Criminal probes & possible impeach are still looming
Gov. Cuomo’s shocking resignation Tuesday finally put an end to the demands that he leave office in disgrace — but he still faces multiple criminal investigations and a potential impeachment that could bar him from running for office again.
Cuomo is also planning to move out of Albany’s Executive Mansion without a home of his own and a ruined reputation that could sink an attempt to buy a place that requires the approval of any would-be neighbors.
Cuomo, 63, likely has no idea where he’ll go, one longtime pal told The Post, while another predicted the nearly three-term Democrat will “take a long vacation” before he starts thinking about trying to rebuild his shattered life.
But any planning could prove premature, with at least five district attorneys — in Manhattan and Albany, as well as Nassau, Westchester and Oswego counties — investigating allegations contained in the sexual-harassment report issued Aug. 3 by state Attorney General Letitia James that led Cuomo to throw in the towel.
One of the 11 women that James said Cuomo harassed — executive assistant Brittany Commisso, 32 — last week filed a complaint against him with the Albany County Sheriff ’s Office.
That led Sheriff Craig Apple to say that Cuomo could face “a couple” of misdemeanor charges over allegations he groped her breast and grabbed her butt on separate occasions.
James has also said that her office is still conducting a criminal probe into whether Cuomo misused government resources by having state employees help produce and promote his memoir, “American Crisis: Leadership Lessons from the COVID-19 Pandemic,” which he sold to the Crown Publishing Group for $5.1 million.
There are also the FBI and Brooklyn US Attorney’s Office investigations of Cuomo and his administration’s handling of nursing homes during the coronavirus crisis, sparked by The Post’s revelation that then-top aide Melissa DeRosa admitted to Democratic lawmakers that state officials had covered up the total nursing home death toll from COVID-19.
“We need to proceed to hold him accountable for the nursing home deaths and the book deal. That’s not going away,” said Assemblyman Ron Kim (D-Queens), one of the governor’s most outspoken critics.
Cuomo’s resignation, which he said takes effect in two weeks, came one day after Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie (D-Bronx) said an impeachment probe launched in March would be wrapped up “with all due haste.”
Assembly Judiciary Committee Chairman Charles Lavine (D-Long Island) vowed that any articles of impeachment drawn up against Cuomo “will be airtight.”
It was unclear Tuesday how Cuomo’s resignation would affect that process, which could lead to a sentence barring him from seeking office again were he convicted after a trial in the state Senate.
“The committee will meet and determine where we go from here,” said Assemblyman Tom Abinanti (D-Westchester), a member of the committee.
“Whether we can pursue impeachment as a political and legal matter is something we’re looking at. Our lawyers are looking at it.”
Abinanti also said he believed the committee had “an obligation to report back to the Assembly” regardless of whether it approved articles of impeachment.
A Democratic member of the Assembly who spoke on condition of anonymity said legislators may no longer have the political appetite to impeach Cuomo.
“It’s a lot of work and expense,” the source said. “There’s a legitimate question whether there is such a thing as impeaching someone who is no longer the governor. The one substantive action that could be taken would be to bar him from future office.”
Given Cuomo’s notoriety and rock-bottom poll numbers, the source added, “I doubt that’s something we need to worry about.”
The Sexual Harassment Working Group, made up of former legislative employees, demanded that the Assembly “continue its impeachment investigation, and the Court of Impeachment should convict Cuomo and prevent him from running for public office in the future.”
“We continue to call on the Assembly to break its habit of offering an escape hatch for sexual predators in the workplace,” the group said in a statement. “For decades, we have experienced and seen women and men suffer the consequences of legislators’ ethically bankrupt nonchalance.”
A longtime Cuomo pal, when asked where the soon-to-be-exgovernor would likely relocate, said, “I don’t know that he knows.”
Cuomo doesn’t own any property in his own name and hasn’t lived in a private residence since his 2019 split from celebrity chef Sandra Lee. When Cuomo separated from Kerry Kennedy in 2002, he reportedly moved into the United Nations Plaza apartment of pal Jeffrey Sachs, a well-known health-care consultant.
Cuomo also has family members he could hit up for temporary living quarters, including his younger brother, CNN anchor Chris.