Cuomo faces criminal complaint
Pressure mounts on N.Y. governor to resign
Lawyers for New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo remained defiant in the face of intensifying pressure on the governor to resign, even as the three-term Democrat confronts possible criminal investigations in four New York counties and potential impeachment proceedings.
“I know the difference between putting together a case against a target versus doing independent fact-finding with an open mind,” Cuomo's lawyer, Rita Glavin, said Friday at a virtual news conference hours after a former employee who accused him of groping her in the Executive Mansion in Albany filed a criminal complaint.
The woman is one of 11 who told New York Attorney General Letitia James that Cuomo sexually harassed them and created a “climate of fear” in his offices.
James report, released on Tuesday, said Cuomo, 63, groped the former staffer and gave unwanted kisses, hugs and touches to multiple women, including a trooper on his detail.
The defence laid out by Glavin and lawyer Paul Fishman on Friday was that James sprung her report on them without notice and that many of the allegations were either not true or described out of context.
Cuomo has denied the allegations and remains hunkered down in the Governor's Mansion. The press briefing was the clearest indication yet that despite calls for his resignation from the White House, the state Democratic party and the Assembly, he wasn't ready to step down.
“This investigation was conducted in a manner to support a predetermined narrative,” said Glavin, who accused the investigators as acting as “prosecutors, judge and jury.”
The governor's lawyers said they didn't get copies of the underlying evidence or interview transcripts and weren't given a chance to respond before the report was released.
James's office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Glavin disputed claims by a number of accusers, including the former staffer who went to police with a claim that Cuomo had groped her.
Earlier Friday, the Albany County sheriff 's office confirmed it had received a criminal complaint against Cuomo. According to James's report, Cuomo reached under the staffer's blouse and grabbed her breast while at the Executive Mansion. Cuomo's office didn't respond Friday but a spokesman said it had informed the Albany police department of the groping accusation in March after the aide made claims that surfaced in the Albany Times-union.
In her response Friday, Glavin said the governor “was stunned” by the claim and denied it happened, saying he lived his life “under a microscope” and wouldn't behave that way.
Glavin questioned whether the attorney general interviewed other staffers who were in the mansion at the time. Glavin said a timeline reconstructed by Cuomo's lawyers disproves the accuser's narrative and cited emails from the staffer commenting about how she was enjoying eating cheese and crackers at the Executive Mansion.
“She was joking while she was there. She was eating snacks and even offered to stay longer when the work was done,” Glavin said.
Glavin also said that if Cuomo slammed a door behind him, which the accuser said occurred before he groped her, none of the staffers present heard it.
Mariann Wang, an attorney for two of Cuomo's accusers, said Cuomo's lawyers' response ignored “the most fundamental facts: that nearly all these women are employees working for or with the governor, who have been groomed and manipulated by him, the most powerful person in the state.”
Glavin also declined to comment directly on the allegation that Cuomo harassed a state trooper on his security detail. Glavin said the governor wished to address the accusation “soon.”
The governor's attorneys were given until Aug. 13 to turn over any evidence or other materials to the Assembly Judiciary Committee, which is deciding whether to proceed with an impeachment inquiry.
The panel is scheduled to meet Monday. Lawmakers have also asked the state attorney general's office to forward any evidence that Cuomo broke state and federal harassment laws.
Cuomo and some of his aides also retaliated against at least one former employee for coming forward, James said.
Cuomo denied the findings of James's report in a taped rebuttal Tuesday. “I never touched anyone inappropriately or made inappropriate sexual advances,” he said. “That is just not who I am or who I have ever been.”