Did N.Y. AG lead a double life?
In ‘New Yorker’ article, multiple women allege abuse by Schneiderman
ALBANY, N.Y. — To many in Albany, New York’s former attorney general, Eric T. Schneiderman, seemed staid and somewhat standoffish: a teetotaler who favored coffee shops over bars, liked yoga and health food, and preferred high-minded intellectual and legal debate to the handto-hand combat of New York’s political arena.
But that carefully cultivated image of a caring, progressive Renaissance man came crashing down on Monday night after the publication of an exposé by The New Yorker, detailing allegations of a sordid and stomach-turning double life, including Schneiderman’s physical and psychological abuse of four women with whom he had been romantically involved. The attorney general’s behavior, the article said, had been exacerbated by alcohol abuse and punctuated by insults of the very liberal voters and activists who had held him up as a champion willing to deliver a fearless counterpunch to President Donald Trump.
The article ricocheted around the New York and national political scene at a quark’s pace, leading to nearly immediate calls for Schneiderman’s resignation from Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, a fellow Democrat, and other officials, and his almost-as-speedy, almostgrudging acceptance of his political fate.
He gave himself one day to clear out his desk, his reign officially ending at 5 p.m. Tuesday.
The resignation brought to an abrupt end his two terms in office and two decades in public service, marked with accomplishments that included successfully suing Trump over fraud involving Trump University — winning $25 million shortly after the 2016 election — and more recently targeting serial sexual abusers like Harvey Weinstein, suing the Hollywood mogul and firmly embracing the #MeToo movement.
That hypocrisy — professing to defend women while secretly, according to The New Yorker article, beating them — seemed particularly rank.
Schneiderman has denied assaulting anyone, asserting that he engaged in “role-playing and other consensual sexual activity.”
“It’s so devastating on so many levels because he did great things in office, as a state senator, as attorney general,” said Linda Rosenthal, a Democratic assemblywoman from the Upper West Side, who has known Schneiderman since before his political career began. “Yet behind the scenes, he treated women like garbage.”
Schneiderman, 63, had widely been considered a future contender for governor in New York. Schneiderman’s campaign accounts were substantial, with more than $8.5 million in the bank, an increasingly high profile burnished by his long battles with Trump and appearances on national talk shows.
The shock of the allegations was shared inside the attorney general’s office itself, which has a workforce of about 1,800 people, including 700 lawyers. “There were no allegations against him made in the office,” said Amy Spitanick, a spokeswoman for the attorney general.
On Tuesday, Schneiderman’s fellow Democrats in Albany were expressing shock at the details, citing a public persona that was far more subdued, almost to the point of being restrained. “He seemed beyond straight-laced,” said Assemblyman Sean Ryan, D-Buffalo. “The kind of guy who wouldn’t get a bawdy joke.”
Assemblyman Daniel J. O’Donnell said the accusations were “horrifying” and didn’t “comport with the person I interacted with,” though he had sometimes been curious about Schneiderman’s succession of girlfriends.
“I kind of always wondered why was that,” he said. “Here’s a handsome, wealthy guy with a beautiful apartment on West End Avenue and all these beautiful women. And no one is choosing to stay.”