Calls for Governor Cuomo’s Resignation Mount as 3rd Accuser Emerges
“The pattern of sexual harassment and predatory behavior by Governor Cuomo is unacceptable, and I believe the women coming forward,” New York City Councilman Antonio Reynoso tweeted in comments echoed elsewhere. “Governor Cuomo must resign.”
The latest accusation follows sexual harassment allegations against the governor from two women who had worked for his administration, accounts that led New York’s independently elected attorney general to say she was moving ahead with an investigation of his conduct.
Attorney General Letitia James received a letter from Cuomo’s office authorizing her to take charge of the probe after a weekend of wrangling over who should investigate.
The letter enables James, also a Democrat, to deputize an outside law firm to conduct an inquiry with full subpoena power. The findings will be disclosed in a public report, the letter said.
Cuomo has maintained he had never inappropriately touched or propositioned anyone.
The former aide, Charlotte Bennett, rejected Cuomo’s attempted apology in which he excused his behavior as “playful,” saying that the governor has “refused to acknowledge or take responsibility for his predatory behavior.”
Bennett, who alleges Cuomo quizzed her about her sex life and asked whether she would be open to a relationship with an older man, tweeted that “abusers particularly those with tremendous amounts of power are often repeat offenders who engage in manipulative tactics to diminish allegations, blame victims, deny wrongdoing and escape consequences.”