New York Gov. Cuomo resigns in wake of damning sexual harassment accusations
ALBANY, N.Y. — New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced Tuesday that he will resign from office in the face of escalating political pressure over allegations that he sexually harassed nearly a dozen women, marking a stunning downfall for one of the most prominent Democrats in the country.
In a livestreamed speech from his Manhattan office, the 63-year-old governor acknowledged for the first time that he “deeply offended” all of his 11 accusers. He said the only move for him is to step aside and let New York regain its focus on pandemic recovery and other pressing matters.
“Wasting energy on distractions is the last thing that state government should be doing. I cannot be the cause of that,” Cuomo said, adding that his “love” for New York motivated his decision to resign. “The best way I can help now is if I step aside and let government get back to government, and therefore that’s what I’ll do.”
Lt. Gov. Kathy Hochul will take over as New York’s 57th governor in 14 days, becoming the first woman in history to lead the state.
Cuomo pledged to make it a “seamless” transfer of power, and Hochul commended the governor on his decision.
“It is the right thing to do and in the best interest of New Yorkers,” she said in a statement.
Cuomo’s fall from grace comes after 11 women, the majority of whom were much younger state government aides and advisers, shared their accounts of inappropriate behavior and harassment with investigators working under New York Attorney General Letitia James.
Calls for Cuomo’s resignation and impeachment mounted as the accusations piled up earlier in the year.
But it took a 165-page report released last week by James’ office following a five-month independent investigation to bring an end to the three-term governor’s rule.
Cuomo initially remained defiant after the report’s release, resisting calls for his ouster, as he painted the probe as politically motivated and biased.
His tone changed Tuesday after a week of longtime political allies, including President Joe Biden, and union backers breaking from the career politician to call for his ouster.
Addressing his accusers directly from his Manhattan office, Cuomo said he wants to “deeply, deeply apologize” to them. He blamed the alleged misconduct he subjected them to on “generational and cultural shifts.”
“I have been too familiar with people. My sense of humor can be insensitive and off-putting. I do hug and kiss people casually — women and men. I have done it all my life. It’s who I’ve been since I can remember,” he said. “In my mind, I’ve never crossed a line with anyone, but I didn’t realize the extent to which the line has been redrawn. There are generational and cultural shifts that I just didn’t fully appreciate — and I should have. No excuses.”
James’ probe, run by former federal prosecutor Joon Kim and employment discrimination attorney Anne Clark, detailed a pattern of conduct that violated state and federal laws — including unwanted advances, touching of “intimate body parts” without consent and comments that accusers called “deeply humiliating, uncomfortable, offensive, or inappropriate.”
Cuomo and his senior staff also fostered a “toxic” workplace that enabled “harassment to occur and created a hostile work environment” and took actions to retaliate against at least one former employee for going public with accusations against the powerful Democrat.
Former Cuomo adviser Lindsey Boylan sparked the fire in late 2020 when she published an essay detailing a workplace besieged by bullying behavior and alleging that Cuomo once kissed her against her will.
Multiple other women followed suit, coming forward with similar claims.
Most damning, ex-cuomo aide Brittany Commisso claimed the governor reached under her blouse and groped her while at the Executive Mansion, his official residence, late last year.
Commisso told investigators that she “in no way, shape or form invited that nor did I ask for it. I didn’t want it. I feel like I was being taken advantage of.”
She feared for her job and initially remained resolved to take the incident “to the grave,” but later related her account to co-workers after witnessing Cuomo publicly deny ever touching a woman inappropriately.
In the immediate aftermath of the release of James’ report, the embattled governor remained steadfast in his belief that he should remain in office.
“The facts are much different than what has been portrayed,” Cuomo said in a scripted, pre-recorded response to the report last week. “I never touched anybody inappropriately... or made inappropriate sexual advances.”
But Cuomo may have seen the writing on the wall, as Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie pledged this week to fast-track his chamber’s impeachment investigation into the governor if he did not resign.
With near unanimous support for impeachment among both Democrats and Republicans in the Assembly, Cuomo’s ouster seemed all but certain, which he acknowledged in his Tuesday remarks.
“This situation by its current trajectory will create months of controversy. That’s how the political wind is blowing. It will consume government and cost taxpayers,” Cuomo said. “Time and money government should spend managing COVID.”