Andrew Cuomo to be questioned in state sexual harassment probe
Gov. Andrew Cuomo is set to be grilled this weekend as part of an independent state probe into allegations he sexually harassed current and former female aides, a source familiar with the matter said Thursday.
Outside lawyers hired by state Attorney General Letitia James plan to question Cuomo in Albany on Saturday, the source said.
The move may be a sign that the four-month investigation is entering its final stages, according to the New York Times, which first reported the development.
But Cuomo and other witnesses could still be re-interviewed depending on what he says and what other evidence is uncovered, the Times said.
James is on track, however, to issue a report on the findings by the end of the summer, a person familiar with the probe told the Times.
Cuomo, a three-term Democrat, is up for re-election next year and held a fundraiser in Midtown Manhattan last month that reportedly netted him $1 million in campaign cash from backers who included some of the state’s powerful labor leaders.
But the head of the Transport Workers Union — who didn’t attend and exclusively told The Post that he’s “considering an alternative to Cuomo” — said the governor’s support from organized labor could disappear, depending on what James’ probe reveals.
“If the AG’s report finds any semblance of wrongdoing regarding Cuomo’s behavior, he’ll find out very quickly he doesn’t have friends in the trade movement,” TWU International president John Samuelsen said Thursday.
Veteran Republican political consultant Ed Rollins said, “Cuomo will have a tougher time if the labor unions pull away from him.”
“This guy went from being invincible six months ago to being vulnerable,” added Rollins, who managed President Ronald Reagan’s successful re-election campaign.
Baruch College political science professor Doug Muzzio also called Cuomo’s scheduled interview “the first danger point for the governor.”
“If I were the governor, I wouldn’t be sleeping well at night,” he said.
“There are potential liabilities here.”
The AG’s investigation is being led by former Manhattan US Attorney Joon Kim and Anne Clark, a leading employment lawyer.
James hired them in March after Cuomo’s office authorized her to conduct an independent investigation following initial resistance from the governor’s special counsel, Beth Garvey, who shortly afterward was named his acting counsel.
The cost of the probe hasn’t been made public, but a source familiar with the matter on Thursday told The Post that the AG’s contracts with Kim’s and Clark’s firms — Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton and Vladeck, Raskin & Clark, respectively — were worth a total of $3.5 million.
In addition to the sexual harassment allegations, the lawyers are looking into allegations that state employees were pressured to work on Cuomo’s most recent memoir, “American Crisis: Leadership Lessons from the COVID-19 Pandemic.”
Cuomo sold the rights to that book for $5.1 million.
In a prepared statement, Cuomo spokesman Rich Azzopardi said, “We have said repeatedly that the governor doesn’t want to comment on this review until he has cooperated, but the continued leaks are more evidence of the transparent political motivation of the Attorney General’s review.”
The AG’s Office didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
But City Councilman Joe Borelli (R-Staten Island) said, “With Cuomo and company desperately trying to frame this as a political witch-hunt, we can only assume that AG James’s investigation is finding a lot of skeletons in the closets.”
“I expect her report will tear apart his credibility and expose him publicly as the cartoon villain most in Albany already know he is,” Borelli added.
In addition to facing James’ probe, Cuomo is under investigation by the FBI and the Brooklyn US Attorney’s Office over his administration’s handling of nursing homes during the coronavirus pandemic and its cover-up of the total number of nursing home residents killed by COVID-19.
The federal inquiry was launched after The Post exclusively revealed in February that top Cuomo aide Melissa DeRosa privately told Democratic lawmakers that officials withheld the death toll for fear it would “be used against us” by the Justice Department under President Donald Trump.
State Senate Health Committee Chairman Gustavo Rivera (D-Bronx) has also told The Post that the feds questioned him about Cuomo’s book deal when he was interviewed in May.
“He’s acting as though there wasn’t an issue, he’s acting as if everything is fine and continuing to do so every day — just ignoring the realities,” Rivera said of Cuomo on Thursday.
“He figures he can outlast it but the survivors remember, as do many of us who have called for his resignation before and will call for it again.”
