Cuomo refuses to step down
New York governor faces political isolation after refusal to resign in wake of sexual harassment allegations.
ALBANY, N.Y. — Facing unprecedented political isolation, a defiant New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo insisted Friday that he would not step down in the wake of mounting allegations of sexual harassment and groping even as he condemned the sprawling coalition of Democrats calling for his resignation as “reckless and dangerous.”
Later Friday, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand joined the calls on Cuomo to resign, adding the most powerful Democratic voices yet to demands that the governor leave office.
“Confronting and overcoming the Covid crisis requires sure and steady leadership. We commend the brave actions of the individuals who have come forward with serious allegations of abuse and misconduct,” New York’s two U.S. senators said in a joint statement.
“Due to the multiple, credible sexual harassment and misconduct allegations, it is clear that Governor Cuomo has lost the confidence of his governing partners and the people of New York,” they said. “Governor Cuomo should resign.”
Both had earlier said an independent investigation into the allegations by several women against Cuomo was essential.
The three-term Democratic governor, a leading critic of former President Donald Trump’s pandemic response, evoked the Republican president in defending himself against “cancel culture.”
“I’m not going to resign,” Cuomo said during an afternoon phone call with reporters. “I did not do what has been alleged. Period.”
He added: “People know the difference between playing politics, bowing to cancel culture and the truth.”
The embattled governor’s comments came on a day his party in New York and beyond turned sharply against him in the wake of the harassment allegations and criticism of Cuomo for keeping secret how many nursing home residents died of COVID-19 for months.
Cuomo’s growing list of detractors now covers virtually every region in the state and the political power centers of New York City and Washington. A majority of Democrats in the state legislature and 19 of the state’s 27 U.S. House members have called on him to step down.
Dozens of Democrats had already called out Cuomo this week, but the coalition of critics expanded geographically and politically on Friday to include the likes of New York City progressive Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez; the leader of the House Democratic campaign arm, Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney; and a group of Long Islandbased state lawmakers who had been considered loyal Cuomo allies.
“The victims of sexual assault concern me more than politics or other narrow considerations, and I believe Gov. Cuomo must step aside,” said Maloney, a Democrat.
Ocasio-Cortez said she believes the women who have accused the threeterm Democratic governor of wrongdoing.
“After two accounts of sexual assault, four accounts of harassment, the Attorney General’s investigation finding the Governor’s admin hid nursing home data from the legislature and public, we agree with the 55+ members of the New York State legislature that the Governor must resign,” she tweeted.
Cuomo on Friday insisted that he never touched anyone inappropriately and said again that he’s sorry if he ever made anyone uncomfortable by his behavior.
The state Assembly allowed an impeachment investigation into Cuomo on Thursday as lawmakers investigate whether there are grounds for his forcible removal from office.