New York governor Andrew Cuomo sexually harassed multiple women, among them current and former state employees, in violation of federal and state law, state attorney general Letitia James announced at a press conference on Tuesday.
The announcement represents the conclusions of a months-long probe by the attorney general’s office into sexual harassment allegations made against the governor. Several women have alleged that the governor inappropriately touched them, although Cuomo has denied wrongdoing.
“Governor Andrew Cuomo sexually harassed multiple women and in doing so violated federal and state law,” James told reporters. Cuomo and the Executive Chamber cultivated a “toxic” workplace that allowed “harassment to occur and created a hostile work environment.”
Joon Kim, one of the lead investigators for the report, said Cuomo engaged in “unwelcome and nonconsensual touching” and accusers detailed “unwanted touching and grabbing of their most intimate body parts.”
James’s report, which runs to 165 pages, details a litany of allegations against the governor.
“On November 16, 2020, the Governor hugged Executive Assistant #1 and then reached under her blouse and grabbed her breast,” the report reads, without naming the executive assistant. “On multiple occasions in 2019 and 2020, the Governor engaged in close and intimate hugs with Executive Assistant #1 during which he, on occasion, grabbed her butt.”
In another instance, Cuomo reportedly harassed a State Trooper, including by “running his hand across her stomach, from her belly button to her right hip, while she held a door open for him at an event,” and “kissing her (and only her) on the cheek in front of another Trooper and asking to kiss her on another occasion, which she deflected.”
Source: National Review
