Many leading Democrats who demanded an investigation into Christine Blasey Ford’s allegations of sexual misconduct against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh are less outspoken about the charges against New York Governor Andrew Cuomo.
Ford told the Washington Post in 2018 that Kavanaugh “touched” her and made unwelcome advances in 1982, when they were high school students in different schools.
Earlier this week, Cuomo’s former aide, Lindsey Boylan, wrote in a post on Medium that Cuomo had made unwanted strides towards her, kissed her forcibly and suggested that she “play strip poker” with him.
ANDREW CUOMO ACCUSED OF SEXUAL HARASSMENT; LIBERAL LEADER’S REFUSAL
Kavanaugh and Cuomo denied the charges.
But Cuomo called Kavanaugh’s eventual confirmation at the Supreme Court a “farce” and said it would energize Americans “to fight even more for our common vision of a better future for all”.
He also suggested that the new Supreme Court judge take a polygraph test.
The White House appeared to distance itself from Cuomo on Thursday, with press secretary Jen Psaki saying that “any allegations must be reviewed.”
Sens. Dianne Feinstein, Amy Klobuchar, Mazie Hirono, Patrick Leahy, Cory Booker, Richard Blumenthal – they were all among the Democratic members of the Senate Judiciary Committee during Kavanaugh’s 2018 nomination hearings – did not answer questions about whether Ford’s allegations they were any different from those of Boylan.
Democrats painted the charges against Kavanaugh as at least worthy of an investigation and possibly disqualifying, while his Republican colleagues argued that he had a right to due process.
Christine Blasey Ford takes an oath before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Thursday, September 27, 2018, in Washington. (Win McNamee / Pool image via AP)
(Getty Images 2018)
“At the very least, the committee’s vote scheduled for this week on Judge Kavanaugh’s lifetime appointment to the Supreme Court should be postponed until this matter is fully investigated,” Booker said at the time.
AS A CHARGE OF SEXUAL HARASSMENT FOR OLD HELP
“Your story is reliable and I believe it,” said Hirono of Ford in a 2018 statement. “As I said during the hearing, that is why the #MeToo movement is so important, because there are often times in these situations an environment where people see nothing, hear nothing and say nothing. That is what we have to change ”.
“She had a lot of credibility when she talked about her memories of that night,” Klobuchar said of Ford’s testimony during a 2018 interview with NPR.
Lindsey Boylan attends the 9th Annual Elly Award, organized by the Women’s Forum of New York on June 17, 2019, in New York City. (Mike Coppola / Getty Images for Women’s Forum of New York)
(Getty Images)
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who in a statement in 2018 stated: “I believe Dr. Christine Blasey Ford”, also declined to comment.
Senator Elizabeth Warren questioned whether Kavanaugh was “hiding” something during her confirmation process. She declined to comment on the Boylan case.
And Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, usually an outspoken advocate for women’s rights and one of Cuomo’s two Democratic senators in the home state, remained silent about Boylan on Thursday after ignoring repeated questions on Wednesday.
In 2018, she argued on Twitter that the #MeToo movement came down to a single question:
“Do we value women?” she wrote. “Dr. Christine Blasey Ford deserves to tell her story. She deserves respect and a thorough investigation.”
Some Democrats in New York called for an investigation into Boylan’s accusations, including state deputy Ron Kim, who fought with the governor over reports that the Cuomo government underestimated coronavirus deaths among elderly people in care centers by up to 50%.
“With any allegation there, there has to be due process,” said Cuomo’s Democratic colleague in New York, Congressman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Thursday.
In 2018, she said Kavanaugh had been “credibly accused of sexual assault” despite a lack of evidence, and claimed that she would lie under oath
Her office ignored requests for comment on the allegations against Cuomo on Wednesday, but she later told reporters that the responsibility for investigating the governor “rests entirely with the state legislature” – which is controlled by Democrats.
“So defining what that process will look like in the state legislature is something that I would certainly deliver to them,” she said.
Elias Farah, a member of the Sexual Harassment Working Group, a bipartisan group formed to combat sexual harassment at the New York State Capitol by lawmakers and their advisers, told Fox News on Thursday that the state’s current legislative investigative body it is not sufficiently independent of Cuomo to conduct a comprehensive investigation.
He noted that when state lawmakers are accused of misconduct, they have almost unlimited access to legal remedies – at the expense of taxpayers. Often, these lawyers charge the state much more than the victims are asking for, he said.
He also referred to the infamous Moreland Commission – Cuomo’s chosen anti-corruption panel – which the governor rejected amid allegations that he was interfering with investigations into his allies in 2014.
“Taxpayers should really ask – why is there no independent commission?” Said Farah. “This is America. We are not a fascist state. We are not a communist state.”
The SHWG demanded an immediate independent investigation into Boylan’s allegations on Wednesday.
“If people are going to speak out and speak out against someone like Kavanaugh, they also need to speak out against the governor,” said Farah.
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He also said that the accusers deserve their own due process when they file the charges.
“I know personally that it is not an easy thing to do,” he said, referring to the sexual harassment case against his former chief, former Republican state deputy Angela Wozniak. “And if you’re going to be subject to the criticism that comes with that, you must have some truth in your statements.”
Houston Keene of Fox News contributed to this report.