Cuomo’s defensive line drawn
Former aides to the governor helped shape strategy as accusations mounted
In December, a former economic development aide to Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo became the first woman to publicly accuse him of sexual harassment, tweeting that Cuomo was “one of the biggest abusers of all time.”
Lindsey Boylan’s decision to come forward, at a time when Cuomo was still nationally popular, set off a furious internal debate in Cuomo’s camp about how and whether to retaliate.
And as a political crisis grew in the following months, quiet conversations about how to combat the allegations did not just
include current Cuomo staffers. They also included an array of former high-ranking administration officials, most of whom now work for private interests.
Those details are revealed in a 168-page report issued on Tuesday by state Attorney General Letitia James, which finds Cuomo and members of his administration had allegedly violated both state and federal laws, including by retaliating against Boylan. (An attorney representing Cuomo’s office has criticized the report’s authors for burying a detailed legal rebuttal to the retaliation allegation in a footnote.) While Cuomo denied the report’s conclusion that he sexually harassed women over the course of years, the findings have prompted the state Assembly to hasten impeachment proceedings.
As Cuomo faces the likely prospect of removal, also at risk are the reputations of members of his inner circle, whose emails, texts and group chats are extensively detailed in the report, and made public in attached exhibits. They show that some of the advisers were deeply involved in the efforts, others on the periphery. Some also urge caution about shaming accusers. And some of the former aides say that during the efforts, they were unaware of the full scope of Cuomo’s alleged misconduct.
Still, after Boylan’s tweets in December, Cuomo’s top government staffer soon decided to leak Boylan’s confidential personnel file, against the advice of some in the tight-knit circle. Certain Cuomo confidants — including several involved in prominent groups that fight discrimination — advised Cuomo about a proposed op-ed attacking Boylan, which was never published. And at least one former staffer was enlisted to find out whether a woman allegedly harassed by Cuomo was speaking to the media.
Richard Azzopardi, Cuomo’s longtime spokesman and one of his most ardent defenders, testified to investigators that the outside advisers were “people who have been with us for a long time who we could trust.”
“When you feel like you’re in battle, you turn to those you trust,” Azzopardi testified.
“Proven, personal loyalty”
None of the outside advisers was officially retained by the Executive Chamber. Instead, they quietly did the work on a volunteer basis while holding day jobs for private interests.
Yet the outside advisers “were regularly provided with confidential and often privileged information about state operations,” the attorney general’s report concludes, and helped make “decisions that impacted state business and employees — all without any formal role, duty, or obligation to the state.” Their common thread was “proven, personal loyalty to the governor,” and their roles reflected “how loyalty and personal ties were valued as much, if not more,” to Cuomo than any “official function or role in state government.”
Former government or campaign aides enlisted included Lis Smith, a Democratic consultant and a senior adviser to 2020 Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg; Joshua Vlasto and Rich Bamberger, who work as the consulting firm Kivvit; Steven Cohen, an attorney who is a former secretary to the governor and has worked as a consultant for the prominent investment holding company Macandrews and Forbes; Alphonso David, president of the Human Rights Campaign, a major national organization that fights for LGBTQ rights; Dani Lever, a communications manager at Facebook; and the governor’s brother, Chris Cuomo, a prominent anchor who hosts a prime-time program on CNN.
Kivvit — a New York Citybased firm founded by Cuomo’s former campaign manager — has this year registered as a lobbyist for 10 clients with business before state government, although the firm says it does not directly lobby Cuomo or anyone else. Another person involved in the Cuomo efforts, former aide Cathy Calhoun, is managing director at Accenture, a consulting firm with tens-ofmillions of dollars in state contracts. Calhoun herself has not worked as a lobbyist for the company in New York, according to the company’s lobbying disclosures.
“Give them the docs!”
Melissa DeRosa, the secretary to the governor, made the ultimate decision to release Boylan’s personnel records, the report states. As Cuomo’s top aide, DeRosa has made fighting for women’s rights a significant part of her public persona.
In December, DeRosa reached out to David, Cuomo’s former chief counsel, about obtaining Boylan’s “full file.” David passed along files relating to an internal investigation into Boylan shortly before her 2018 departure from the Executive Chamber.
Vlasto, Cuomo’s at-times combative former chief of staff and spokesman, told investigators that he had supported disclosing the files as long as it was legally permissible, because they provided “relevant context for the reporters.”
“Give them the docs!” Vlasto wrote to Cuomo advisers Dec. 13.
DeRosa decided to release the personnel file that day because Boylan’s tweets had gotten “more and more escalating,” she told investigators. Azzopardi sent the confidential files to reporters at several media outlets, including to a reporter for the Times Union. The files discussed complaints made against Boylan while she worked in Cuomo’s office.
According to Azzopardi, Boylan had made public statements on Twitter and in the media that “she left because of a toxic workplace.” Azzopardi had told reporters that Boylan “got fired after being confronted,” and when they asked him to prove it, Azzopardi provided the files to prove the allegation, the report states.
But according to the attorney general’s report, the files themselves state that Boylan resigned voluntarily, with one part noting, under the heading, “Ms. Boylan’s Resignation,” that David said at a meeting with Boylan that she was not being asked to resign, being fired, or pushed out in any way.
In her testimony, Cuomo special counsel Judith Mogul denied that the files were personnel records, confidential or legally privileged. DeRosa and Mogul did not discuss whether releasing the files could be considered retaliation, the report states.
The files were shared with various people who were outside of the Executive Chamber and not state employees, including Cohen, Vlasto and Bamberger, without “any discussion of whether that was appropriate or permissible,” the report states.
DeRosa testified she only notified Cuomo about releasing the personnel file after the Executive Chamber had already leaked it, since she wanted to “protect him from any criticism.”
An unpublished attack
Several days later, in midDecember, Cuomo and certain advisers worked up a draft of a “possible letter or op-ed,” which was to be signed by former Cuomo staff that had worked with Boylan and the governor.
That draft included complaints against Boylan from the confidential files, and allegations about interactions between Boylan and male colleagues. It attacked her allegations as “politically motivated,” the report states, and included theories about her connections with supporters of President Donald J. Trump, as well as an unnamed politician with an alleged interest in running for governor.
Two Cuomo aides testified that the governor wrote the first draft; Cuomo testified that he did not “remember handwriting any document” but had “participated in drafts.”
Cuomo directed DeRosa to seek input from “some of the folks on the team,” including Roberta Kaplan, a New York City-based attorney and cofounder of the Time’s Up Legal Defense Fund, an organization that supports individuals “who’ve experienced sexual harassment or retaliation at work to come forward.” (Kaplan was also the private counsel to DeRosa during the attorney general’s investigation.)
According to DeRosa’s testimony, Kaplan read the letter to the head of Times Up — Tina Tchen — and both suggested that without the statements about Boylan’s interactions with male colleagues, the letter was “fine.”
On Wednesday, Kaplan told The Washington Post that she tried to respond to the governor’s office in a way consistent with the mission of Time’s Up, making it “very clear that any response should never shame an accuser.” Given the attorney general’s revelations, Kaplan has now called on Cuomo to resign.
Tchen said in an interview with the Post that she did not remember the particulars of what she discussed with Kaplan, but was angry Cuomo’s office used the conversation internally to justify the letter, telling the Post she was confident that she would have pushed back on any effort to attack Boylan.
David, president of the Human Rights Campaign, told the Post that when he was first approached about the letter, he was not aware of the extent of the allegations against Cuomo.
“The facts as outlined in the report are devastating,” David told the newspaper. “Seeking our engagement without disclosing all of the relevant facts about any and all survivors is reprehensible.”
David’s role in the matter has sparked discord at the LBGTQ rights organization and internal questions about his resignation, the Post reported. While the nonprofit’s chairs have expressed “full confidence,” a planned publicity campaign over David’s new contract has been delayed at David’s request.
Aides inside and outside the Cuomo administration sent the letter to former Executive Chamber staff members, asking them to sign, or get others to sign. Although the letter was never published, more than a dozen people inside and outside the Chamber saw drafts of the letter, the report says, and it was provided to members of the media.
When the letter was factchecked by a Cuomo aide, many of the allegations against Boylan proved to be unverified. Cuomo eventually “accepted the group’s view” that the letter was a bad idea. In his testimony, according to the report, Cuomo drew a comparison with Abraham Lincoln’s practice of handwriting a long response to an article that infuriated him, then crumpling up the response and throwing it out.
Cuomo testified that, “like Lincoln, the writing process was cathartic” for him.
“Making the rounds”
The circle also engaged in efforts to determine which former Executive Chamber staffers might be “supportive of Boylan” or might have their “own allegations of harassment,” according to the report.
In mid-December, the report states, DeRosa and Benton asked certain former Executive
Chamber staff members to contact other former staff.
One former staffer — referred to in the James report only as “Kaitlin” — posted a tweet in support of Boylan in December. In response, DeRosa “insisted” that an unnamed former Cuomo staff member call Kaitlin to find out if she was working with Boylan, had her own allegations against Cuomo, or was talking to reporters, the report states.
A transcript of the Dec. 17 phone call, between Kaitlin and the unnamed former staffer, is included in the addendum to the James report.
“I just wanted to reach out because, like, your tweets are definitely making the rounds with reporters and I wasn’t sure if you know or — I definitely wanted to let you know,” the
“
AG report may find no offense but will find inappropriate behavior so why not get out ahead of this now. So the pattern of all these allegations is addressed with this effort for counseling and training.”
— Unnamed former Cuomo consultant
former staffer said.
Kaitlin asked the former colleague which reporters had reached out.
“Folks have definitely reached out, like, the Times Union,” the former staffer said.
“I don’t know anybody in that world so I am just as surprised as you,” Kaitlin responded.
The James report details Cuomo’s hiring of “Kaitlin” to a $120,000 position — after briefly meeting her at a 2016 fundraiser — and then, repeated, demeaning comments Cuomo