STUFF YOUR SORRY, ANDY
Cuomo harass accuser: I was terrified
Former Gov. Cuomo staffer Charlotte Bennett details alleged sexual harassment during “CBS Evening News With Norah O’Donnell” on Thursday.
“I thought, he’s trying to sleep with me. The governor is trying to sleep with me. And I’m deeply uncomfortable and I have to get out of this room as soon as possible.” CHARLOTTE BENNETT
ALBANY — A former aide accusing Gov. Cuomo of sexual harassment is pushing back on his apology and revealing more about her “deeply uncomfortable” encounter with the governor.
Charlotte Bennett sat down for her first television interview Thursday with “CBS Evening News,” telling anchor Norah O’Donnell that Cuomo “implied to me that I was old enough for him and he was lonely.”
“I thought, he’s trying to sleep with me. The governor is trying to sleep with me. And I’m deeply uncomfortable and I have to get out of this room as soon as possible,” the 25-year-old said.
Bennett first came forward with her claims over the weekend, alleging that the governor asked her inappropriate questions about her sex life, including “if I had ever been with an older man,” during a meeting in his office at the height of the COVID crisis last year.
O’Donnell asked Bennett what she was thinking as the most powerful man in the state, a national star at the time due to his daily televised COVID briefings, pressed her about a past sexual assault.
“He asked if I had trouble enjoying being with someone because of my trauma,” said Bennett, who was open about her past as a sexual assault survivor..
“The governor asked me if I was sensitive to intimacy,” she said, adding, “He asked if it made it hard to really be with someone physically.”
Bennett said she was terrified and felt forced to answer the intimate questions and later felt shame when she thought about speaking out.
“I really was uncomfortable and understood that my boss was asking these questions, so I was trying to answer them,” she said. “I feel like people put the onus on the woman to shut that conversation down. And by answering, I was somehow engaging in that or enabling it, when in fact, I was just terrified.”
Cuomo, 63, apologized for his behavior in a televised briefing a day earlier, an act of contrition that Bennett, an executive assistant and health policy adviser for the administration at the time of the encounter, said failed to capture the gravity of the situation.
The governor said he was “embarrassed” and repeated that he “now understand(s) that I acted in a way that made people feel uncomfortable.”
“It was unintentional and I truly and deeply apologize for it,” he added.
Bennett said Cuomo’s public remarks simply were “not an apology.”
“It’s not an issue of my feelings, it’s an issue of his actions,” she said. “The fact is that he was sexually harassing me and he has not apologized for sexually harassing me. And he can’t even use my name.”
Bennett is one of three women to come forward in recent days
“He asked if I had trouble enjoying being with someone because of my trauma . ... The governor asked me if I was sensitive to intimacy . ... He asked if it made it hard to really be with someone physically.” CHARLOTTE BENNETT
accusing the governor of sexual misconduct.
Former aide Lindsey Boylan alleged in a lengthy essay published last week that in 2018, the Democratic governor kissed her on the lips following a one-on-one briefing in his Manhattan office. She also shared several anecdotes alleging that Cuomo repeatedly made inappropriate comments about her appearance and fostered a toxic work environment that belittled women.
Cuomo has flatly denied Boylan’s claims and said Wednesday he has never touched anyone inappropriately.
Another woman, Anna Ruch, said the governor touched her face and back and asked to kiss her moments after they met at a 2019 wedding reception.
The New York Times first reported that Ruch said Cuomo put his hand on her lower back and when she removed it he put his hands on her cheeks and asked if he could kiss her. A photo of the incident shows Ruch wincing as the governor holds her head in his hands.
“I was so confused and shocked and embarrassed,” she said. “I turned my head away and didn’t have words in that moment.”
Bennett first came forward on Saturday, telling The Times that she felt “uncomfortable and scared” after the governor complained to her about being lonely during the pandemic and told her he “can’t even hug anyone.”
“Age doesn’t matter,” Cuomo allegedly went on, asking Bennett about her feelings regarding age differences in relationships. Bennett retained texts from the time revealing that she shared her fear and apprehension about the exchange with friends.
The governor said he was “fine with anyone above the age of 22,” Bennett recalled.
The former aide complained to Cuomo’s chief of staff, Jill DesRosiers, at the time and was reassigned to a new job as a health policy director in an office on the other side of the Capitol building where she wouldn’t have contact with the governor. She left the administration in November.
After the interview aired, a Cuomo spokesman referred back to the governor’s apology on Wednesday.
Attorney General Letitia James is conducting an investigation into the allegations as critics and lawmakers on both sides of the aisle call on Cuomo to step down.
The governor said Wednesday he has no intention of resigning and asked New Yorkers to wait for the results of James’ review before making a judgement on the accusations.
“We have COVID. We have recovery. We have rebuilding. We have a teetering New York City. We have a terrible financial picture. We have to do vaccines,” Cuomo said. “So no, I’m going to do the job the people of the state elected me to do.”