New York Governor Andrew Cuomo is dealing with rising calls to resign from each events after being discovered responsible of sexually harassing at the very least 11 ladies and retaliating towards one when she reported it by the NY Lawyer Normal’s Workplace.
New York Lawyer Normal Letitia James launched her long-awaited report into the allegations towards embattled Cuomo on Tuesday. It finds him responsible of sexually harassing 11 ladies together with some whose allegations weren’t beforehand recognized, like two state troopers and an government assistant who says he groped her breast on the Governor’s mansion in Albany in November 2020.
James mentioned the entire allegations are corroborated however she has not beneficial any prison costs towards him. It is unclear if he’ll face any or if he’ll now step down as Governor.
Cuomo, who has all the time denied the allegations, is but to reply however there are rising requires him to resign.
President Biden – who mentioned in March that Cuomo ought to resign if the report finds the allegations true – is but to remark.
Cuomo has scheduled a press convention for 1pm to reply to the report however it’s unclear if he has any intention of resigning. His present time period would not finish till November 2022.
Amongst those that have referred to as for his resignation is New York Metropolis Mayor Invoice de Blasio and Senate Majority Chief Andrea Stewart Cousins.
The 168-page report by James’ workplace finds that Cuomo fostered a ‘poisonous work atmosphere’ the place ladies had been punished for reporting their allegations. It says that as an alternative of coping with the complaints correctly, the ladies had been merely moved out of his orbit, into completely different departments.
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NY governor Andrew Cuomo did sexually harass ladies who labored for him, New York’s Lawyer Normal has discovered after a five-month-long investigation
The 168-report was launched on Tuesday after a 5 month investigation by the NY AG
New York Lawyer Normal Letitia James saying her findings on Tuesday after a 5 month investigation
The 168-page report was launched on Tuesday however it’s unclear if the Governor now faces any prison costs.
The report cites ‘related legal guidelines’ as Employer Legal responsibility and Govt Chamber Coverage.
The Governor, who has all the time denied the allegations, is but to reply to the report’s findings.
Among the many allegations which the report says are true is that he sexually harassed a state trooper by working his ‘finger from her neck down her backbone’ whereas they had been sharing an elevator and saying ‘hey you’.
He’s additionally mentioned to have rubbed a state worker’s abdomen, ran his finger throughout the chest of one other girl, and engaged in ‘widespread sample’ of subjecting ladies to ‘undesirable hugs’.
The report concludes: ‘The Governor sexually harassed numerous State staff via unwelcome and undesirable touching, in addition to by making quite a few offensive and sexually suggestive feedback.
‘We discover that such conduct was a part of a sample of conduct that prolonged to his interactions with others exterior of State authorities.’
Non-consensual touching, repeatedly made feedback of a sexualized, gender primarily based nature.
Cuomo was grilled for 11 hours as a part of the investigation.
Throughout questioning, the report says he ‘didn’t dispute that he generally commented on workers members’ look and apparel (though typically solely to go with), and acknowledged that, being “quaint,”.
He mentioned he makes use of phrases like ‘honey’, ‘sweetheart’ and ‘darling’ and that he usually gave ladies hugs and kisses – generally on the lips.
Amongst those that mentioned he ought to resign on the very least was Senate Majority Chief Andrea Stewart Cousins.
‘This report highlights unacceptable conduct Cuomo and his administration. The Governor should resign for the great of the state. Now that the investigation is full, and the allegations have been substantiated, it needs to be clear to everybody that he can now not function Governor.’
THE 11 WOMEN CUOMO ‘HARASSED’
‘Govt Assistant One’
The report says Cuomo groped ‘Govt Assistant One’ repeatedly sexually harassed her when she labored for him by subjecting her to ‘shut and intimate hugs’, ‘kisses on the cheeks and brow’, ‘at the very least one kiss on the lips’ and ‘touching her butt’.
He allegedly referred to her and one different assistant as ‘mingle mamas’ and requested her repeatedly if she would ever cheat on her husband.
In November 2020, he allegedly groped her breast on the Govt Mansion in Albany.
‘For over three months, Govt Assistant #1 saved this groping incident to herself and deliberate to take it “to the grave,”4 however discovered herself turning into emotional (in a manner that was seen to her colleagues within the Govt Chamber) whereas watching the Governor state, at a press convention on March 3, 2021, that he had by no means “touched anybody inappropriately.”5 She then confided in sure of her colleagues, who in flip reported her allegations to senior workers within the Govt Chamber, the report says.
State Trooper #1
The report says Cuomo sexually harassed a state trooper, known as Trooper #1, who he employed onto his protecting element, bending the three-year expertise requirement.
As soon as she was on his staff, he allegedly ‘sexually harassed her on numerous events’ by ‘working his hand throughout her abdomen from her stomach button to her proper hip whereas she held a door open for him at an occasion’, ‘working his finger down her again’ whereas they had been in an elevator collectively and saying “hey you”, kissing her on the cheek.
He additionally allegedly requested her to assist him discover a girlfriend and mentioned he needed somebody who ‘preferred ache’, and requested her why she needed to get married, saying ‘your intercourse drive goes down’.
‘Trooper #1 discovered these interactions with the Governor not solely offensive and uncomfortable, however markedly completely different from the best way the Governor interacted with members of the PSU who had been males, and she or he conveyed these incidents contemporaneously to colleagues,’ the report reads.
Charlotte Bennett, 2020
Charlotte Bennett
Bennett labored briefly for Cuomo as an aide.
AG Letitia James says her allegations that Cuomo harassed her with a collection of feedback are corroborated.
Amongst his alleged remarks are questions on if she’d date older males, asking her assist to discover a girlfriend, and apparently quizzing her on a sexual assault she had endured.
One of many different feedback that he made was that he needed to experience into the mountains with ladies.
State Entity Worker #1
The unidentified worker mentioned she attended an occasion with Cuomo in September 2019.
After giving a speech, Cuomo is alleged to have posed for footage along with her. Whereas the image was being taken, he ‘grabbed her butt’.
‘The worker was shocked and mentioned it with numerous pals, household and associates,’ the report says.
She additionally ‘memorialized the Governor’s inappropriate touching’ contemporaneously, however the report would not say how.
State Entity Worker #2 – Physician who gave Cuomo his COVID check on digicam
One of many ladies whose allegations had been corroborated was the physician who carried out his COVID-19 check at certainly one of his March 2020 press conferences.
She says that when he advised her, in entrance of cameras ‘good to see you physician, you make that robe look good,’ it was sexual harassment.
One of many ladies whose allegations had been corroborated was the physician who carried out his COVID-19 check at certainly one of his March 2020 press conferences.
She says that when he advised her, in entrance of cameras ‘good to see you physician, you make that robe look good,’ it was sexual harassment.
The investigators agreed.
In addition they mentioned that earlier than the check, he requested her to not swab him so laborious that it ‘hit his mind’.
She replied that she’d be ‘light however correct’ and he mentioned ‘I’ve heard that earlier than,’ which the physician mentioned was ‘implied in a sexual nature’.
Virginia Limmiatis
Nationwide Grid employee Virginia Limmiatis
Virginia Liammiatis labored for Nationwide Grid and was sporting a t-shirt with the corporate’s identify written throughout her chest when she says she met Cuomo.
He ran his ‘two fingers throughout her chest, urgent down on every of the letters as he did so and studying out the identify of the corporate as he went’.
The report says he then ‘leaned in, together with his face near her cheek, and mentioned “I’ll say I see a spider in your shoulder” earlier than brushing the world between her shoulder and her breasts’.
‘Ms. Limmiatis got here ahead on this investigation after she heard the Governor state, throughout the March 3, 2021 press convention, that he had by no means touched anybody inappropriately.
‘As Ms. Limmiatis testified to us, “He’s mendacity once more. He touched me inappropriately. I’m compelled to come back ahead to inform the reality… I didn’t know easy methods to report what he did to me on the time and was burdened by disgrace, however not coming ahead now would make me complicit in his lie, and I gained’t do it.”’
Lindsey Boylan
Lindsey Boylan
Boylan says that Cuomo made inappropriate remarks to her when she labored as Chief of Workers to the CEO of the Empire State Improvement Company together with that he discovered her enticing and that he needed to play strip poker.
She additionally says that he bodily touched her on varied elements of her physique, together with her waist, legs, and again.
She claims that after she reported her allegations, she was victimized by his staff who ran a smear marketing campaign towards her whereas she ran for workplace.
Alyssa McGrath
Alyssa McGrath
McGrath was one other government assistant who says Cuomo harassed her.
‘In his interactions with one other government assistant, Alyssa McGrath, the Governor made inappropriate feedback and engaged in harassing conduct, together with: usually asking about her private life, together with her marital standing and divorce; asking whether or not Ms. McGrath would inform on Govt Assistant #1 if she had been to cheat on her husband—and whether or not Ms. McGrath herself deliberate to “mingle” with males’.
‘Kaitlin’
Kaitlin – whose second identify isn’t public – met the Governor in 2016 at a fundraising occasion the place they had been photographed collectively in a dance pose.
Afterwards, she was employed by him in a junior place however given a wage of $120,000 – a determine so excessive she says it was laughed at in her interview.
Ana Liss
Ana Liss
Liss labored within the Govt Chamber between 2013 and 2015, throughout which era she says the governor subjected her to sexual harassment that included being referred to as ‘sweetheart’ and ‘darling’, and inserting his hand round her decrease waist.
He additionally kissed her arms and cheek, she mentioned.
Regardless of feeling uncomfortable, she says she didn’t report them as a result of ‘for no matter motive, in his workplace the principles had been completely different. It was simply, you need to view it as a praise if the Governor finds you aesthetically pleasing sufficient, if he finds you attention-grabbing sufficient to ask questions like that.
‘And so regardless that it was unusual and uncomfortable and technically not permissible in a typical office atmosphere, I used to be on this mindset that it was the twilight zone and…the standard guidelines didn’t apply.’
Anna Ruch
Ruch was a visitor at a marriage, as was the Governor, in 2019 when she says he put his arms on a piece of her again that was uncovered by a cut-out in her costume.
She grabbed his wrist to maneuver it away and he responded by saying ‘wow, you are aggressive,’ in keeping with the report.
Cuomo then grabbed her face with each of his arms and mentioned ‘can I kiss you?’
He was pictured kissing her cheek.
Ruch was a visitor at a marriage, as was the Governor, in 2019 when she says he put his arms on a piece of her again that was uncovered by a cut-out in her costume. She grabbed his wrist to maneuver it away and he responded by saying ‘wow, you are aggressive,’ in keeping with the report.
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