National review
Former aide accuses Cuomo of fumbling under her blouse
A sixth woman has accused New York Governor Andrew Cuomo of sexual harassment, according to a new report. According to the Albany Times Union, an executive chamber official, whose name was withheld from the newspaper, said the governor fondled her inappropriately at the executive mansion last year after she was called to work. An employee had been called into the villa to help the governor with a “minor technical problem with his cell phone” when the employee was alone in the governor’s private residence on the second floor when he “closed the door and allegedly under she grabbed her blouse and started stroking it, “said a source with direct knowledge of the allegation to the newspaper. The source reportedly told the newspaper that the woman, who is much younger than the 63-year-old governor, has urged Cuomo to quit and that her “more general allegations include that he was frequently flirtatious with her and that this is.” it was not the case only once that he had touched her. “Cuomo denied the allegations but called the story” gut-wrenching. “The new accuser is the fifth Cuomo employee to accuse the governor of sexual misconduct. Lindsey Boylan, former deputy secretary for economic development and special adviser to Cuomo, published wrote an essay last month on alleged sexual harassment she suffered while working for the governor, including unwanted kisses and touches. In the essay, she wrote that with the help of top female aides, Cuomo “has created a culture within his administration, where sexual harassment and bullying are so widespread that they are not only tolerated but also expected. ”Boylan told of a flight she shared with the governor from an event in October 2017 where Cuomo allegedly said:” Let’s play strip poker. ”On another occasion, Boylan said the P aar met for a briefing when Cuomo allegedly kissed her. Days later, former health policy advisor Charlotte Bennett claimed the governor molested her in spring 2020, according to the New York Times. Bennett, 25, said Cuomo asked intrusive questions about her sex life, including a June 5 incident where the governor asked if she was monogamous and if she had sex with older men. Anna Ruch, a former campaign worker from Biden who did not work for Cuomo, later accused the governor of giving her an unwanted kiss on the cheek at a wedding in 2019. She said the action made her “confused and shocked and embarrassed”. Former spokeswoman Karen Hinton told the Washington Post last week that Cuomo, then head of the US Department of Housing and Urban Development, had seen her “very long, too long, too narrow, too intimate” in a dimly lit Los Angeles. Forced a hug in hotel rooms in December 2000. Meanwhile, Ana Liss, a policy and operations advisor who worked for Cuomo from 2013 to 2015, told the Wall Street Journal that the governor had also been inappropriately treated with her, she said, “Honey “Called and asked if she had a boyfriend. She recounted an encounter with the governor in May 2014 at Albany’s executive mansion where she said the governor called her sweetheart, hugged her, kissed both cheeks, put his arm around her lower back and grabbed her waist as she moved turned around to be photographed by a photographer. “I now understand that my interactions may have been insensitive or too personal and that given my position, some of my comments felt others feel in ways I never intended,” Cuomo said in a statement after the first two prosecutors came forward. “I acknowledge that some of the things I have said have been misunderstood as unwanted flirtation. As far as anyone has felt this way, I’m really sorry. “He added,” To be clear, I’ve never touched anyone inappropriately or suggested anyone, and I never wanted anyone to feel uncomfortable, but these are allegations that New Yorkers deserve answers. ” New York attorney general Letitia James announced last week that her office had received a referral from the Cuomo administration allowing an independent investigation into her harassment claims. The sexual harassment allegations come because the New York governor is already embroiled in a scandal over his government mistreating nursing homes amid the coronavirus pandemic and trying to cover up the death toll among subsequent elderly residents. A number of New York lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have urged Cuomo to step down, despite the governor saying there is “no way to step down” and the proposal is “anti-democratic”.
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