Governor Andrew Cuomo said on Wednesday that he felt “lousy” and “ashamed” about the multiple accusations of sexual harassment against him – but insisted, “I will not resign.”
Cuomo – who is serving a third term that expires at the end of next year – has pledged to remain in office despite growing outrage even from his fellow Democrats.
“I was not elected by politicians, I was elected by the people of the state of New York. I will not resign, ”he said.
“I work for the people of the state of New York. They elected me and I am going to serve the people of the state of New York. “
During a video conference of the Capitol in Albany, Cuomo insisted: “I never touched anyone inappropriately” and pledged to cooperate with an independent investigation by Attorney General Letitia James.
Cuomo also said he was acting against legal counsel by saying to New Yorkers, “Now I understand that I acted in a way that made people uncomfortable.”
“It was not intentional and I really and deeply apologize for it,” he insisted in a choked voice.
“I feel terrible about it and, frankly, I’m embarrassed, and that’s not an easy thing to say – but that’s the truth.”
Speaking at times as if he were living in a different time, Cuomo said that there were “hundreds of pictures” that show him kissing men and women, including members of the state legislature, as if this were normal behavior in 2021.
“It’s my usual form of greeting,” said Cuomo. “However, what I also understand is that it doesn’t matter. … What matters is whether someone was offended by this. “
Cuomo also promised to adjust his ways after the scandal.
“I understand that sensitivities have changed, behaviors have changed and I will learn from that,” he promised.
But Cuomo’s comments on his own behavior and his ignorance of any impropriety come after several years of accusations of high-profile sexual harassment following the #MeToo movement triggered by the exposure of the predatory behavior of the film magnate Harvey Weinstein – which led him to prison for 23 years.
Boylan, now a Democratic candidate for the Manhattan district presidency, also claimed in an online essay that Cuomo told her, “Let’s play strip poker”, during a flight in October 2017 on his state official jet.
Boylan’s allegations led another former Cuomo advisor, Charlotte Bennett, 25, to claim in a report published on Saturday that he asked inappropriate personal questions, told her that he was open to relationships with women in their 20s and to left him with the feeling that he “wanted to sleep with me.”
And in a report on Monday, Anna Ruch, a 33-year-old former White House employee under then President Barack Obama, accused Cuomo of approaching her, grabbing her face and kissing her after he made her marriage official. an advisor to the administration, Gareth Rhodes, of another former Obama employee, Alexa Kissinger.
Cuomo is the latest high-profile Democrat to face accusations of sexual harassment in the wake of the #MeToo movement triggered by the exposure of predatory behavior by film mogul Harvey Weinstein – which led to his arrest for 23 years.
In 2017, then-US Senator Al Franken (D-Minn.) Resigned under pressure from other Democrats after a series of accusations that included a woman who claimed he tried to kiss her after a recording of his radio show more than a decade ago. before.
“It is my right as an artist,” said the woman cited by Franken during the incident, which allegedly occurred three years before he was elected to the Senate.
And during the 2020 election campaign, President Biden also faced charges of inappropriate conduct that included former Nevada Democratic politician Lucy Flores, saying he made her feel “restless, disgusting and confused” when he grabbed her shoulders from behind and kissed your hair in 2014.
These allegations led supporters of then President Donald Trump to protest at last year’s Democratic National Convention in Wilmington, Del., Where they shouted, “Creepy Joe has to go!”