An investigation discovered that Governor Andrew Cuomo sexually harassed a number of ladies inside and outdoors state authorities and labored to retaliate towards one among his accusers, New York’s legal professional basic introduced Tuesday in a discovering that’s sure to resume requires the Democrat’s resignation or impeachment.
The practically five-month investigation, performed by two exterior legal professionals who spoke to 179 folks, discovered that the Cuomo administration was a “hostile work environment” and that it was “rife with fear and intimidation.”
People interviewed included complainants, present and former members of the manager chamber, State troopers, extra state workers and others who interacted frequently 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 mentioned at a press convention on Tuesday.
James mentioned her investigation has concluded. There have been no referrals to prison prosecutors, although that wouldn’t preclude native authorities from utilizing the proof and findings of the report back to mount their very own circumstances.
On at the least one event, the investigation discovered, Cuomo and his senior workers labored to retaliate towards a former worker who accused him of wrongdoing. Cuomo was additionally discovered to have harassed ladies exterior of presidency, the investigation discovered.
The report additionally detailed, for the primary time, allegations that Cuomo sexually harassed a feminine state trooper on his safety element. It mentioned that the governor ran his hand or fingers throughout her abdomen and her again, kissed her on the cheek, requested for her assist in discovering a girlfriend and requested why she didn’t put on a costume.
“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 many legal professionals main the investigation, mentioned on the press convention.
Investigators mentioned they discovered all 11 ladies have been credible, noting that their allegations have been corroborated to various levels, together with by different witnesses and contemporaneous textual content messages.
Cuomo confronted a number of allegations final winter that he inappropriately touched and sexually harassed ladies who labored with him or who he met at public occasions. One aide in his workplace mentioned he groped her breast.
Another, Lindsey Boylan, mentioned Cuomo kissed her on the lips after a gathering in his workplace 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 retailers revealing that Boylan resigned after she was confronted about complaints she belittled and yelled at her workers.
Boylan has mentioned these data “were leaked to the media in an effort to smear me.”
Other aides have mentioned that the governor requested them unwelcome private questions on intercourse and courting. One former aide, Charlotte Bennett, mentioned Cuomo requested if she was open to intercourse 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 mentioned 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 refrain of requires Cuomo’s resignation from many high elected Democrats in New York, together with two U.S. senators, Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand. But Cuomo refused to give up and has been elevating cash for a fourth time period in workplace.
His place on the allegations has additionally hardened into one among defiance. Cuomo has all the time denied touching anybody inappropriately, however he initially mentioned he was sorry if his habits with ladies was “misinterpreted as unwanted flirtation.” In latest months, he’s taken a extra combative tack, saying he did nothing mistaken and questioning the motives of accusers and critics.
He has additionally questioned the neutrality of the legal professionals employed by the legal professional basic to analyze the allegations. Kim, was concerned in earlier investigations of corruption by folks in Cuomo’s administration when he was a federal prosecutor in Manhattan. Cuomo hasn’t expressly mentioned why he believes that might make Kim biased.
In the hours main into James’ announcement, Cuomo’s workplace issued quite a few press releases together with the completion of mixed-use housing in Buffalo plans to construct a brand new $3.9 billion terminal at Kennedy Airport and JetBlue’s choice to maintain its headquarters in New York. As James was talking, Cuomo’s publicists despatched out a launch about reclaiming the websites of previous energy vegetation.
The legal professional basic’s report is anticipated to play an vital position in an ongoing inquiry within the state Assembly into whether or not there are grounds for Cuomo to be impeached.
The Assembly employed its personal authorized crew to analyze Cuomo’s conduct, plus different allegations of wrongdoing. The legislature is trying into the assistance Cuomo acquired from senior aides to write down a guide concerning the pandemic, particular entry that Cuomo relations acquired to COVID-19 testing final 12 months, and the administration’s choice to withhold some knowledge on nursing dwelling deaths from the general public for a number of months.
Some members of the judiciary committee have mentioned they count on James’ report back to be “critical” for the impeachment investigation.
New York state laws say sexual harassment consists of unwelcome conduct of a sexual nature — from undesirable flirtation to sexual jokes — that creates an offensive work atmosphere, no matter a perpetrator’s intent.
The governor, in distinction, has repeatedly argued that he didn’t intend to harass anybody. His workplace has mentioned he took the state’s mandated sexual harassment coaching, however has not offered any documentation proving he did.
Cuomo championed a landmark 2019 state legislation that made it simpler for sexual harassment victims to show their case in court docket. Alleged victims not have to satisfy the excessive bar of proving sexual harassment is “severe and pervasive.”
