ALBANY — A defensive Gov. Cuomo came up with his own definition of sexual harassment on Thursday as he sparred with reporters and again flatly denied any wrongdoing.
The scandal-scarred governor, accused of sexual harassment and misconduct by multiple women, attempted to play devil’s advocate when asked how his initial apology for making anyone uncomfortable jives with state laws that clearly say his intent is irrelevant.
“Harassment is not making someone feel uncomfortable. That is not harassment,” he said during an appearance in the Bronx. “If I just made you feel uncomfortable, that is not harassment. That is you feeling uncomfortable.”
Cuomo is facing an impeachment inquiry and an independent probe into his behavior being overseen by Attorney General Letitia James after nearly a dozen women, including several current and former staffers, have publicly accused him of making inappropriate comments and unwanted advances.
In early March, as calls for his resignation grew, the governor issued a qualified apology, telling television cameras that he now understands that he “acted in a way that made people feel uncomfortable.”
Pressed about his recent full-throated denials, Cuomo presented an awkward hypothetical scene, insinuating that accusations of harassment are merely he-said-she-said scenarios.
“You can leave this press conference today and say, ‘Oh, the governor harassed me,’” he said. “You can say that.
“I would say, ‘I never said anything I believed was inappropriate. I never meant to make you feel that way.’ You may hear it that way. You may interpret it that way, and I respect that. And I apologize to you, if I said something you think is offensive.”
However, the governor’s version of harassment doesn’t exactly square with the law in the Empire State.
In 2019, Cuomo signed a law lowering the legal bar for harassment in New York, eliminating the “severe or pervasive” standard previously needed for it to be legally actionable.
A pamphlet available from the attorney general’s office clearly states that sexual harassment may be “verbal, visual and/or physical” and can include sexually offensive remarks or jokes, unwanted touching or groping; or comments about a person’s gender or sexual preferences.
Former Cuomo aide Charlotte Bennett, the second woman to go public with her claims, says that the 63-year-old governor asked her inappropriate questions about her sex life and whether she had sex with older men.
The 25-year-old has said that she believes Cuomo was attempting to groom her for a sexual relationship.
“I understood that the governor wanted to sleep with me, and felt horribly uncomfortable and scared,” she told The New York Times about an incident from last June.
Cuomo’s initial apology came in the wake of Bennett’s claims.
On Thursday, the former aide replied to the governor’s attempt to redefine sexual harassment.
“When @NYGovCuomo propositioned me for sex, he broke the law,” Bennett tweeted. “It is very simple: the issue is about his actions, it is not about my feelings. He broke the law (you know, the one he signed). Apologies don’t fix that, and neither do denials.”
More than eight other women have since come forward, including a current Cuomo staffer who has accused the governor of groping her during an encounter at the Executive Mansion late last year.
Cuomo has repeatedly lamented that the public has only heard one side of the story and again repeated on Thursday that he is anxious to tell his version of events.
“People have heard one side of the story and New Yorkers are smart, they know when they’re hearing one side of the story,” he said. “And I am very eager to tell them the other side of the story because it is a much different story.
“And the truth will be told, and the truth is much, much different than what has been suggested,” he added.
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How so? That has been the crux of most harassment complaints over the past twenty years, “That makres me uncomfortable!” Suddenly there is an uproar laws or rules are changed, students expelled, certain HATS are banned or the wearer subjected to all types of indignities. Safe zones were set up so certain offended people did not have to deal with real life while targeting others as racist, sexist, phobic of this, that, and the other thing! College professors were censured, teachers fired , student expelled. Sorry, being made uncomfortable is being harassed, if one is to take the liberal definition of the word.
More like 30 years. I REMEMBER the whole bs after tailhook, and the ramifications “IF a woman says you make her feel uncomfortable, ITS HARASSMENT.. Even if there’s no proof”…
Since when is it the privilege of the sexual harrasser to define to his victim what is and what is not sexual harrassment. To take the position that Cuomo expounds is proof positive that we are dealing with a true sexual harrasser of the first order, and of the most devious ability to deflect and beguile his accusers, not to mention the witnesses and the jury members of the public he seeks to confuse and obfuscate, that will eventually judge him. When in doubt, throw him out.
Only liberals get to do that, apparently.
This is a definite trial by publicity. If he had been arrested then no problem. I have mixed emotions over this topic, but I believe that this will be the governors last term in office.
I CERTAINLY hope it is.. And let’s hope he takes Deblasio with him!
Governor Cuomo, you are a typical liberal. You Cuomo are a criminal. What happened to all of the Democrats who screamed “women have to be believed”? These Democrats are silent.
ITS Only ‘they have to be believed’, when they claim against REPUBLICANS..
Gov. Cuomo stepped on his own tail when In 2019, Cuomo signed a law lowering the legal bar for harassment in New York, eliminating the “severe or pervasive” standard previously needed for it to be legally actionable.
A pamphlet available from the attorney general’s office clearly states that sexual harassment may be “verbal, visual and/or physical” and can include sexually offensive remarks or jokes, unwanted touching or groping; or comments about a person’s gender or sexual preferences.
Notice how the Democrat Party uses their “go to” words like “sexual harassment or racist” where no proof is needed just an accusation and Presto you are guilty to a Democrat.
Nancy Pelosi admitted an unfortunate truth about her impeachment “farce”
– It hinges on witness’s “allegations” not “proof”.
https://youtu.be/7dzhIxeF204
No one can be held responsible for someone else’s emotional feeling or what they find offensive. The only way one will know that it offends them is if they tell them. But if someone continues to do what they said was offensive that is harassment.
The way this Cuomo fool signed into law, if you watch a woman walk down the street, she can make an accusation of sexual harassment.
the 63-year-old governor asked her inappropriate questions about her sex life and whether she had sex with older men.
And where are the Feminazis ?
SILENT. Just like the hollywood crowd who were all up in arms at trump’s comment of “Grab them by the ***sy” have also been silent.
>> jives with << “jives with?
Is he saying if his boss, Biden, without asking consent, held him close by the head like in the picture or sniffed his neck or played with his hair or groped his butt or with a leer asked if he had sex with older men – would Andy think the boss man was sexually harassing him?
Guess it may be difficult though for one sexual pervert to distinguish when he is being illegally sexually harassed by another sexual pervert.
I say prosecute & sue the “dirty old Gov”.