Cuomo ‘asked aide if she liked sex with older men’
... AFTER PAPARAZZI PICS WERE BANG BANG OUT OF ORDER
A FORMER aide to New York governor Andrew Cuomo says he asked about her sex life – including whether she was monogamous and if she had sex with older men. Charlotte Bennett, 25, says the comments were sexual advances and has accused the Democrat of harassment. It comes after another former aide, Lindsey Boylan, 3 , said he had sent her a rose on Valentine’s Day and kissed her on the mouth.
The divorced dad of three daughters, 3, has agreed to an independent investigation into the claims. He denies any wrongdoing or ‘intent to offend anyone’, but said: ‘I now understand that my interactions may have been insensitive or too personal, and that some of
my comments, given my position, made others feel in ways I never intended.’
Senior Democrats last night joined Republican calls for the resignation of Mr Cuomo, who gave daily Covid TV briefings while imposing tough rules on his hard-hit state last year.
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a New York US representative, called the women’s accounts ‘extremely serious and painful to read’. White House press secretary Jen Psaki said president Joe Biden supported an investigation.
Executive assistant Ms Bennett, who worked for Mr Cuomo for two years
until November, made her claims in The New York Times. Economic adviser Ms Boylan wrote an online essay.
Mr Cuomo initially offered to arrange his own ‘full and thorough outside review’ into the allegations.
But he now backs a probe by a lawyer chosen by New York attorney-general Letitia James. He said he meant no one any harm and was often jocular in the office and in public – pointing to banter at press conferences.
Ms James’s department has criticised his handling of the pandemic, claiming deaths were undercounted.
MYANMAR’S ousted leader has been charged with two more offences after the nation saw its bloodiest day since the military seized power.
Aung San Suu Kyi looked ‘healthy’ when she appeared in court via video – the first time she was seen since being detained in last month’s coup – said her lawyer Min Min Soe.
Yesterday she was handed two new charges – publishing information that may ‘cause fear or alarm’ and not having a licence for telecommunications equipment.
The 5-year-old had already been charged with illegally importing walkie-talkies and violating a natural disaster law by breaching Covid rules, and will next appear in court on March 15.
Ms Suu Kyi’s hearing came as her supporters across the country took to the streets in defiance of Sunday’s deadly crackdown.
Officers used tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse hundreds of protesters in Yangon yesterday, after at least 18 people were killed when
police fired at crowds on Sunday. ‘We have to continue the protest no matter what,’ said demonstrator Thar Nge in Yangon. ‘This is my neighbourhood. But now we’re hearing gunfire and don’t feel safe.’
The military did not comment on Sunday’s violence – but the state-run
Global New Light Of Myanmar paper warned of ‘severe action’ being taken against ‘anarchic mobs’.
Ministers from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, of which Myanmar is a member, are set to hold a virtual meeting with the country’s military authorities today.
P
ESSIE J ordered a new hunk to go with her side salad as she unveiled a new lockdown romance.
The Bang Bang singer has found love again, four months after her yo-yo romance with Hollywood hunk Channing Tatum finally hit the skids.
Jessie, 32, took the humorous route when she decided to go Instagram official with Max Pham Nguyen after being unhappy with paparazzi photos that first put them on the radar.
They included a shot of him having a taste of the salad on her fork outside an LA restaurant, under a headline describing dancer Max as Jessie’s ‘male pal’.
Taking the big reveal into her own hands, she shared her own loved-up snaps from their budding romance.
They included a romantic picnic, cuddling in the kitchen and making stupid faces at the camera. She added: ‘PS: He isn’t my male pal.’
Unhappy with the LA pap photos, Jessie joked: ‘THE PICS?! Yoooooo!!!,’ adding a string of laughter and crying emojis.
She said they made her look like Lord Farquaad’s dad ‘growing out an old hair cut’ or ‘an old man that owns a boat’.
And, ,p posting g her chosen selection, she wrote: ‘Max and I thought you guys deserved some better picture options…’ Jessie and 40-year-old Channing, star of the Magic Mike films, first split up in 2019, then again last April when she described her world as ‘single life in a pandemic…’ during an online chat with fans.
Reading people’s views on lockdown, I get impression some would like to keep the whole world locked down for years.
Some say that even if everybody is vaccinated people will still contract and infect, therefore restrictions should be kept in place. Isn’t the vaccination programme designed to significantly reduce deaths? Isn’t that what we are all aiming for?
Of course we are not going to eliminate deaths completely. There will always be a risk of someone having complications, even after a jab. We cannot keep the world locked down forever. People die every day in car accidents, plane accidents or during simple operations yet we don’t ban driving, flying etc.
Once vaccination effectiveness is proved in mortality statistics then restrictions should be lifted and we should all return to normality so we can rebuild fallen economies – because not doing so may cost many more lives in the long term.
Konrad, via email
It will be interesting to follow the vaccination passport saga as it unfolds. Whoever gets the contract under the Tories’ system of cronyism will have to plan and distribute the passport. The cost for this will no doubt be absurdly high and passed on to the taxpayers.
G Mather, Sunderland
There has been much concern voiced about Covid becoming a ‘disease of the poor’. After reading some of the absurd, entitled arguments in your letters page against vaccination or wearing masks, I think that it is more likely to become a disease of the stupid!
Denise Gordon, London
Please stop promoting paranoid hysteria, fascism and the destruction of human rights via your letters page. Totalitarian dictatorship in the making. Lemmings at the cliff edge!
Gertrude, Paisley
I’ve been waiting all week and finally Jon from London (MetroTalk, Fri) wrote in with the words I knew were coming regarding Covid passports – ‘it’s against my human rights’. It amazes me how many people use this term yet have zero idea what true human rights are.
There is no human right to be able to go to a pub, restaurant or cinema and there is absolutely no human right that says you must be allowed to travel abroad.
Each of these businesses or industries has the right to refuse you. I suggest you go and do some research about actual human rights.
M Corcoran, London
So now we have yet another ridiculous online petition, this time calling for Covid vaccine passports to be outlawed.
One does wonder who these ‘petitioners’ are who think up these schemes – are they the same democracysupporting folk who petitioned for a second Brexit vote because they didn’t agree with the result of the first?
I’d suggest these petitions be used as some kind of ‘idiot register’. Everyone knows they’re not worth the ‘paper’ they’re written on.
Mark Horobin. Cheltenham
I think most of the population cannot believe the government thinks front-line workers such as teachers and police didn’t deserve to be vaccinated first. The government hasn’t realised that if a teacher gets Covid then the whole school could close and the same could apply to a police station.
Julian, Leamington Spa