VIDEOH, NO FOR CUOMO
Footage subpoenaed
Authorities investigating the alleged groping of an aide by former Gov. Andrew Cuomo have served six subpoenas for surveillance videos and other possible evidence, The Post has learned.
The subpoenas — which also seek records of phone calls and keycard swipes at secure entrances — were served on the Executive Mansion, where the incident allegedly occurred, and the state Capitol, where accuser Brittany Commisso works, the source said.
The effort is aimed at “creating a timeline to verify who was there and when,” the source said.
Albany County District Attorney David Soares, who issued the subpoenas, hasn’t launched a grand-jury investigation of Commisso’s allegations, but information “is starting to come in” and the probe is expected to “expand a lot,” the source said.
State Attorney General Letitia James’ devastating, 168page sexual harassment report against Cuomo — which led him to resign — alleges that he reached under Commisso’s blouse and grabbed one of her breasts on Nov. 16.
Cuomo had denied any wrongdoing and his defense lawyer, Rita Glavin, has seized on the Nov. 16 date, saying that it’s not supported by e-mails and other records and shows that Commisso’s account, “as stated as fact in the report, is false.”
Commisso’s lawyer has said “she does not know the date” but “was there the day he did what she alleged.”
Commisso, 33, filed a complaint against Cuomo, 63, with the Albany County Sheriff ’s Office on Aug. 6 and later told CBS News and the Albany Times-Union she did so because “what he did to me was a crime.”
On Monday, she returned to the sheriff ’s office and was interviewed for several hours by investigators and an Albany County assistant DA.
“Her story hasn’t deviated,” the source said.
Under state law, “forcible touching” of someone’s “sexual or other intimate parts” can be prosecuted as a misdemeanor punishable by up to one year in jail.
Commisso’s allegation that Cuomo molested her is the most serious made by any of the 11 women who’ve accused him of sexually harassing them while he was governor.
Nine of the accusers are current or former state employees, and include a state trooper who was assigned to his protective detail, according to James’ report.