Assembly committee OKS subpoenas in Cuomo probe
PROBE
The Assembly Judiciary Commitee’s impeachment investigation of Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo will begin using subpoenas to compel witnesses to provide statements under oath, the chair of the committee announced Wednesday after the panel emerged from a closed-door session.
The Assembly committee’s decision to use subpoenas to gather statements under oath comes after the state attorney general’s office began issuing testimonial subpoenas nearly two months ago in a paral
lel investigation and requiring their witnesses — including women who have accused Cuomo of sexual harassment — to give sworn statements.
The law firm hired by the Assembly to conduct the investigation, Davis Polk & Wardwell, has collected more than 100,000 pages of records, including emails, transcripts, texts, letters, contracts and other documents, and is seeking new evidence and looking for more information to corroborate existing evidence, Judiciary Committee Chairman Charles Lavine said at the beginning of Wednesday’s meeting.
He said progress is being made, but gave no indication of when the investigation could be expected to wrap up. The committee will be issuing subpoenas for both records and witness testimony. Attorneys from the Davis Polk firm will be deputized by the committee to obtain interviews under oath.
The Times Union reported Tuesday that the law firm had not contacted current and former state troopers who have been assigned to the governor’s protective detail since being provided leads to potential witnesses in March. The newspaper had also reported that the use of subpoenas to compel testimony may be a topic of Wednesday’s committee meeting.
Lavine declined comment on Tuesday when asked whether the delay in interviewing the troopers was related to the committee’s impending discussion on invoking its subpoena authority. Capitol sources said the use of subpoenas can provide relief to state employees who may fear retaliation if they provide statements to investigators without being compelled to do so.
The investigation is not near its end, Assemblyman Thomas J. Abinanti said after the closed-door session.
“Let’s face it: We’ve given them a huge task,” said Abinanti, a Westchester County Democrat. “There’s a lot of issues for them to look at. They’ve already received thousands and thousands of pages of documents. They’ve already spoken to numerous witnesses. So now they’re in the process of sorting through all of this.”
The investigators “made it clear to us” that in several cases documents are ready to be given to them once they have the authorization — using document subpoenas — to collect them, Abinanti said. Similarly, some people may be ready to speak further with the Assembly’s attorneys.
“I’d have to assume that there are some people who are waiting for subpoenas, who they’ve been dealing with all along, who are now saying, ‘We’ll fully cooperate, but we need that piece of paper to protect us with our employer, with the outside world,’” Abinanti said. “So it’s a necessary, procedural process.”
The Judiciary Committee’s investigation is one of at least three targeting the governor. Cuomo and his administration also are the subject of the investigation being conducted by the office of state Attorney General Letitia James and a criminal investigation by the U.S. attorney’s office in Brooklyn. The timelines of those investigations are also unclear, although it was reported that James’ office issued subpoenas in May to some of the women who accused Cuomo of sexual misconduct. Those subpoenas were used to have the women provide sworn statements.
Abinanti said the attorney general’s office may “feel more comfortable cooperating with our counsel” now that they have been given the power to issue administrative subpoenas.
Senate Minority Leader Robert Ortt questioned the delay in invoking the subpoena power that his conference had called for the Senate to use since the allegations against Cuomo intensified earlier this year.
“Nearly four months after starting their impeachment investigation, the Assembly Judiciary Committee today announced they would issue subpoenas. While it’s nice to see them finally taking action that Senate Democrats have failed to do for months, this should have been done at the start of the investigation,” Ortt said in a statement. “The delay in issuing subpoenas seems to underscore the point I have made repeatedly: the Assembly investigation seems to be more focused on buying time for the governor than truly holding him accountable and getting the answers that New Yorkers deserve.”
The committee first met March 23, announcing it would conduct a sweeping investigation that touched on Cuomo’s alleged sexual misconduct, his administration’s alleged cover-up of COVID-19 nursing home deaths, and any knowledge within his administration of potential structural deficiencies of the Gov. Mario M. Cuomo bridge. The investigation has since expanded into additional areas, including priority access to COVID-19 testing early in the pandemic for Cuomo insiders and his family members.
In April, the committee met again to update the public. At that meeting, Lavine said more than 70 witnesses had been contacted by the Davis Polk lawyers.
Lavine convened the Judiciary Committee to a closed session after a short statement at the beginning of Wednesday’s meeting so that the attorneys could discuss the investigation privately. After executive session, he thanked the legal team and committee staff and announced the new plan to use subpoenas and gather sworn testimony.
A next meeting could include further requests from the attorneys, Abinanti said, but he deferred to the chairman of the committee for when that may happen and what the scope of it would be. As for Tuesday’s hearing, the reason it happened in the weeks following the end of the legislative session and not earlier, he said it would be unwise to read into the timing.
“We discussed this early on that eventually they were going to ask for subpoena power and we were going to give it to them,” Abinanti said. “It’s just a question of why now? Why not yesterday, today or tomorrow? It’s now at the point where they should do it.”
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Let’s face it: We’ve given them a huge task. There’s a lot of issues for them to look at.”
— State Assemblyman Thomas J. Abinanti