Probe: ‘Overwhelming evidence’ Cuomo engaged in sexual harassment
An eight-month investigation by the New York state Assembly found “overwhelming evidence” that former Gov. Andrew Cuomo engaged in sexual harassment while in office, corroborating a damning investigation by the state attorney general that Cuomo has repeatedly tried to discredit.
The investigation also found that Cuomo abused his power to help produce what would become a $5.1 million pandemic memoir, providing new details about just how much of the governor’s staff was used to help him write, publish and promote his book.
The Assembly inquiry was meant to create a road map for potential impeachment proceedings against Cuomo, a three-term governor whose unrelenting style of leadership engendered varying amounts of fear, respect and animus. But that prospect was rendered moot after he resigned in disgrace in August, a week after the release of the attorney general’s report, which concluded that he had sexually harassed 11 women.
After Cuomo stepped down, Carl E. Heastie, the Assembly speaker and a longtime ally of the ex-governor’s, moved to suspend the Assembly investigation, contending that lawmakers lacked the constitutional authority to impeach an official no longer in office.
But Heastie reversed course after facing an immediate bipartisan backlash from lawmakers who argued that the Assembly should, at minimum, finish the taxpayer-funded investigation and make public its findings.
The result was a 46-page report released Monday that went beyond the sexual harassment accusations, further damaging Cuomo’s legacy and his continued attempts — fueled by $18 million in unspent campaign funds — to preserve it.
Investigators hired by the Assembly Judiciary Committee concluded that Cuomo, a Democrat, used state workers and other public resources to write, publish and promote his memoir about his handling of the coronavirus pandemic, a likely violation of state ethics laws.
The inquiry also found Cuomo “was not fully transparent regarding the number of nursing home residents who died as a result of COVID-19.”