Praying for the victims: Gov. Cuomo sexually harassed multiple women, probe finds
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo speaks during a news conference at New York's Yankee Stadium, Monday, July 26, 2021. Investigators conducting an inquiry into sexual harassment allegations against Cuomo questioned him for eleven hours when he met with them last month, The New York Times reported Monday, Aug. 2. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)
NEW YORK (AP) — Women in the faith community are praying for the victims of Gov. Andrew Cuomo, the politician who sexually harassed nearly a dozen women in and out of state government and worked to retaliate against one of his accusers according to the findings of a probe.
New York’s attorney general Letitia James announced the incriminating details of the damaging report Tuesday, hastening calls for the Democrat’s resignation or impeachment.
Despite overwhelming and damning evidence of misconduct, the governor remained defiant, saying in a taped response to the findings that “the facts are much different than what has been portrayed” and that he “never touched anyone inappropriately or made inappropriate sexual advances.”
The nearly five-month investigation found that Cuomo’s administration was a hostile work environment “rife with fear and intimidation.” The probe, led by two outside lawyers, involved interviews with 179 people including accusers, current and former administration employees and the governor himself.
New York State Attorney General Letitia James (Courtesy NY State Attorney General via AP)
Anne Clark, who led the probe with former U.S. Attorney Joon Kim, said they found 11 accusers to be credible, noting their allegations were corroborated to varying degrees, including by other witnesses and contemporaneous text messages.
“These interviews and pieces of evidence revealed a deeply disturbing yet clear picture: Gov. Cuomo sexually harassed current and former state employees in violation of federal and state laws,” New York Attorney General Letitia James said at a press conference on Tuesday.
Dr. Colleen Cullen, a licensed clinical psychologist, notes that for victims of sexual harassment, the most common diagnoses are depression, anxiety, and even post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
The investigation’s findings, detailed in a 165-page public report, turn up the pressure on the 63-year-old governor, who just a year ago was widely hailed for his steady leadership during the darkest days of the COVID-19 crisis, even writing a book about it.
Since then, he’s seen his standing crumble with a drumbeat of harassment allegations, questions in a separate, ongoing inquiry into whether state resources went into writing the book, and the discovery that his administration concealed the true number of nursing home deaths during the outbreak.
While James concluded the investigation without referring the case to prosecutors for possible criminal charges, local authorities could use its evidence and findings to mount their own cases. Albany District Attorney David Soares said he will be requesting material from James’ office and welcomed victims to contact his office with information.
The investigation’s findings are also expected to play an important role in an ongoing state Assembly inquiry into whether there are grounds to impeach Cuomo. The Assembly has hired its own legal team to investigate myriad allegations regarding harassment, his book, nursing homes and special access to COVID-19 testing.
Several Cuomo accusers demanded swifter action, calling on the governor to leave office immediately. Some Democratic and Republican state lawmakers joined them, along with one-time Cuomo allies including county executives and leaders of left-leaning political groups.
Coalitions of Christian women are calling for both action and prayer, as sexual harassment eats away at the souls of victims who often do not know how to cope with what has happened.
“Resign, @NYGovCuomo,” Cuomo accuser and former aide Charlotte Bennett tweeted.
On at least one occasion, the investigation found, Cuomo and his senior staff worked to retaliate against a former employee who accused him of wrongdoing. Cuomo was also found to have harassed women outside of government, the investigation found.
The report detailed, for the first time, allegations that Cuomo sexually harassed a female state trooper on his security detail. It said that the governor ran his hand or fingers across her stomach and her back, kissed her on the cheek, asked for her help in finding a girlfriend and asked why she didn’t wear a dress.
The report also included an allegation from a woman who worked for an energy company who said Cuomo touched her inappropriately at an event. The woman said Cuomo ran his fingers across the lettering on her shirt, reading the name of her company aloud. Then he leaned in and said: “I’m going to say I see a spider on your shoulder,” and brushed his hand in between her shoulder and breasts, the report said.
“These brave women stepped forward to speak truth to power and, in doing so, they expressed faith in the belief that although the governor may be powerful, the truth is even more so,” Kim said at the press conference.
Cuomo’s lawyer issued a written rebuttal to the investigation’s findings. Cuomo said he was hiring an expert to reform sexual harassment training for state employees, including the governor.
In his taped response, Cuomo apologized to two accusers: Bennett, who said the governor asked if she was open to sex with an older man after she confided in him that she had been a victim of sexual assault, and a woman he kissed at a wedding — an incident reported in a front-page story in The New York Times.
Still, Cuomo equivocated and lashed out at the investigative process, saying it was rife with “politics and bias.” He explained that he’s been physically embracing people his whole life, that his mother and father, former Gov. Mario Cuomo, had done the same and that the gesture was meant to “convey warmth.”
“For those who are using this moment to score political points or seek publicity or personal gain. I say they actually discredit the legitimate sexual harassment victims that the law was designed to protect,” Cuomo said.
New York state regulations say sexual harassment includes unwelcome conduct of a sexual nature — from unwanted flirtation to sexual jokes — that creates an offensive work environment, regardless of a perpetrator’s intent.
Cuomo championed a landmark 2019 state law that made it easier for sexual harassment victims to prove their case in court. Alleged victims no longer have to meet the high bar of proving sexual harassment is “severe and pervasive.”
The Associated Press Contributed to this report.
