Gov. Cuomo reportedly reached under aide’s blouse and groped her
The sexual harassment scandal engulfing Gov. Andrew Cuomo escalated Wednesday with the emergence of allegations that he reached under a female aide’s blouse and groped her while they were alone in a room inside the Executive Mansion in Albany.
The incident allegedly unfolded after the much younger woman was summoned to help the 63-year-old governor fix a problem with his cellphone, the Albany Times Union reported.
The woman told him to stop, the newspaper said.
The accusations are the most serious yet against Cuomo, who’s previously been hit with claims of sexual harassment and other inappropriate behavior by five other women, four of whom were his aides at the time.
The latest accuser said the incident took place late last year after Cuomo shut the door to a room on the second floor of the governor’s heavily guarded official residence, the Times Union said.
The woman also said it followed frequent flirting with her by Cuomo.
The paper, which said it was withholding the woman’s identity, said her account was relayed by a person with direct knowledge of her claims.
The woman recounted the alleged incident to at least one female supervisor in the Executive Chamber on March 3 after watching a news conference at which Cuomo claimed, “I never touched anyone inappropriately,” the Times Union said.
That news conference marked the first time Cuomo had appeared in public since the multiple allegations against him began to emerge — but at a point at which only three accusers had come forward.
Cuomo’s latest accuser hasn’t filed a formal complaint against him, but at least one of her supervisors told a lawyer in Cuomo’s office about her allegations on Monday, the Times Union said.
In response to Wednesday’s report, former Cuomo aide Lindsey Boylan — whose online essay last month unleashed the torrent of allegations against the governor — tweeted, “You need to resign. You need to go now @NYGovCuomo.”
Boylan also demanded that members of the state Assembly, including Speaker Carl Heastie (D-Bronx), “put your big kid pants on and start the process of impeachment.”
“Victims are not chess pieces for your budget negotiations,” she tweeted.
“We see you. And you will see us. Do your job.”
Boylan, 36, has alleged that Cuomo’s harassment of her included unexpectedly kissing her “on the lips” in his Manhattan office in 2018.
The lawyer for another accuser, former Cuomo aide Charlotte Bennett, 25, called the latest allegations “eerily similar” to Bennett’s earlier alleged experience.
“Charlotte was summoned to the Capitol on a Saturday, left isolated with the Governor and asked to help him with minor technical issues with his phone,” lawyer Debra Katz said in a prepared statement.
“The Governor’s sexual harassment, which Charlotte Bennett reported, was buried by his aides and never properly investigated. Because of their enablement, another young woman was left in harm’s way,”
Assemblyman Ron Kim (D-Queens) — who last month called for Cuomo’s impeachment for the cover-up of the death toll of nursing home residents from COVID-19 — said, “I am without words. This is now sexual assault.”
Assemblywoman Yuh-Line Nioh (D-Manhattan) tweeted, “I feel sick.”
Cuomo denied Wednesday’s report in a prepared statement released by his spokesman.
“As I said yesterday, I have never done anything like this. The details of this report are gut-wrenching,” Cuomo said.
“I am not going to speak to the specifics of this or any other allegation given the ongoing review, but I am confident in the result of the Attorney General’s report.”
Former acting Manhattan US Attorney Joon Kim and veteran employment lawyer Anne Clark have been hired to lead an independent investigation of the allegations against Cuomo, state Attorney General Letitia James said Monday.
Cuomo has pledged to cooperate with the probe and urged New Yorkers to withhold judgment pending its findings.