‘Everything on the table’
Assembly Judiciary Committee holds first hearing in Cuomo impeachment investigation
The Assembly Judiciary Committee on Tuesday held its first public hearing as part of the impeachment inquiry against Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, introducing three attorneys from the Davis Polk & Wardwell law firm who will be heading the investigation.
The attorneys — Greg Andres, Martine Beamon and Angela Burgess — have extensive experience in white-collar criminal investigations. Andres was on Robert Mueller’s team that investigated alleged collusion between the presidential campaign of Donald J. Trump and the Kremlin. Beamon is a former federal prosecutor in the Southern District of New York and Burgess is the co-chair of Davis Polk’s white-collar defense and investigations group.
Judiciary Committee Chair Charles Lavine described Burgess
as “one of the top anticorruption investigators in the United States.”
“Everything is on the table,’’ he said of the investigation’s parameters.
Cohoes Assemblyman John Mcdonald, in remarks from a private meeting among that chamber’s Democratic conference, had recently commented that the governor has “three major buckets of sh— going on here.” Those three issues, which will be a focus of the investigation, are the governor’s alleged sexual harassment of female aides, his administration’s alleged cover-up of nursing home deaths and questions about whether his administration had properly investigated
structural issues with the Gov. Mario M. Cuomo bridge.
But the investigation is not limited to those areas, the attorneys said. As they responded to questions from members of the Assembly’s committee, they emphasized repeatedly that the investigation will be an “iterative process,” where they communicate with the members of the committee to investigate any issues that arise. One of the attorneys said that their investigation will likely include allegations of retaliation from the Executive Chamber against Lindsey Boylan, the first woman to accuse Cuomo of sexual harassment, as well as allegations of a generally hostile workplace environment, including encouraging women to dress up in order to be hired or promoted.
Lavine emphasized that he wants the process to be transparent and thorough to bolster public faith in its ultimate findings, but he said future evidence and any articles of impeachment would be discussed only in closeddoor sessions for the committee.
Some of the committee members pressed the attorneys on potential conflicts of interest, referencing reports that Dennis Glazer, the husband of Janet Difiore, the chief judge of the Court of Appeals, was a longtime partner at Davis Polk before he retired. Difiore was appointed by Cuomo.
The investigators responded that their firm had cleared them of conflicts internally, and Lavine said the Assembly’s leadership had checked the firm’s background. He added that legal ethicists had also opined publicly that there was no conflict. The attorneys did not directly answer when asked if any of them socialized with Glazer.
Some initial steps in the investigation have already begun.
Lavine said he served the governor with a “notice of non-retaliation” to inform Cuomo that he and his staff “should take no steps in intimidating a witness or potential witness.” Anders added that
his team has “already had discussions with some of the relevant parties about preserving documents so we can gather those quickly.”
He said the team will conduct interviews and evaluate whether subpoenas are needed to mandate cooperation. Their subpoenas will be authorized by the committee.
The attorneys also acknowledged that their investigation will be conducted separately from ongoing investigations of some of the same matters by the state attorney general’s office and the U.S. Justice Department.
“We will work to coordinate to the extent possible with the relevant investigators in this case,” Anders said. “I think that is a concern that everybody involved in the various investigations shares: We don’t want to interfere with each other’s investigations.”
Lavine concluded the meeting by saying that the committee has been studying the precedents set by the impeachment of Gov. William Sulzer in 1913.
“I can’t help but think that 108 years from now, and even longer than 108 years from now, people will be concerned and will study what it is we as a state Legislature are doing,” he said.