Lindsey Boylan: Woman who first accused Governor Cuomo of sexual harassment meets with investigators

Boylan, a former Cuomo aide who claimed he tried to kiss her during a meeting at her New York City office in 2018, hopes to meet with investigators again as part of “a broader conversation” on the issues, he said. the source . Cuomo denied having “touched inappropriately” anyone and said he never intended to make anyone feel uncomfortable in response to the charges against him.

Boylan’s interview comes at a time when the governor in trouble faces several charges of sexual harassment, with investigations into the charges increasing in recent days. Cuomo has defiantly resisted growing pressure to resign Democrats from New York due to the weeks-long scandal over accusations of sexual harassment and a cover-up over the number of Covid-19 deaths in long-term care facilities in the state.

Another accuser, Charlotte Bennett, a 25-year-old former policy adviser to Cuomo who also accused him of sexual harassment, spoke to investigators on Monday at Zoom for several hours, according to her lawyer, Debra Katz.

Bennett told The New York Times in February that she had several unpleasant encounters with Cuomo, including an incident in which he asked questions about his sex life during a conversation at his state Capitol office and said he was open to relationships with women. in their 20s. Cuomo denied Bennett’s allegations, saying that he “never advanced against Mrs. Bennett, nor did I intend to act inappropriately”.

Katz told Wolf Blitzer of CNN in an interview on Tuesday that the investigation is “moving forward with speed” but is still in the early stages.

Investigators in the New York Attorney General’s Office “are qualified” and in Bennett’s recent interview with them, investigators asked detailed questions, understood the evidence and were sensitive to the issues, said Katz.

The investigation of allegations of sexual harassment is being conducted by lawyers Joon Kim, a former district attorney for the Southern District of New York, and Anne Clark, a lawyer for employment discrimination. The pair was chosen by New York Attorney General Letitia James to lead the investigation.

The night they were appointed, Katz said on Tuesday, “I received a call from both investigators saying they were ready to go.”

Katz said the investigators listened to more women after the New York attorney general opened a hotline and a website for information, and that Katz said he did not believe Bennett was the first person the investigators spoke to, although he did not. Additional details are provided.

While the investigation is ongoing, the mood inside Cuomo’s executive chamber is “completely demoralized,” a source close to the office told CNN on Tuesday.

“The feeling is that it is only a matter of time before time runs out,” said the source, meaning that Cuomo may be forced to step down; or that he may not be able to run for a fourth term.

In response, Cuomo’s senior adviser, Richard Azzopardi, said in a statement that the notion was “too exaggerated”.

“There is a budget to be made in two weeks, the biggest vaccination effort is the state’s history to stand up and the ongoing efforts to successfully combat this pandemic that occurs once in a century and that’s what the working members of this government and the state’s workforce are focused on the period, “Azzopardi said in a statement.