NEW YORK (AP) — An investigation found that Gov. Andrew Cuomo sexually harassed multiple women inside and outside state government and worked to retaliate against one of his accusers, New York’s attorney general announced Tuesday in a finding that is certain to renew calls for the Democrat’s resignation or impeachment.
The nearly five-month investigation, conducted by two outside lawyers who spoke to 179 people, found that the Cuomo administration was a “hostile work environment” and that it was “rife with fear and intimidation.”
People interviewed included complainants, current and former members of the executive chamber, State troopers, additional state employees and others who interacted regularly with the governor.
“These interviews and pieces of evidence revealed a deeply disturbing yet clear picture: Gov. Cuomo sexually harassed current and former state employees in violation of federal and state laws,” New York Attorney General Letitia James said at a press conference on Tuesday.
James said her investigation has concluded. There were no referrals to criminal prosecutors, though that wouldn’t preclude local authorities from using the evidence and findings of the report to mount their own cases.
On at least one occasion, the investigation found, Cuomo and his senior staff worked to retaliate against a former employee who accused him of wrongdoing. Cuomo was also found to have harassed women outside of government, the investigation found.
The report also detailed, for the first time, allegations that Cuomo sexually harassed a female state trooper on his security detail. It said that the governor ran his hand or fingers across her stomach and her back, kissed her on the cheek, asked for her help in finding a girlfriend and asked why she didn’t wear a dress.
“These brave women stepped forward to speak truth to power and, in doing so, they expressed faith in the belief that although the governor may be powerful, the truth is even more so,” Joon Kim, one of the lawyers leading the investigation, said at the press conference.
Investigators said they found all 11 women were credible, noting that their allegations were corroborated to varying degrees, including by other witnesses and contemporaneous text messages.
Cuomo faced multiple allegations last winter that he inappropriately touched and sexually harassed women who worked with him or who he met at public events. One aide in his office said he groped her breast.
Another, Lindsey Boylan, said Cuomo kissed her on the lips after a meeting in his office and “would go out of his way to touch me on my lower back, arms and legs.”
After Boylan first made her allegations public in December, the Cuomo administration undercut her story by releasing personnel memos to media outlets revealing that Boylan resigned after she was confronted about complaints she belittled and yelled at her staff.
Boylan has said those records “were leaked to the media in an effort to smear me.”
Other aides have said that the governor asked them unwelcome personal questions about sex and dating. One former aide, Charlotte Bennett, said Cuomo asked if she was open to sex with an older man.
“Some suffered through unwanted touching, and grabbing of their most intimate body parts. Others suffered through repeated offensive, sexually suggestive, or gender-based comments,” Kim said Tuesday. “A number of them endured both. None of them welcomed it. And all of them found it disturbing, humiliating, uncomfortable and inappropriate.”
Last winter there was a chorus of calls for Cuomo’s resignation from many top elected Democrats in New York, including two U.S. senators, Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand. But Cuomo refused to quit and has been raising money for a fourth term in office.
His position on the allegations has also hardened into one of defiance. Cuomo has always denied touching anyone inappropriately, but he initially said he was sorry if his behavior with women was “misinterpreted as unwanted flirtation.” In recent months, he’s taken a more combative tack, saying he did nothing wrong and questioning the motives of accusers and critics.
He has also questioned the neutrality of the lawyers hired by the attorney general to investigate the allegations. Kim, was involved in previous investigations of corruption by people in Cuomo’s administration when he was a federal prosecutor in Manhattan. Cuomo hasn’t expressly said why he believes that would make Kim biased.
In the hours leading into James’ announcement, Cuomo’s office issued numerous press releases including the completion of mixed-use housing in Buffalo plans to build a new $3.9 billion terminal at Kennedy Airport and JetBlue’s decision to keep its headquarters in New York. As James was speaking, Cuomo’s publicists sent out a release about reclaiming the sites of old power plants.
The attorney general’s report is expected to play an important role in an ongoing inquiry in the state Assembly into whether there are grounds for Cuomo to be impeached.
The Assembly hired its own legal team to investigate Cuomo’s conduct, plus other allegations of wrongdoing. The legislature is looking into the help Cuomo got from senior aides to write a book about the pandemic, special access that Cuomo relatives got to COVID-19 testing last year, and the administration’s decision to withhold some data on nursing home deaths from the public for several months.
Some members of the judiciary committee have said they expect James’ report to be “critical” for the impeachment investigation.
New York state regulations say sexual harassment includes unwelcome conduct of a sexual nature — from unwanted flirtation to sexual jokes — that creates an offensive work environment, regardless of a perpetrator’s intent.
The governor, in contrast, has repeatedly argued that he did not intend to harass anyone. His office has said he took the state’s mandated sexual harassment training, but has not provided any documentation proving he did.
Cuomo championed a landmark 2019 state law that made it easier for sexual harassment victims to prove their case in court. Alleged victims no longer have to meet the high bar of proving sexual harassment is “severe and pervasive.”
© 2021 The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.
—-
This content is published through a licensing agreement with Acquire Media using its NewsEdge technology.
Cuomo sexually molesting women and murdering innocent people in nursing homes. Why hasn’t the Department of No Justice prosecuted this criminal, put him in prison and then thrown the key away?
WHAT of the STATE justices? WHERE are they at, in CRIMINALLY Charging him?
OR is it like many of us know to be true.. DEMOCRATS ARE above the law. No matter how many laws they break!
The same question can be said of Bill Clinton and senile Joe.
It’s very simple, for the same reason that ALL crooked democrats aren’t in prison (the list is endless, and I know the names of every single one of them, there’s just not enough space to list them all, everybody on this page knows who they are) The law does not apply to them, if it did, then Hillary would be on her way to being half way through her first life sentence. How can you be locked up when you have the police, the CIA, the FBI, the DOJ, Homeland Security, all on your payroll. Sadly all the supposed law enforcement agencies that are helping them escape justice are slowly being eliminated. No matter how stupid the democratic party is, everyone with a pulse knows that you have to eliminate all the loose ends. That’s the reason for the so called “Suicides”. I’ll be 69 in about 3 weeks and I’m hoping that I will still be alive when all of these pieces of human waste are brought to justice, only then can I die a happy man.
Plan on living forever, or dying an unhappy man, because no democrap will ever be brought to justice.
Unfortunately i fear hell wil have frozen over, before ANY OF THEM Face any true justice.. IN THIS world at least.
Gov. Cuomo has raised a stink and brought unwanted attention to the Marxist democrat party of America now even the democrat president, president Joe Biden say Gov. Cuomo must go, Cuomo has became ” Low Hanging Fruit . “
I Always thought that CUOMO WAS A ‘untouchable democrat MARXIST,A MEmber of the Inner political inner hierarchery and no one could touch him but I guess ” The bigger they are, the harder they fall .’
New York’s Governor should be the ” Poster Boy ” for the Zdemocrat Marxist, party of America, I know that such former democrat presidents such as ” Bill Clinton , would agree.
Doubtful.
The Dem boys love their women and young girls—its one of those perks that comes with money and power. Look at Bill Clinton—and he walks around today greeting, smiling, speaking—just like he is Mr Morality.
Many wondered if the Marxist democrat would just blow off these sexual missconduct charges against New York Governo Cuomo but i see tha ( No fool around, Joe Biden, ) ” A woman has to be believed , ” is involved here, Oh, I know that Joe Biden has been accused of inappropratetly touching females but I personally never put much store in those stories, myself.
I think a women deserves initially be believed. The fact is several women have accused Biden of inappropriate sexual behavior; they deserve their day. And when several women make the same accusation with similar details, one has to take notice. But the liberal media (no surprise here) has elected to essentially ignore these allegations and bury the story (es). They elected to protect Biden. Has a women ever accused a man of sexual misconduct for political purposes? Of course. But from what I can see, this is a distinct minority.
IF they can show facts, yes believe them. BUT AS we have seen with others, OFTEN when they get ‘believed no matter what’, we often PUNISH THE INNOCENT, cause of it..
Hillary Clinton was susposed to have said to Bill Clinton, her husband, ” But your Peckxx back in your pant, you can’t screx her here, ” to paraphrase zHillary Clinton.
AND we have hours upon hours of video, of JOE Sniffing little girls heads…
Welcome to “Mad Men: Mayoral Edition”. But don’t worry, Cuomo isn’t going anywhere.
The Joke that I recall about Republican young men was, ” Republican men date Democrat Women …..They like to have fun too,But they don’t Marry Them. “
Those narcissistic demonrats think they are above the law. Any conservative is assumed guilty until proven guilty. So much for justice in our great country.
Unfortunately it’s been that way for decades. WE THE PEOPLE break the law, we get the book thrown at us..
POLITICIANS break it, they at MOST< get a slap on the wrist and quietly told "RESIGN"….
And what of the thousands of elderly murdered at the hands of Fredo and his comrades in the Peoples Republic of NY .
Just let those robbers, murders, dope peddlers, go before a democrat Judge in New York once, and they will know What democrat Marxist Justice is all about…
Unfortunately, the dept of INJUSTICE< already came out and said "WE won't even LOOK INTO those deaths, let alone prosecute anyone over it"
Democrat resign? That’ll be the day.
We forget, communist/democrats, have a different standard they get to live by, this will be swept under the rug as soon as they get the distraction mileage for the AZ audit out of it.
Like a typical lawyer he is trying to plead his molestations down to a lessor charge of “I was just incompetent in trying to help women who were abused like one of my unnamed family memebers,,,,,,,,namely his own Uncle WIggly.
Cuomo resign? NNNNOOOOO. He’s too darn stupid. Plus he’s a member of the Deep State. NOTHING will happen to him. Rules for thee, rules for me.
If he were conservative he’d have been run out of office before the investigation. Cuomo himself is quoted as saying that sexual harrassment is unacceptable within the workplace and those engaging in it need to be removed from office. Well, let’s see how much he believes what he said.
IF he was conservative, there’d already BE A CRIMINAL INDICTMENT AGAINST him..
Having a Sexual harasment individual investigating another sexual Harassor, is like asking a person if they wete guilty or not and accepting the results of asking…
Are the angry women coming forth because each thought she was the only one?