ALBANY – Despite the state attorney general’s ongoing investigation into allegations of sexual harassment against Governor Andrew M. Cuomo, governor aides said they are also conducting their own “parallel review” of an adviser’s recent report of having been palpated by Cuomo at the Executive Mansion at the end of last year.
“We have our own investigations underway,” an aide to the governor told the Times Union. “We have an obligation to investigate any complaints of sexual harassment. And we, after reporting (the advisor’s allegations) to (attorney general), were instructed to continue our own investigation. … Therefore, there are several inquiries.”
Officials in the office of Attorney General Letitia James, who appointed two private prosecutors to lead the investigation, did not answer questions about the parallel investigation conducted by Cuomo’s office. But a source at the office with knowledge of the matter denied that anyone in the attorney general’s office “instructed” the governor’s office to conduct a parallel investigation.
“It’s absurd. Why would you be doing this?” said the lawyer for the woman who accused Cuomo of feeling her. “It is not appropriate and, of course, we are concerned with the ramifications and the effect on witnesses and the search for the truth.”
He characterized it as a “phantom investigation”.
The lawyer, whose client has not filed a formal complaint against Cuomo, asked that his name be withheld because he feared that revealing him would tend to reveal his identity to the general public. She continues to work in the governor’s office. His allegations were reported to Cuomo’s senior advisers on March 8 by at least one of his colleagues.
The woman’s coworkers learned of her statements on March 3, when she was thrilled at work as they watched Cuomo during a news conference in which he denied touching any woman “inappropriately”. When they asked what was wrong, she told of her supposed meeting with Cuomo at the governor’s mansion.
Beth Garvey, the governor’s acting attorney, issued a statement late on Wednesday: “We fully informed the (attorney general’s) office of the necessary process with this type of allegation and they said they would follow it up. The matter was referred. to the GOER (Office of the Governor for Employee Relations) and (we) inform the local authorities and this is the full extent of the action. “
Previously, the governor’s administration distanced itself from GOER, claiming that it is a separate office that conducts sexual harassment and other investigations of employees without involvement by the Executive Board. Last June, the governor’s office handled allegations of sexual harassment by another aide, Charlotte Bennett, without referring the matter to GOER.
The lawyers recruited by the attorney general to conduct an investigation into multiple allegations of sexual harassment against Cuomo are Joon H. Kim, a former United States attorney in Manhattan, and Anne L. Clark, who has extensive experience in sexual harassment cases. .
The separate investigation by the governor’s office into the woman’s groping allegations is unfolding as other officials have recently been told that a lawyer could be made available to accompany them if they were interviewed by the attorney general’s investigators. Executive Chamber officials were also told that a lawyer would be available to meet with them before the interviews, according to a person familiar with the matter.
This unsettled some officials, according to the source, because they were concerned about the implications of having an attorney provided by the Executive Board to potentially participate in their interviews with the attorney general’s investigators.
After this story was posted online Wednesday night, another senior administration official, speaking on condition of anonymity due to ongoing investigations, said: “It was also explicitly said that you can hire your own lawyer if you don’t want to use ( o prosecutors hired by the governor’s office). “
Two spokesmen for the governor’s office did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Wednesday.
On March 10, in response to the Times Union’s questions about the woman’s groping allegations, Cuomo issued a statement to the newspaper: “As I said yesterday, I never did anything like this. The details of this report are distressing. I will not talk about the details of this or any other allegation, given the ongoing review, but I am confident of the outcome of the attorney general’s report. ”
In a conference call with reporters on Wednesday, Cuomo said he would no longer comment publicly on the accusations. He also declined to comment on the choice by the majority of the state assembly of a law firm in Washington, DC, to lead the governor’s impeachment investigation by that chamber. Cuomo and his aides have consistently used the words “review” and “inquiry” to describe investigations by the Assembly and the attorney general’s office.
“I will not answer questions or comments about the review,” said Cuomo on Wednesday. “Let the lawyers do their job and conduct the review and then we can talk about it when we have the facts established … but other than that, I will respect the review and I will not comment on it or related matters.”
In the liaison with reporters, Cuomo mentioned the attorney general’s investigation and the Assembly’s impeachment investigation, but did not mention his office’s internal investigation.
The Cuomo office’s revelation that it’s conducting an investigation into the woman’s allegations came after Albany’s Mayor Kathy Sheehan said last week that the decision by Cuomo’s interim attorney to forward the possible allegation of sexual assault to the department city police force was “highly unusual”. She said the incident would have occurred on a state property – the Executive Mansion – and would normally be dealt with by the State Police.
“Nobody remembers the Albany Police Department being contacted with such a complaint that happened on a state property,” Sheehan told the Times Union last week.
Governor Andrew M. Cuomo, second from left, is accompanied by State Department Commissioner for Health, Dr. Howard Zucker, on the left, budget director Robert Mujica, second from right, and Beth Garvey, advisor interim and senior advisor, on the right, during a news briefing last year. (Will Waldron / Times Union)
Will Waldron / Albany Times UnionCuomo’s lawyer reported the incident to the Albany police on March 10 – hours after the Times Union published new details of the advisor’s account of what she described as a sexually aggressive attempt by the governor after she was called to the mansion last year. past.
“As a matter of state policy, when allegations of physical contact are made, the agency informs the complainant that he should contact the local police department,” said Beth Garvey, acting governor of the governor, in a statement last week . “If they refuse, the agency has an obligation to contact and inform the department of the allegation.”
On March 1, the governor’s office issued a referral letter authorizing the attorney general to initiate an investigation into the allegations at the time that the governor had sexually harassed at least two former employees. This reference does not authorize the attorney general to conduct a criminal investigation or to summon witnesses before a grand jury.
The governor’s administration has received criticism for failing to forward a complaint from Bennett, one of Cuomo’s former advisers who has made accusations against him, to the Governor’s Employee Relations Office, as required by his own 2018 executive order.