Schumer, Gillibrand call on Cuomo to resign
ALBANY, N.Y. — Facing unprecedented political isolation, a defiant New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo insisted on Friday that he will not step down in the wake of sexual harassment allegations and condemned the expansive coalition of Democrats calling for his resignation as “reckless and dangerous.”
By day’s end, the three-term Democratic governor had lost the support of almost his state’s entire congressional delegation. None of the defections hurt more than those of New York’s two U.S. senators, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand.
“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,” the Democratic senators wrote in a joint statement. “Governor Cuomo should resign.”
Hours before the statement, Cuomodefended himself against “cancel culture.”
“I’m not going to resign,” Cuomo said on a 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 the day his party in New York and beyond turned sharply against him following allegations of harassment as well as sweeping 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 all but a handful of the state’s 29-member congressional delegation have called on him to step down.
Dozens of Democrats had already called on Cuomo to resign this week, but the coalition of critics expanded geographically and politically on Friday to include the likes of New York City progressive U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-cortez; the leader of the House Democratic campaign arm, U.S. Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney; Buffalobased U.S. Rep. Brian Higgins; and a group of Long Island-based state lawmakers who had been Cuomo loyalists.
Cuomo on Friday insisted that he never touched anyone inappropriately and said again that he’s sorry if he ever made anyone uncomfortable. He declined to answer a direct question about whether he’s had a consensual romantic relationship with any of the women.
“I have not had a sexual relationship that was inappropriate, period,” he said.
The state Assembly allowed an impeachment investigation into Cuomo on Thursday as lawmakers investigate whether there are grounds for his forcible removal from office.
The firestorm around the governor grew after the Times Union of Albany reported Wednesday that an unidentified aide had claimed Cuomo reached under her shirt and fondled her at his official residence late last year.
Additionally, Cuomo is facing multiple allegations of sexually suggestive remarks and behavior toward women, including female aides. One aide said he asked her if she would ever have sex with an older man. And another aide claimed the governor once kissed her without consent and said the governor’s aides publicly smeared her after she accused him of sexual harassment.
President Joe Biden and fellow leaders of the Indo-pacific group known as the Quad have announced a plan to expand coronavirus vaccine manufacturing capacity in India.
The effort to expand production and promote access to the vaccine in the region was unveiled Friday following a virtual meeting of the leaders of Australia, India, Japan and the United States. It comes as the Biden administration is putting greater emphasis on the Indo-pacific region in the face of growing economic competition from China.
Biden described the effort as “an ambitious new joint partnership that is going to boost vaccine manufacturing … to benefit the entire Indo-pacific” region.
“We will combine our nations’ medical, scientific, financing, manufacturing and delivery, and development capabilities and establish a vaccine expert working group to implement our path-breaking commitment to safe and effective vaccine distribution,” the Quad leaders said in a joint statement.
The effort by the group to pump up India’s vaccine manufacturing also comes as the Biden administration and leaders of other wealthy nations have faced calls from France and some global health advocacy groups to donate a small percentage
of vaccine produced in the U.S. and other industrialized nations to poor countries. Biden has also fielded requests from allies, including Canada and Mexico, to buy vaccines made in the United States.
But the Biden administration has remained steadfast that, at least for now, it is focused on making sure that all Americans are first vaccinated even as China and Russia have engaged in vaccine diplomacy, sending badly needed vaccines to other countries. Administration officials have noted the United States’ $4 billion commitment to COVAX, an international effort to bolster the purchase and distribution of coronavirus vaccines to poor nations.
Biden was joined Friday by
Vice President Kamala Harris, Secretary of State Antony Blinken and other top national security aides for the virtual meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India, Prime Minister Scott Morrison of Australia and Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga of Japan.
The effort by the Quad is projected to allow India to increase manufacturing capacity by 1 billion doses by 2022, according to a White House statement.
But the effort is already deemed not ambitious enough by some groups advocating for Biden to press for the World Trade Organization to allow a temporary waiver of the body’s intellectual property agreement. That would pave the way for generic or other manufacturers to make more vaccines.
The United States, Britain, European Union nations and other WTO members on Wednesday blocked a push by more than 80 developing countries to grant the waiver.
“The pandemic cannot be stopped anywhere unless vaccines, tests and treatments are available everywhere,” Lori Wallach, director of Public Citizen’s Global Trade Watch, said in a statement.