Governor Andrew M Cuomo sexually harassed multiple women, including current and former government workers, and retaliated against at least one of the women for making her complaints public, according to a much anticipated report from the New York State attorney general released on Tuesday.
The 165-page report said that Cuomo, a third-term Democrat, and his aides cultivated a toxic work environment in his office that was rife with fear and intimidation, and helped enable “harassment to occur and created a hostile work environment.”
According to NBC News, the investigation found that Cuomo sexually harassed 11 women current and former state employees — one of whom is a New York State Trooper. It also found the governor and his team retaliated against a former employee for coming forward.
The findings of the report could fuel support for impeachment proceedings against Cuomo in the State Legislature, which Democrats overwhelmingly control, lead to additional calls for his resignation and influence public opinion as he considers running for a fourth term. Outside lawyers hired by the Assembly’s judiciary committee are currently looking at not only the sexual harassment claims, but a series of scandals with a common theme: whether or not Cuomo abused his power while in office.
The investigation was conducted by 2 outside lawyers hired by Letitia James, the state attorney general: Joon H. Kim, a former top federal prosecutor, and Anne L Clark, a well-known employment lawyer.
Even before the report’s release on Tuesday, the damage to Cuomo has been considerable: In a span of a few weeks earlier this year, the allegations and a series of other scandals compounded into the most severe political crisis Cuomo has confronted in his ten years in office, a steep fall for a governor once hailed a national leader during the pandemic.
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