KIVVIT CUOMO MESS
Exec in e-mail threads
A top executive at swanky, politically connected publicrelations firm Kivvit resigned less than a month before newly released documents showed she had been aware of disgraced Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s plans to discredit sexual harassment accusers.
Maggie Moran, Cuomo’s 2018 re-election campaign manager and a current managing partner at Kivvit, was in the governor’s mansion in February when accuser Lindsey Boylan published a blog post saying that the then-governor kissed her without her consent and asked her to play strip poker on a taxpayer-funded jet, per testimony from Cuomo confidant Steve Cohen.
Moran was also included in group messages where other Cuomo staffers and allies plotted how to discredit Boylan and kill news coverage of the governor’s pervy behavior, according to documents recently released by Attorney General Letitia James.
In one February e-mail chain that included Moran, other Cuomo allies discussed how to discredit Boylan’s strip-poker claims and drafted a statement that included the line, “there are not even any cards on the plane.” Cuomo aide Melissa DeRosa wrote that she was setting up a group call to discuss the draft.
Then in March, DeRosa sent a message to Moran, Facebook staffer Dani Lever, Cuomo staffer Rich Azzopardi and other Cuomo allies, saying, “Important call need u guys on.”
While DeRosa didn’t say what the call was about, it took place the day before the Albany Times-Union published a story about a Cuomo aide who said the governor had groped her.
In another March group chat that also included Moran, exPete Buttigieg campaign maven and Cuomo ally Lis Smith described berating a New York Times reporter, telling him that a story about accusations against the governor was “pathetic and an embarrassment.”
Despite Moran’s inclusion in weeks of messages, she insisted in a statement to The Post that she never responded with any advice about the sexual-harassment claims or participated in any calls about the issue.
“I can not control being included in an e-mail,” Moran told The Post. “In fact, I repeatedly asked to be removed from e-mails regarding the sexual assault allegations detailed in the Attorney General’s report and never engaged in those communications. When asked to join calls regarding allegations of sexual assault, I chose not to participate in them — every time.”
Moran’s claim that she asked to be removed from the e-mail threads does not appear to be supported by any of the messages released by James.
“I never engaged personally or professionally in developing any responses to the sexual harassment allegations detailed in the Attorney General’s report,” Moran said.