Cuomo defends himself in face of bombshell sexual harassment report
ALBANY — A defiant Gov. Cuomo stood his ground Tuesday, dismissing allegations of sexual harassment and blasting the bombshell attorney general report on his behavior as “biased.”
The governor, in a prerecorded message, addressed specific claims made by current and former staffers who say he repeatedly made inappropriate and sexual comments and advances and in one case groped an aide’s breast.
“The facts are much different than what has been portrayed,” Cuomo said. “I never touched anybody inappropriately ... or made inappropriate sexual advances.”
In the scripted response, which included a montage of the governor kissing celebrities on the cheek, Cuomo said he would “not be distracted” from his work despite the revelations of the scathing 168-page report released by Attorney General Letitia James earlier in the day.
He said, as he has in the past, that he often hugs people, kisses them on the cheek or takes their faces into his hands, arguing that it is not a sexual gesture.
“I do it with everyone,” Cuomo said, adding that his actions are “meant to convey warmth, nothing more.”
James’ office oversaw a five-month probe conducted by independent investigators that found Cuomo repeatedly engaged in inappropriate behavior with underlings and even a state trooper assigned to his personal detail. The damning report also detailed a toxic and abusive workplace within the governor’s office.
“This investigation has revealed conduct that corrodes the very fabric and character of our state government,” James said during a press briefing.
Cuomo argued that many women hold top-level positions in his administration and painted allegations that they enabled his behavior as sexist. While denying any wrongdoing, he did say he is bringing in an expert to “design new sexual harassment policy and procedures” for his office.
The governor, who has resisted calls for his resignation for months, repeated his assertion that sexual comments he made to women three decades his junior were misinterpreted.
The 63-year-old Democrat also disclosed that someone close to him is a survivor of sexual assault and insisted that he was only trying to help former aide Charlotte Bennett when he asked her deeply personal questions about her dating life.
Bennett, 25, has said publicly that she believes Cuomo was trying to sleep with her when he asked whether she was interested in older men and made other inappropriate inquiries while the pair were alone in his office last year.
Cuomo apologized to Bennett by name, but added that he believes she “drew inferences I never meant” and ascribed motives he “never had.”
Bennett responded in a tweet, reiterating James’ conclusion that Cuomo “broke federal & state law when he sexually harassed me & other current & former staff.”
“I do not want an apology — I want accountability and an end to victim-blaming,” she added.
Cuomo again flatly denied an allegation that he groped a staffer’s breast during an encounter at the Executive Mansion in Albany last year, openly encouraging her to present her claims in a lawsuit and allow the matter to play out in the courts.
“Trial by newspaper or biased reviews are not the way to find the facts in this matter,” he said.
His lawyer later released a point-by-point rebuttal to the disturbing allegations, including email correspondences and other communications the accuser shared with other employees the day she was at the mansion with the governor.
In the response, which also included dozens of pictures of other pols kissing people on the cheek as evidence of Cuomo’s innocence, attorney Rita Glavin maintained the governor was only alone with the woman briefly and they merely discussed her potential divorce.
In his prepared remarks, Cuomo continued his recent line of attack in insinuating that the independent investigators hired by James had ulterior motives and were out to get him.
“Politics and bias are interwoven throughout every aspect of this investigation,” he said in his response. “One would be naive to think otherwise, and New Yorkers are not naive.”
