted by someone totally independent of the governor.”
New York State Democratic Congressman Ron Kim shared Blasio’s statement on Twitter, suggesting that the governor resign.
“Or … Cuomo can resign tonight,” said Kim. “Not tomorrow. Tonight.”
State Sen. Alessandra Biaggi, another Democrat, also called for Cuomo’s resignation.
“As a New Yorker, legislator, chairman of the Senate Ethics and Internal Governance Committee and a sexual abuse survivor, I am calling for Governor Cuomo’s resignation,” tweeted Biaggi on Saturday.
Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, DN.Y., joined the calls for an investigation following Bennett’s allegations. In an email to Fox News, Gillibrand called the allegations “serious and deeply worrying”.
On Sunday, Cuomo said in a statement that, at work, he likes to “make jokes that I think are funny” and “teased people about their personal lives, their relationships, about getting married or not”. The governor claimed that he had no intention of offending anyone, but acknowledged that he now sees “that my interactions may have been insensitive or very personal and that some of my comments, due to my position, made others feel in ways I never imagined “.
“I recognize that some of the things I said were misinterpreted as unwanted flirtation,” continued Cuomo. “To the extent that someone felt that way, I’m really sorry about that.”
CUOMO ACQUIRES TO DEMAND THE INQUIRY FOR CONTROL OF ATTORNEY GENERAL LETITIA JAMES
Cuomo agreed to be subjected to an investigation, but that sparked controversy when he appointed former federal judge Barbara Jones to lead the investigation. Jones was a former law firm colleague of former Cuomo aide, Steve Cohen. Following criticism of that choice, Cuomo’s office announced the choice of Chief Justice of the Court of Appeals, Janet DiFiore, to work with New York Attorney General Letitia James to select an independent lawyer for the investigation.
James rejected that plan.
“The state’s Executive Law clearly gives my office the authority to investigate this matter as soon as the governor provides a reference,” James said in a statement. “Although I have deep respect for Chief Judge DiFiore, I am the duly elected attorney general and it is my responsibility to fulfill this task, in accordance with executive law.”
Cuomo ended up agreeing with that.
“The governor’s office wants a complete and independent review that is above reproach and beyond political interference,” Cuomo’s special adviser Beth Garvey said in a statement. “Therefore, the governor’s office asked Attorney General Tish James to select a qualified private attorney to conduct an independent review of allegations of sexual harassment.”
The harassment scandal only adds to the pressure that Cuomo was already facing due to the nursing home scandal. The governor was severely criticized for his March 2020 decision to order nursing homes to admit residents who tested positive for coronavirus, and his administration then withheld data on the number of household residents who died due to the pandemic.
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Cuomo insists that his guideline – which was terminated in May – did not cause the thousands of deaths in nursing homes that were eventually discovered and that it was the infected employees who brought the virus to the facility. He also claims that he did not hide statistics from state lawmakers, but only interrupted his office’s response to the investigation to comply with a federal request. Cuomo also said that his cabinet informed state deputies and senators about it.
State officials like Kim and Biaggi contested this, denying having heard of it from the government.
Edmund DeMarche, Joseph A. Wulfsohn and Dom Calicchio of Fox News contributed to this report.