Report: Current aide accuses Gov. Cuomo of harassment
ALBANY, N.Y. – A woman who works in the office of New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said he looked down her shirt and made suggestive remarks to her and another aide, according to a newspaper report published Friday.
Alyssa McGrath told The New York Times that Cuomo called her beautiful in Italian, referred to her and her female colleague as “mingle mamas,” asked why she wasn’t wearing a wedding ring and inquired about her divorce.
“He has a way of making you feel very comfortable around him, almost like you’re his friend,” McGrath told the newspaper. “But then you walk away from the encounter or conversation, in your head going, ‘I can’t believe I just had that interaction with the governor of New York.’ ”
McGrath is the first current aide to come forward publicly to join mounting allegations of sexual misconduct against Cuomo. His behavior with women is the subject of an investigation overseen by the state’s attorney general and a separate impeachment investigation by the New York Assembly, the state’s lower legislative chamber.
McGrath told The New York Times that her female colleague was the same woman the governor is accused of groping in the Executive Mansion, an allegation that was revealed in a report earlier this month in the Times Union of Albany.
That aide hasn’t been identified publicly. McGrath said the woman spoke with her in detail about what happened to her after the Times Union report was published.
Cuomo, a Democrat, has repeatedly denied allegations of sexual misconduct. An attorney for him told The New York Times that Cuomo has used Italian phrases like “ciao bella,” which means “hello beautiful,” and greeted both men and women alike with hugs and a kiss.
“None of this is remarkable, although it may be old-fashioned,” attorney Rita Glavin said. “He has made clear that he has never made inappropriate advances or inappropriately touched anyone.”
McGrath did not accuse the governor of inappropriate touching, but described a time when she was sitting alone with Cuomo for a dictation session when she caught him gazing at her.
“I put my head down waiting for him to start speaking, and he didn’t start speaking,” she told The Times. “So I looked up to see what was going on. And he was blatantly looking down my shirt.”
She said Cuomo then asked “What’s on your necklace?”
Democratic Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie on Friday said the body’s impeachment investigation will examine “all credible allegations” against the governor, including whether he used his office to sexually harass or assault employees.
Other subjects under investigation, Heastie said, will include whether Cuomo withheld information on COVID-19 deaths in nursing homes from the public, and his administration’s handling of safety concerns at a newly constructed bridge over the Hudson River.
Other aspects of the investigation, including how long it will take and how public its proceedings or findings will be, are still being determined.