Gov. Andrew Cuomo says he is stepping down, effective in 14 days.

“My instinct is to fight through this controversy because I believe it is politically motivated,” Cuomo said Tuesday in New York City.

“This situation, by its current trajectory, will generate months of political and legal controversy…. It will consume the government, it will cost taxpayers millions of dollars, it will brutalize people… And I cannot be the cause of that.

“New York tough means New York loving, and I love New York, and I love you. And everything I have ever done has been motivated by that love, and I would never want to be unhelpful in any way,” he added. “I think that given the circumstances, the best way I can help now is if I step aside and let the government get back to governing.”

Before the governor’s remarks, his outside counsel Rita Glavin held a briefing of her own, claiming New York Attorney General Letitia James‘ report “contains errors and it omits key evidence.”

“This is about the veracity and the credibility of a report that is being used to impeach and take down an elected official,” Glavin said.

“My lawyers… have reviewed the report over the past several days and have already raised serious issues and flaws that should concern all New Yorkers,” Cuomo later added. “The most serious allegations made against me had no credible, factual basis in the report. And there is a difference between alleged improper conduct and concluding sexual harassment.

“Now don’t get me wrong, this is not to say that there are not 11 women who I truly offended,” he added. “There are. And for that I deeply, deeply apologize.”

The scathing attorney general report found the governor sexually harassed 11 women, including former executive assistant Brittany Commisso, who told investigators Cuomo groped her at the executive mansion in December 2019 and again in November 2020.

“To me this was a dream job, and unfortunately, it turned into a nightmare,” she said in an exclusive interview with CBS This Morning‘s Jericka Duncan.

Commisso filed a criminal complaint last week with the Albany county sheriff’s office. The governor has staunchly denied the accusation.

Glavin called into question several of the report’s findings Tuesday, refuting Commisso’s story, among other allegations. She said some of the claims should not be considered sexual harassment and raised concerns about the investigative team.

“There is no question in my mind [the report] was designed and meant to devastate Governor Cuomo and his chamber,” she said.

Glavin added she has not been given access to any of the attorney general’s transcripts.

The New York Assembly Judiciary Committee began considering articles of impeachment against Cuomo on Monday and pledged to hold public hearings into the scandal.Attachments area