The female aide who’s accused Gov. Andrew Cuomo of groping her has revealed her identity as part of an interview in which she discusses the incident — which is now the subject of a criminal investigation.
Brittany Commisso told “CBS This Morning” and the Albany Times Union that she filed a complaint against Cuomo because “it was the right thing to,” according to an excerpt released Sunday morning.
“The governor needs to be held accountable,” she said.
“What he did to me was a crime. He broke the law.”
Cuomo has repeatedly denied that he ever “touched anyone inappropriately” but has been in hiding since state Attorney General Letitia James on Tuesday released a report that accused him of sexually harassing 11 women, including nine current and former state workers.
Commisso, 32, is identified in the 168-page report as “Executive Assistant #1.”
The report said Commisso testified under oath that Cuomo, 63, reached under her blouse and molested her during an incident in the Executive Mansion in Albany last month.
“I mean it was — he was like cupping my breast. He cupped my breast,” she told investigators.
She added: “I in no way, shape or form invited that nor did I ask for it. I didn’t want it. I feel like I was being taken advantage of.”
The report described the alleged groping as the culmination of a series of “offensive interactions” that also include Cuomo’s alleged “touching and grabbing of [Commisso’s] butt during hugs and, on one occasion, while taking selfies with him.”
Cuomo could face “a couple” of misdemeanor charges based on Commisso’s allegations, Albany County Sheriff Craig Apple said during a Saturday news conference.
“At this point, I’m very comfortable and safe saying she is, in fact, a victim,” he said.
see also
Apple’s office took Commisso’s complaint during a brief interview on Thursday.
Commisso was hired by the Executive Chamber as a $62,000-a-year administrative assistant in fiscal 2019 and previously worked as a confidential stenographer for the Department of Transportation, according to the Empire Center for Public Policy’s SeeThroughNY website.
She is in the midst of contested divorce proceedings with her husband, Frank Commisso Jr., 37, a former Albany Common Council member who lost a 2017 mayoral campaign.
The couple has a daughter, Gianna, who’s around 6 years old.
They have a scheduled court date in Albany Supreme Court on Friday, according to online records.
According to James’ report, Brittany Commisso “repeatedly testified that she felt she had to tolerate the Governor’s physical advances and suggestive comments because she feared the repercussions if she did
not.”
She also “testified that she needed the income (including the overtime pay received from working on weekends), particularly as she was going through a divorce and was focused on not risking losing her job.”
In an earlier interview with the Times Union, which didn’t identify her at the time, Brittany Commisso offered a vivid account of the alleged groping incident, which she said took place after she was summoned to the Executive Mansion to help Cuomo with his cellphone.
Upon entering his second-floor office, she said, the three-term Democrat came out from behind the desk and aggressively embraced her in an overtly sexual manner “that wasn’t just a hug.”
“He went for it and I kind of like was, ‘Oh, the door is right there,’” she said.
“I didn’t know what else to say. … It was pretty much like ‘What are you doing?’ That’s when he slammed the door. He said, ‘I don’t care.’”
Although the sound of the door was loud enough that Cuomo’s staff most likely wondered what was going on, he wasn’t deterred, she said.
“He came right back and he pulled me close and all I remember is seeing his hand, his big hand,” she said.
“I remember looking down like, ‘Holy sh–.’”
Cuomo then reached under her blouse and grabbed one of her breasts over her bra, she said.
“I was just so confused and so taken aback by it … He never said anything, which was odd,” she said.
She also said she believed Cuomo tried to groom her for a relationship during the past two years through inappropriate behavior that included tight hugs and kisses on her cheek.
“It was never in front of anybody,” she said.
“He made sure that it was either at the mansion or, if it was at the Capitol, that no one was around.”
Her lawyer has also said that Brittany Commisso was willing to take a lie detector test and wanted Cuomo to take one, too.
Brittany Commisso earned more than $13,500 over her base pay in fiscal 2020, the most recent year available, according to SeeThroughNY.
Frank Commisso Jr. works for the New York State and Local Retirement System and is the son of Frank Commisso Sr., who has been an Albany County legislator since 1983.
Meanwhile, Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson — who last month succeeded Cuomo as chairman of the National Governors Association — on Sunday said his predecessor “needs to resign” over Commisso’s allegations, which he said “could not be more serious.”
“No woman should have to go to the workplace and have to choose between a paycheck and being assaulted,” Hutchinson told CBS’ “Face the Nation”
“It’s a sad circumstance, but that was a very credible review and the allegations are very serious.”
During a Friday news conference, Cuomo’s personal defense lawyer, Rita Glavin, said the investigation of him was rigged and she attacked some of his accusers, including Brittany Commisso.
Glavin, a former US Justice Department official, said that emails and other records not contained in James’ report contradicted its finding regarding the chain of events on Nov. 16, when the report said she was groped.
“This woman’s story, as stated as fact in the report, is false,” Glavin said.
“The documentary evidence does not support what she said.”
Brittany Commisso’s lawyer, Brian Premo, said afterward, “My client has consistently said and testified that she does not know the date.”
“She never said Nov. 16 and as far as their allegation that she wasn’t there the day that happened — that’s wrong,” Premo said.
“She was there the day he did what she alleged. She will further respond in due course.”
Additional reporting by Sam Raskin