Cuo lawyer: A lot less than 11 vics!
[The report] must clarify that the governor did not sexually harass 11 women in violation of the law. — Lawyer Rita Glavin (right)
Sure, he may have been found to have sexually harassed three or four women — but not 11.
That’s the unusual argument put forward by disgraced ex-Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s lawyer in a brash Friday filing that attacked both his many accusers and state Attorney General Letitia James, whose office led an investigation that found Cuomo broke state and federal harassment laws.
In a 10-page missive to state Assembly Judiciary Committee Chairman Charles Lavine (D-Glen Cove) and committee lawyers, Cuomo attorney Rita Glavin sought to prevent the panel from adopting James’ findings in their own soon-to-be-released impeachment probe report.
Stunningly, Glavin insisted that the Judiciary Committee report “must clarify that the governor did not sexually harass 11 women in violation of the law, and the report did not find this.
“Indeed,” Glavin continued, “even if you were to accept every complaint as fact (which we do not), more than half of the complainant’s allegations do not meet the standard of sexual harassment set forth in law.”
“Each time the press repeats the false statement that the report found that my client sexually harassed 11 women, my client is further prejudiced,” she added before warning: “If the Assembly is to go along with this false narrative, you will be creating a new standard for sexual harassment that every member of the legislature must be prepared to be judged by.”
Friday’s letter was the second that Glavin has fired off to Lavine and the Davis Polk & Wardwell lawyers retained by the committee that notifies them of her request to “amend, correct and supplement” what she described as a “flawed, unreliable and misleading” report
released by James on Aug. 3. The report corroborated claims by 11 women who alleged Cuomo sexually harassed them.
“They’re setting up to undermine the Assembly report just like they did with the Attorney General’s report,” one state government source told The Post upon review of the letter, noting Cuomo aides repeatedly made public statements that James had political aspirations and wanted to run for governor, and that was the motivation behind her report’s results.
In Friday’s letter, Glavin argued that state law defined
sexual harassment as “workplace discrimination for employees and covers gender-based harassment and is unlawful when ‘it subjects an individual to inferior terms, conditions, or privileges of employment.’ ”
By contrast, Glavin suggested, actions by Cuomo that the James report considered to be sexual harassment were, in fact, “’petty slights’ or ‘trivial inconveniences.’ ”
She also attacked Brittany Commisso — the state aide who accused Cuomo of groping her in the Executive Mansion during the work day — claiming her story had “evolved over time” and that she had been “materially inconsistent in her various descriptions of what occurred.”
Commisso filed a criminal complaint with the Albany County Sheriff ’s office shortly after the report’s public release. That complaint is now being investigated in conjunction with the Albany County District Attorney’s Office.
A source close to the probe said Commisso’s story “has not deviated” following several interviews.
Additional reporting by Samuel Chamberlain