Gov. Cuomo making last-ditch attempt to avoid impeachment
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo tried to cut a deal with the state Legislature — offering to drop his bid for a fourth-term in exchange for not getting impeached, The Post has learned.
But no one seems to be buying what the 63-year-old governor is selling.
The three-term Democrat made the dubious offer before Attorney General Letitia James’ damning report on his conduct was released last Tuesday, according to a top party official.
“It was something that was floated to me by the folks in the Cuomo camp as a possible option before the attorney general’s report came out,” NYS Democratic Party Chairman Jay Jacobs told The Post, adding, “I never saw it as a viable option.”
Still, it looks like Cuomo and his winnowed-down inner circle haven’t given up on the last-ditch effort to avoid impeachment.
A source told The City on Monday that the gov’s team has been busy making calls to try to save his skin in the wake of the official report, which concluded Cuomo sexually harassed at least 11 women in violation of state and federal law. He has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing.
Before she resigned Sunday night, top aide and confidante Melissa DeRosa had been asking executive staffers for strategies to quiet the impeachment talks, the source told The City.
Jacobs said he told the governor’s staff he didn’t think it was a plausible plan.
“I shot it down pretty quick,” Jacobs said. “Either you can survive the AG’s report and run again or you don’t survive the AG’s report. There’s no compromise.”
Charlie King, a longtime Cuomo pal, was apparently among those making inquiries about the deal, a source told The Post.
King denied the claim, saying, “No. He’s not running for a fourth term, period.”
The governor has ignored deafening calls for his resignation coming from as high as President Biden.
Sources said Steve Cohen, a longtime Cuomo adviser and a former federal prosecutor, has told Cuomo it’s time to pack it in, as has Jacobs.
Even top adviser Larry Schwartz — who pressed Democratic county officials on whether they remained supportive of the scandal-plagued governor while leading the state’s COVID-19 vaccination campaign — has urged him to step down, a source close to the Cuomo camp said.
Cuomo confidante Bill Mulrow, his 2018 campaign chairman and former top aide, was also among those who personally appealed to the governor to resign, according to a source familiar with the matter.
“You don’t need this,” Mulrow told the governor, according to the source.
But the plea apparently fell on deaf ears, and Mulrow has complained to others about Cuomo’s resistance to stepping down.
“The governor keeps saying he needs more time,” a source said.
His current term ends on Dec. 31, 2022.
The state Assembly Judiciary Committee met in Albany Monday for updates on its investigation into Cuomo.
The committee had told him that it was “nearing completion” of the probe and would “consider potential articles of impeachment.”
He was given until Friday to submit any information he wanted the panel to consider in its findings.
Assembly Member Charles Lavine said later Monday that the committee was reading a process that could “lead to articles of impeachment in a very short time.”
