Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Wednesday ducked questions about a former aide’s sexual harassment allegations — including claims he said he’d be open to dating a woman in her 20s — by citing an impeachment investigation by the state Assembly.
During an afternoon conference call, Cuomo tried to forestall queries from reporters by defiantly declaring he wouldn’t address any issues related to the probe.
“The Assembly announced a law firm to conduct their review,” he said.
“I’m not going to take any questions or have any comments on the review. At this time, let the lawyers do the job and let them conduct the review.”
But the first question posed to Cuomo involved specific, sexual harassment accusations made against the 63-year-old governor by former aide Charlotte Bennett, 25.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo says he’ll “let the lawyers do the job and let them conduct the review,” in regards to an impeachment investigation by the NY state Assembly. Seth Wenig/AP, PoolThey include claims that he asked Bennett if she’d ever been with an older man and that he told her he was open to a relationship with a woman as young as 22.
Cuomo refused to answer, saying, “the Assembly has a review going on, on just the questions you asked.”
“And I’m going to respect the review and I won’t comment on issues that are subject to the review,” he said.
Cuomo was also asked why his administration leaked personnel records related to another accuser, former aide Lindsey Boylan, and reportedly attempted to get state employees to sign a letter attacking her credibility.
“That is — Ms. Boylan is one of the issues that is going to be reviewed by the Assembly and the attorney general, and I want them to do their review and let them determine the facts. And then we’ll take it from there. Right?” he said.
“So let’s find out the facts and then we can have an opinion and comment on the facts, once we know the facts. But I’m not going to comment, until those reviews are finished, on any specific issue.”
Two other questions involved comments by President Biden, who told ABC News that if the allegations against Cuomo were confirmed, he should resign and will “probably end up being prosecuted, too.”
“If you committed a crime you can be prosecuted. That’s true,” Cuomo said.
“But what President Biden said was, we should do an investigation… I agree with him on that, the people of New York agree with him on that.”
Cuomo also said a recent poll that showed 50 percent of New Yorkers don’t want him to resign jibed with “what I’m hearing.”
“I have a job to do. They want me to do this job, they’re concerned about COVID, concerned by vaccines,” he said.
“They’re concerned about re-openings and they believe in due process, that allegations are not guilt. So, figure out the facts before you make a conclusion — and that’s also common sense.”
Cuomo further downplayed the 35 percent who want to see him resign, saying that “there’s always been 35 percent on the political spectrum” who oppose him.






