His resignation will be effective in 14 days.
The state attorney general’s investigation into Cuomo came on the heels of several current or former staffers accusing the governor of inappropriate workplace behavior including sexual harassment and assault.
Andrew Cuomo.Stefani Reynolds/Getty Images
Lindsay Boylan, who was an economic development adviser and stopped working for Cuomo in 2018, was the first of the women to speak publicly. She initially accused him of misconduct in a series of tweets in December and subsequentlydetailed her allegations, which included an unwanted kiss, in a lengthyblog postin late February.
Charlotte Bennettclaimed in an interview published withThe New York Timesin February that Cuomo sexually harassed her last year while she was serving as an executive assistant and health policy adviser in the governor’s administration.
In an interviewwith theTimes, Anna Ruch alleged that after first meeting the politician at a wedding reception in 2019, Cuomo put his hands on her face and asked if he could kiss her.
Ana Liss, a former aide to Cuomo, claimed in an interview withThe Wall Street Journalthat the governor engaged inmultiple instancesof inappropriate verbal and physical conduct while she served as his policy and operations aide between 2013 and 2015.
Brittany Commisso, a former executive assistant in Cuomo’s office, told a similar story, detailing her allegations toCBS This MorningandTimes Union.
Commisso alleged that Cuomo first groped her on Dec. 31, 2019, while she was at the governor’s mansion helping him with a speech. He asked to take a selfie with her, she claimed, and while she took the photo, “his hand go down my back onto my butt, and he started rubbing it.”
Commisso added that in November 2020, Cuomo allegedly hugged her in a “sexually aggressive manner” and that when she rebuffed the hug, “shut the door so hard” then “came back to me and that’s when he put his hand up my blouse and cupped my breast over my bra.”
As the attorney general’s report detailed, Cuomo’s harassment also extended to a female state trooper assigned to his security detail.
In an August press conference, Attorney Anne Clark detailed an incident in which Cuomo, standing behind the officer in an elevator, “ran his finger over [the trooper’s] neck, down her spine and said, ‘Hey you.’ "
Cuomo has insisted he “never inappropriately touched anybody” but apologized for what he insisted was inadvertent behavior.
Despite his denials, lawmakers in New York and elsewhere have been urging Cuomo to step down for months.
“He should resign,” Biden told reporters at the White House on the same day the report was released in August.
Apart from the sexual harassment report, Cuomo has recently also faced significant criticism for his handling of the coronavirus crisis, particularly when it comes to how his administrationreleased informationabout nursing home deaths amid the pandemic.
New York has,somewhat controversially, previously only counted the number of nursing home patients who died while at a facility. Residents who died at a hospital after being transferred from a facility were added to another category.
Speaking with reporters in February, Cuomo said he would havedone things differentlyif he could go back, though he said that all COVID-related deaths were “fully, publicly and accurately reported.”
With Cuomo’s resignation, Lt. Gov. Kathy Hochul will become the first female governor in New York’s history, serving out the remainder of Cuomo’s term through 2022.
In a statement released following the attorney general’s announcement of its findings, Hochul said she believed the women who accused Cuomo of what she called “repulsive and unlawful behavior.”
The New York governor’s seat is on the ballot in November.
source: people.com
