Biden: Cuomo must quit after inquiry finds he harassed women
PRESIDENT Joe Biden last night called on Andrew Cuomo to resign after a report found that the embattled New York governor, one of America’s most prominent Democrats, sexually harassed nearly a dozen women.
Mr Cuomo is facing impeachment and possible criminal charges after an investigation by Letitia James, the state’s attorney general, yesterday concluded that the third-term governor “engaged in unwelcome and non-consensual touching”.
Her report said that Mr Cuomo and his aides cultivated a toxic work environment that was rife with intimidation and “helped harassment to occur”.
“The independent investigation found that Governor Cuomo harassed multiple women, many of whom were young women, by engaging in unwanted groping, kisses, hugging, and by making inappropriate comments,” she said.
Ms James, who spent months interviewing 179 people for the report, said it revealed “a deeply disturbing yet clear picture of conduct that corrodes the very fabric and character of our state government and shines light on injustice that can be present at the highest levels of government”.
The scandal threatens to bring down one of America’s most powerful Democrats, who had been praised for his handling of the pandemic and was at one point tipped to win the party’s nomination in the 2024 presidential election.
Mr Cuomo, 63, the son of former New York governor Mario, has seen members of his own party turn against him as the claims mounted.
Answering press questions, Mr Biden replied “yes” when asked whether the senior member of his party should step down, rendering the governor’s position increasingly untenable.
“I am sure there were some embraces that were totally innocent,” the president said. “But apparently the attorney general decided there were things that weren’t.”
But a defiant Mr Cuomo responded by saying his behaviour had been misconstrued. “I never touched anyone inappropriately or made inappropriate sexual advances,” he said in a recorded video address. “That is just not who I am, or who I have ever been.”
He presented a slide show of images of him “touching and kissing people’s faces” throughout his political career to apparently show he was “just a touchyfeely person”.
He said the women “drew inferences I never made, ascribed motives I never had. They heard things that I just didn’t say.”
Ms James did not make a referral to criminal prosecutors but that would not prevent local authorities from using the evidence and findings of the report to mount their own cases.
The report is expected to play an important role in an ongoing inquiry in the state assembly into whether there are grounds for Mr Cuomo to be impeached.
The report also detailed, for the first time, allegations that Mr Cuomo sexually harassed a female state trooper on his security detail.
Joon Kim, one of the lawyers leading the investigation, said these “brave women” spoke up and in doing so it shows that “although the governor may be powerful, the truth is even more so”.