New York Governor Andrew Cuomo who has been called one of the most liberal politicians and a self-styled feminist in the United States is now under a lot of pressure from his own Democratic allies including President Joe Biden and other senior party figures to resign after an investigation found he sexually harassed nearly a dozen women followed by an aggressive strategy to retaliate against one of his accusers.
On Tuesday (August 4), President Joe Biden said, “I think he should resign,” and this was supported by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and New York’s US Senators Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand, all Democrats.
The news about Andrew Cuomo predatory behaviour towards women, including his staffers have been making rounds for a very long time but due to Covid and his influence within the democratic party, any action against him was thwarted, however, the situation is clearly untenable for this once aspirant of the highest office of his county.
The leader of the state Assembly who has the power to bring impeachment charges said it was clear Cuomo could no longer remain in office. Speaker Carl Heastie, a Democrat, said he would move to complete an impeachment inquiry “as quickly as possible.”
State’s attorney general Letitia James on Tuesday said, “The independent investigation has concluded that Governor Andrew Cuomo sexually harassed multiple women and in doing so violated federal and state law,”.
James also said the investigation found that Cuomo, “Sexually harassed current and former New York state employees by engaging in unwelcome and non-consensual touching and making numerous comments of a suggestive sexual nature that created a hostile work environment for women,”.
At least eight women, including former or current aides, have now come forward to what they said were inappropriate words and gestures from Cuomo, and one former employee said he slipped his hand under her blouse last year and a state trooper on his security detail who said he ran his hand or fingers across her stomach and her back.
The women who have now come out in the open also said they feared retaliation if they reported Cuomo’s behavior and told investigators his administration as a hostile workplace “rife with fear and intimidation”. The report also discovered that Cuomo’s staff took action against one accuser and tried to discredit and disparage her.
Lindsey Boylan, a former employee has publicly accused Cuomo of wrongdoing, including leaking confidential personnel files and drafting a letter attacking her credibility.
However, the Democratic Governor who has been hailed as the champion of women said, ” I never touched anyone inappropriately or made inappropriate sexual advances,”.
It must also be noted that his brother is CNN host Chris Cuomo and according to the AG report, Chris was also given secret and privileged information from the Executive Branch during the Covid-19 pandemic crisis and he also helped draft at least one of his brother’s denials leading to a serious breach of journalistic ethics.
In fact, during one of his broadcasts, Chris made it very clear to his audience that he couldn’t cover the governor’s scandal because they were brothers, despite hosting his show at the height of the pandemic and privy to some sensitive information.
Governor Andrew Cuomo comes from political royalty as his father Mario Cuomo was also governor of New York and he was also once married Kerry Kennedy, the seventh child of Robert F. Kennedy and Ethel Skakel Kennedy.
Cuomo was appreciated for his handling of the Covid-19 crisis in New York early in the pandemic but later reports emerged that his administration covered up information pertaining to COVID-19 deaths among nursing home deaths.
It is estimated that 6,000 New York state nursing home residents had died of COVID as of June 2020 which Cuomo tried to cover up and according to AG Letitia James, Cuomo administration undercounted COVID-19-related deaths at nursing homes by as much as 50 per cent.
A Federal Bureau of Investigation and the U.S. attorney in Brooklyn had announced that they are investigating the incident and on March 19, 2021, the F.B.I. had reported that an investigation was underway on Governor Andrew Cuomo for improperly using the power of his office to shield nursing home executive political donors from Covid-19 lawsuits.
It is ironic that this disgraced liberal politician who was once seen as a possible future candidate for the office of the President of the Untied States was hiring an expert to reform sexual harassment training for state employees, including the governor.
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