Oath first then replies
Cuomo is set to be interviewed over sexual harassment allegations
Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo is expected to be under oath on Saturday when he is scheduled to be interviewed by investigators with the state attorney general’s office about a series of sexual harassment allegations that have been leveled against him by multiple women, including several aides who have worked on his staff.
The unprecedented inquisition, which had been expected and was first reported by the New York Times, follows a fourmonth investigation that included interviews with the women who have accused Cuomo of conduct ranging from making sexually charged remarks to grooming and groping at least one female executive assistant.
Sources said that Cuomo spent several days this week in his New York City
office being prepped for the interview by his attorneys. He is expected to be questioned by two private attorneys retained by the office of Attorney General Letitia James to conduct the investigation: Joon H. Kim, a former acting U.S. attorney for New York’s Southern District in Manhattan, and Anne L. Clark, who specializes in labor law and sexual harassment cases.
It’s unclear where the interview will take place; Cuomo’s private attorney for the investigation, Rita Glavin, and his spokesman Richard Azzopardi did not respond to questions about the location of the deposition.
Debra Katz, an attorney for Charlotte Bennett, one of the women who accused Cuomo of grooming her and engaging in sexually inappropriate conversations, said she expects the governor will be questioned under oath because the female complainants were all subpoenaed and compelled to give sworn statements.
“He will not be able to deflect questions like he has at his press conference, and he will not be able to play with words,” Katz said in a statement. “Will he admit to his inappropriate behavior, or will he continue his ridiculous lies and victim blaming? Which story will he tell this time? ... He has also demonstrated a jaw-dropping ignorance of the sexual harassment law he signed into effect — without great fanfare — suggesting that his behavior is fine because he never meant to make women feel uncomfortable.”
Dennis C. Vacco, a former U.S. attorney who served as state attorney general from 1995 to 1998, said the attorney
general’s office has the authority under Executive Law to compel Cuomo to testify under oath, and also to set the rules for how and whether the interview will be recorded.
“I would not be at all surprised, notwithstanding how skilled of an orator the governor is and how capable he is as a public speaker … it would be almost incredible to me if he was not being prepared for this interview by his counsel,” Vacco said. “It’s not unusual for individuals that are under scrutiny for civil violations of the law to be compelled to come forward and to answer questions. What is unusual about it is that in this instance the person who is being requested — or demanded through subpoena — to appear is the governor.”
Since early this year, Cuomo has denied kissing a former aide, Lindsey Boylan, and denied groping another female aide at the Executive Mansion in November. The latter allegation is the most incendiary to be leveled against Cuomo, who has dismissed his workplace behavior as “playful” and an attempt to “make jokes that I think are funny.”
But after the earlier allegations surfaced, other women came forward and recounted similar encounters with the governor, including a woman who was photographed at the wedding of one of Cuomo’s top aides as the governor held her face and asked to kiss her.
The governor subsequently stressed that he “never inappropriately touched anybody and I never propositioned anybody and I never intended to make anyone feel uncomfortable, but these are allegations that New Yorkers deserve answers to.”
In the wake of the earliest allegations — before the groping allegations were first reported
by the Times Union — Cuomo had authorized state Attorney General Letitia James to commence a “review” of the complaints. But that directive did not authorize the attorney general to conduct a criminal investigation or to subpoena witnesses before a grand jury. That authority would have needed to be given to James under a separate provision in Executive Law.
The Times Union reported in March that Cuomo still faced the possibility of a misdemeanor sexual abuse charge or a non-criminal harassment violation. If James’ investigation uncovers potential criminality or a violation, the case could be referred to a local district attorney, including Albany County District Attorney David Soares. The district attorney, in turn, has the constitutional authority to assign the case back to the attorney general’s office as a special prosecutor.
James has stopped short of calling the matter an investigation and, like Cuomo’s office, has characterized it as a “review” that is expected to culminate with the issuance of a public report in the coming weeks.
Azzopardi, the governor’s spokesman, on Thursday issued a statement lamenting that information about the timing of Cuomo’s interview with the investigators had been leaked to the New York Times.
“We have said repeatedly that the governor doesn’t want to comment on this review until he has cooperated, but the continued leaks are more evidence of the transparent political motivation of the attorney general’s review,” he said — without noting it was a March 1 letter from the governor’s chief counsel to James that had authorized the attorney general to pursue the investigation.