On Monday, in his last public comments as Governor of New York, Andrew Cuomo complained about what he called an unfair state investigation, which found that he had sexually harassed women who worked for him.
After the two women made their harassment statements public, Cuomo submitted the complaint to New York Attorney General Letitia James in March, who, as required by law, appointed two outside lawyers to investigate. Legislators in the New York Assembly opened an impeachment investigation.
The damn report issued by his Democratic colleague James on August 3 was the beginning of the end of Cuomo’s ten years as governor. His tenure was marked by a tough and belligerent way of doing business, which left him without allies.
“You know me: I’m a fighter, and my instinct is to fight for it because it seems unfair and unfair to me,” Cuomo said in a prerecorded speech broadcast at noon Monday. But he decided not to, he said, because “prolonging this situation will only paralyze the government.”
Cuomo separated at 11:59 p.m., and then another Democrat, Lt. Governor Kathy Hochul, took office and became New York State’s first female manager.
Hochul, 62, will be sworn in at the Albany State Capitol at 12:01 am and vowed to change her style, stating that no one would accuse her of creating “a toxic work environment” like the attorney general. Over the years, the 63-year-old Cuomo has always dreamed of breaking the record of his late father, Mario Cuomo, who served as governor of New York State for three years in a row, ending his four-year term. He has raised millions of dollars to seek a fourth term in next year’s election. It is not clear what he will do.
His senior assistant, Melissa DeRosa (Melissa DeRosa), said in a statement that Cuomo will spend new free time with his family and “he has a lot of fishing activities to catch up on.”
Cuomo “has no interest in running for office again,” he said.
The investigation is still ongoing. James is investigating whether Cuomo misused national resources to ensure scarce coronavirus testing for wealthy family and friends, and wrote a book about the COVID19 crisis in New York last year. Cuomo received an upfront payment of US $5.1 million because his daily coverage of the pandemic was popular across the country, but his publisher has since stated that it will no longer promote the book.
Although Cuomo is about to step down and they no longer plan to impeach him, members of the state legislature stated that they will continue to issue reports once the investigation is completed.
Lawmakers also investigated why the Cuomo administration withheld data showing the true extent of COVID19 deaths in nursing homes, and federal prosecutors are also looking into this issue.
At least five state prosecutors requested information from James. The report found that Cuomo kissed, groped, or made unwanted sexual comments to at least 11 women, and retaliated against at least one for leaking their information. The women who complained violated federal and state laws. Private records are released to the media.
Cuomo sometimes laments making young women uncomfortable, attributing it to generational differences and the loving upbringing of Italian Americans. But he denied any criminal acts, and his assistants and personal lawyers tried to portray at least some of the women as unreliable people.
In a 15-minute speech, Cuomo said that some of his proudest moments included signing a same-sex marriage and incorporating the $15 minimum wage into the law.
“We didn’t get everything we wanted, not even everything we needed to do, and we didn’t always get it right,” he said. “But I want you to know that, from the bottom of my heart, I work hard every day.”
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