ALBANY, NY – (AP) – A woman currently working in the New York governor’s office, Andrew Cuomo, says she looked at her shirt and made suggestive comments to her and another aide, according to a newspaper report published Friday. market.
Alyssa McGrath told The New York Times that Cuomo called her beautiful in Italian, referred to her and her colleague as “mingle boobs”, asked why she was not wearing a wedding ring and asked about her divorce.
“He has a way of making you feel very comfortable around him, almost as if you were his friend,” McGrath told the newspaper. “But then you walk away from the meeting or the conversation, thinking, ‘I may not believe that I just had that interaction with the governor of New York. ‘”
McGrath is the first current adviser to come forward publicly to join the growing allegations of sexual misconduct against Cuomo. His behavior with women is the subject of an investigation overseen by the state attorney general and a separate impeachment investigation by the New York Assembly, the state’s lower legislative chamber.
McGrath told The New York Times that his colleague was the same woman the governor is accused of groping at the Executive Mansion, a claim that was revealed in a report last week in the Times Union of Albany.
This advisor has not been publicly identified. McGrath said the woman spoke to her in detail about what happened to her after the Times Union report was published.
Cuomo, a Democrat, has repeatedly denied accusations of sexual misconduct. His lawyer told The New York Times that Cuomo actually used Italian phrases like “ciao bella”, which means “hello beautiful” in Italian, and greeted men and women with hugs and a kiss.
“None of this is remarkable, although it may be old-fashioned,” said lawyer Rita Glavin. “He made it clear that he never made inappropriate advances or touched anyone inappropriately.”
McGrath did not accuse the governor of improper touch, but he did describe a time when she was sitting alone with Cuomo for a dictation session when she caught him looking at her.
“I hung my head hoping he would start talking, but he didn’t start talking,” she told The Times. “So I looked up to see what was going on. And he was shamelessly looking at my shirt. “
She said that Cuomo asked “What’s in your necklace?”
Democratic Assembly President Carl Heastie said on Friday that the impeachment investigation will examine “all credible allegations” against the governor, including whether he used his office to sexually harass or assault officials.
Other issues under investigation, said Heastie, will include whether Cuomo hid information about COVID-19 deaths in nursing homes and how his government handled security issues on a newly built bridge over the Hudson River.
“Your task is to determine whether there is evidence to support the conclusion that the governor has engaged in conduct, as a governor, that violates the laws of the State of New York and whether such violations constitute serious and corrupt conduct in office that may justify impeachment articles. , ”Wrote Heastie in a letter on Friday to the chairman of the Judiciary Committee, Chuck Lavine.
Other aspects of the investigation, including how long it will take and how public its procedures or findings will be, are still being determined.
The Assembly earlier this week hired Manhattan’s Davis Polk & Wardwell law firm to assist with the investigation.
The pace of the investigation has frustrated some lawmakers who want Cuomo to leave now.
“It is very strange for me and I think we need to ask a lot of questions here”, Congresswoman Yuh-Line Niou, a Democrat. “With any kind of lack of transparency or lack of access to any process, it is necessary to ask about the motivations and ask: Why?”
Meanwhile, research suggests that, although Cuomo’s support has waned following the allegation of groping the Executive Mansion, his political base has not abandoned him.
A Quinnipiac University survey of 905 registered voters found that while 43% believed he should resign, 36% of women interviewed said he should resign and 23% of Democrats wanted him to resign.
Among respondents of all political affiliations, 36% said Cuomo should be impeached and removed from office. The research was carried out before McGrath’s claims were made public.
Cuomo says he never touched anyone inappropriately. He apologized, however, for what he said were attempts to engage in office pranks, which now notice offended women who worked for him.
The lawyer for one of Cuomo’s accusers, Charlotte Bennett, said she would not cooperate with the Assembly’s inquiry over questions about potential political interference.
Bennett and several other women who accused Cuomo of harassment have already been interviewed by lawyers who work for Attorney General Letitia James.
Federal prosecutors are also examining whether the Cuomo administration misled the public or the United States Department of Justice about COVID-19 deaths in nursing homes.