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Cuomo Remains Defiant, Refusing To Step Aside Amid More Accounts Of Toxic Behavior
By
Brigid Bergin
and
Gwynne Hogan
Published Mar 12, 2021
Modified Mar 12, 2021
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Seth Wenig/AP/Shutterstock
By
Brigid Bergin
and
Gwynne Hogan
Published Mar 12, 2021
Modified Mar 12, 2021
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Facing calls for his resignation from a majority of state lawmakers and New York’s Congressional delegation, and in the wake of even more news reports detailing instances of toxic and sexist workplace behavior, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo delivered a defiant rebuttal on Friday afternoon, once again insisting he would not step down.
“Women have a right to come forward and be heard and I encourage that. There is still a question of the truth.” he said during a press call. “I did not do what has been alleged. Period.”
This marks Cuomo’s third public denial of allegations that he engaged in sexual misconduct, even as new allegations continue to emerge. In a show of political bravado, the governor not only denied he had done anything wrong but also suggested that any politicians who had called for his resignation without the facts of an investigation were being “reckless.”
“People know the difference between playing politics, bowing to cancel culture and the truth,” he added, implying calls for his resignation were an effort to “cancel” him politically. “Let the review proceed. I’m not going to resign.”
Cuomo pointed to State Attorney General Letitia James’ investigation into allegations of sexual harassment and the newly announced investigation by the state Assembly’s judiciary committee, which could span other subjects and serve as a precursor to impeachment proceedings.
It’s a stunning fall from grace for the third-term governor, one of the most powerful men in New York, who is facing ongoing fallout from two colliding scandals: multiple allegations of inappropriate sexual conduct and sexual harassment, and for intentionally hiding the full number of nursing home residents who died from COVID-19 for nearly a year.
The governor addressed reporters Friday in a conference call where his staffers allowed just four reporters to ask questions before shutting the briefing down. Gothamist/WNYC reporters have not been able to ask the governor a direct question since the first allegation of sexual harassment emerged more than two weeks ago. Two press events held in the last two weeks have excluded reporters. Gothamist/WNYC managed to enter one of those events at the Javits Center, but was surrounded by security staff and escorted into a side room, unable to pose a question.
READ MORE: How Does Impeachment Work In New York
Cuomo’s comments came shortly after even more accounts of inappropriate sexual conduct and aggressive bullying by the governor and his top aides emerged in reporting from New York Magazine and the New York Times.
In a first-person account, reporter Jessica Bakeman described an encounter at a holiday party for the Albany press corps held in the governor’s executive mansion in 2014, where Cuomo wrapped his arm around her back, put his hand on her waist, grabbed her hand so she was unable to wriggle free, and forced her to pose for a photo.
Cuomo joked about making her uncomfortable, adding, “I thought we were going steady,” Bakeman wrote in New York magazine.
A second piece in the magazine, written by Rebecca Traister, outlined a sprawling look at the management style of Cuomo and his top aides and detailed several troubling encounters involving two young women who were sought out by Cuomo’s top aides and offered jobs after meeting them at social events and taking a liking to them.
State Senator Alessandra Biaggi, a former Cuomo staffer, told the publication Cuomo kissed her on the head and eye at a wedding and asked her fiance, standing nearby, if he was jealous. Biaggi provided the publication with aggressive texts she got from Cuomo’s top aide Melissa DeRosa calling her a “terrible person” who was “full of shit,” after Biaggi had tweeted criticism of Cuomo’s handling of the pandemic last May.
A third report in the New York Times described a similarly toxic and sexist work environment, particularly for young women.
READ MORE: See Timeline Of Cuomo's Colliding Scandals
In a seemingly orchestrated cascade, members of New York’s Democratic Delegation sent out statements Friday morning that called for Cuomo’s resignation. By evening, U.S. Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer and Senator Kirsten Gillibrand released a joint statement, "Due to the multiple, credible sexual harassment and misconduct allegations, it is clear that Governor Cuomo has lost the confidence of his governing partners and the people of New York. Governor Cuomo should resign."
Democratic leadership in the State Assembly authorized their own investigation into Cuomo’s conduct Thursday afternoon, in what could be a precursor to impeachment, though more left-leaning members of the body feared it was a stall tactic, “buying the governor time.” An announcement from the Speaker’s office Thursday evening provided no details about the expected start or duration of the investigation.
Despite the mounting opposition, Cuomo deployed a new line of defense on Friday, appealing to the voters who have elected him for public office over decades.
“They elected me Attorney General, they elected me governor three times. I have been in the public eye my entire life,” he said, even invoking his time as a young staffer on his late-father Mario Cuomo’s campaign.
Making it clear that no politician was going to persuade him to leave his gubernatorial perch, Cuomo made his appeal to those same supporters, hoping they would see through what he cast as a politically-motivated attempt to damage him.
“My entire life I have been under public scrutiny,” said Cuomo. “New Yorkers know me.”
Allegations of Andrew Cuomo's Inappropriate Behavior Towards Women
2000: When Cuomo oversaw the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Karen Hinton, who also subsequently worked for Mayor Bill de Blasio, was summoned to a dimly lit hotel room after a work function. Hinton says Cuomo drew her in for a long, uncomfortable embrace, but then she backed away.
2012-2014: Reporter Jessica Bakeman described numerous incidents where Cuomo acted questionably, including the governor grabbing her and holding her by his side for several minutes while talking to other reporters, joking about them "going steady" and about making her uncomfortable.
2013-2015: Ana Liss was a fellow in Cuomo’s office who says Cuomo regularly kissed her on the cheek and hand, commented on her appearance, touched her on the small of her back at social functions, while other staffers in the office told her Cuomo liked blondes and told her to wear heels when he was in Albany.
2015-2018: Lindsey Boylan, who worked for Cuomo as a deputy secretary for economic development and a special advisor to Cuomo, says he suggested they play “strip poker,” went out of his way to touch parts of her body, and kissed her after a private meeting in his offices.
2016: A former staffer named Kaitlin said that she was hired to work in the governor's office after he saw her at an event, and said that other attractive female staffers were hired in a similar fashion. "We all knew that this was only because of what I looked like," she said.
2018: State Senator Alessandra Biaggi left her job in the governor's office to launch her campaign when, a few months before the election, she saw the governor at a wedding. She said Cuomo kissed her head twice and then her eye before asking her fiancé if he was jealous.
2019: Anna Ruch met Cuomo in passing at a wedding in September. She says Cuomo slipped his hand down her back, grabbed her face with both hands and kissed her on the cheek against her will.
2020: Charlotte Bennett, an aide to Cuomo at the time, described several encounters where Cuomo asked her if she was comfortable dating older men, suggested she get a tattoo on her butt, and wondered if she was sensitive to intimacy because of a previous sexual assault.
Late 2020: Another aide, who hasn’t gone public with the allegations, told her supervisors in the governor’s office that she was summoned to his mansion to work, where Cuomo groped her under her blouse, according to a report from the Times Union. The matter has been referred to the Albany police.
Brigid Bergin
Brigid Bergin is an award-winning senior reporter on the People and Power desk. She is fiercely committed to telling stories that help people engage and support democracy. In 2022, she hosted a live, ten-week call-in politics show ahead of the midterm elections called The People's Guide to Power. Brigid's reporting in 2017 included some of the first coverage of a political newcomer now known as AOC. In 2016, she broke the news of a voter purge in Brooklyn just days before New York’s presidential primary, triggering city, state and federal investigations. Brigid also guest hosts The Brian Lehrer Show and All Of It. She graduated from the University at Albany and the CUNY Newmark School of Journalism. Got a tip? Email [email protected] or Signal 917-723-4719.
Read more
Gwynne Hogan
Gwynne Hogan is a former Gothamist reporter.
Read more
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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