Time's Up CEO apologizes for helping draft letter used to discredit Cuomo accuser but refuses to resign after cofounder quit

Tina Tchen posted a lengthy statement on Time's Up's website Wednesday
She said she was 'profoundly sorry' for backing the disgraced governor and asked for 'input from the survivor community' to help them do better
Tchen claimed she had no knowledge the letter was 'part of an ongoing effort to undermine the survivors' until NY AG James' office released its damning report
Instead, she claimed the charity was 'used as cover for heinous actions' going on inside Cuomo's office
Tchen is facing calls to stand down after James' report found she and board chair Roberta Kaplan helped draft a letter used to discredit Lindsey Boylan
Kaplan resigned from her role at Time's Up Monday in the wake of the scandal

Published: 18:17 BST, 12 August 2021 | Updated: 18:26 BST, 12 August 2021

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The CEO of Time's Up has apologized for helping draft a letter to discredit one of Andrew Cuomo's accusers - but is still refusing to resign from the charity for sexual harassment victims.

Tina Tchen posted a lengthy statement on the organization's website Wednesday saying she was 'profoundly sorry' for backing the disgraced governor and asking for 'input from the survivor community' to help them do better.

Tchen claimed she had no knowledge the letter was 'part of an ongoing effort to undermine the survivors' until New York Attorney General Letitia James' office released its damning report last Tuesday.

Instead, she claimed the charity was 'used as cover for heinous actions' going on inside Cuomo's office and 'to distract and distort the actual legal and moral violations that occurred.'

'I would never participate in or condone, in any way, such an attack or strategy,' she insisted.

Tchen has been facing calls to stand down from the charity she founded in 2017 at the height of the #MeToo movement after her alleged ties to Cuomo's behaviors emerged.

James' report found that Cuomo's staff sought the help of Tchen and Time's Up Legal Defense Fund founder and board chair Roberta Kaplan while drafting a letter denying allegations made against the governor by former aide Lindsey Boylan.

Kaplan resigned from her role at Time's Up Monday in the wake of the scandal with the organization saying in a statement that her exit was 'the right and appropriate thing to do.'

The CEO of Time's Up has apologized for helping draft a letter to discredit one of Andrew Cuomo's accusers - but is still refusing to resign from the charity for sexual harassment victims. CEO Tina Tchen pictured

Cuomo announced his resignation Tuesday (above) after the release of NY AG James' report

Tchen made no reference of the mounting calls for her own resignation in Wednesday's apology as she admitted that her actions had caused 'added pain or harm to survivors.'

'To the survivors in our organization, the TIME'S UP network, and throughout our community…I am sorry,' she wrote.

'As someone working to combat sexual harassment and sexual violence, support survivors, and advance gender equity, the last thing I want any of my actions to do is to cause added pain or harm to survivors.

'And yet, I now know that some of my actions have done just that. For that I am profoundly sorry.'

Tchen said she found it 'deeply disturbing' to know she had caused 'harm' to the community the organization seeks to protect and understood that the 'news and events of the past week hurt, triggered, and disappointed many of you.'

She said the organization had worked closely with the governor because she genuinely believed 'his office was interested in doing the right thing for women.'

'In 2019, TIME'S UP worked with the New York Governor's office to ensure the passage of the New York Safety Agenda, legislation that has enacted major improvements in the state laws on sexual harassment, sexual assault, and sexual abuse,' she wrote.

Tina Tchen posted a lengthy statement on the organization's website Wednesday (above) saying she was 'profoundly sorry' for backing the disgraced governor

'When our then-Board Chair Robbie Kaplan contacted me about actions in Cuomo's office, I responded believing that, as they had been in the past, his office was interested in doing the right thing for women.'

She professed innocence over the letter's purpose of discrediting Boylan's allegations.

'The facts revealed in the Attorney General's findings — that the letter was drafted by Cuomo as part of an ongoing effort to undermine the survivors — were completely unknown to me until the investigation's report was released,' she said.

'I would never participate in or condone, in any way, such an attack or strategy.

'I believe we were used as cover for heinous actions going on behind the scenes and, more recently, being used to distract and distort the actual legal and moral violations that occurred.'

Despite her claims she was not aware of the letter's true purpose, Tchen admitted this 'in no way excuses my oversight and mistakes in failing to protect survivors and our work.'

She added: 'I recognize that similar scenarios may have played out in the past that I failed to see for what they were.'

Tchen went on to ask the Time's Up community for feedback to help the charity 'move into a chapter where we both fight for accountability externally and model it internally, and where we are moving in lockstep with our partners and allied communities toward the goals we're collectively trying to achieve.'

Cuomo's first accuser Lindsey Boylan called on Tchen to resign from the charity after she issued the apology

Her apology was dismissed by Boylan who called on the president and CEO to quit saying that 'no trust' can be regained.

'You can start by resigning @Tina Tchen],' Boylan tweeted.

'So too should any employees engaged in silencing & diminishing survivors. No trust can be built from this place.'

She added: 'No trust can be built from this place. @TIMESUPNOW should take a cold hard look at their benefactors and ask themselves if the real cost is worth the support.'

On Monday, a collective of about 30 sexual assault survivors and victims wrote an open letter calling for a third-party investigation into Time's Up and a return of donations following the findings of James' report.

'We write to you as a collective group of survivors and victims who believe TIME'S UP is failing the survivor community,' the letter said.

Tchen claimed she had no knowledge the letter was 'part of an ongoing effort to undermine the survivors' until James released the damning report last Tuesday (pictured)

'We believed in your mission and hoped that your investment in eradicating sexual assault and harassment in the workplace would change the tide to support us as we came forward, but we are disappointed.'

The letter said Tchen and Kaplan 'weaponized their knowledge of survivors experiences' to help Cuomo and his office discredit Boylan.

'Instead of helping survivors remain at the center of our own stories, we find out in the press that you were consulted by abusers to aid them in victim-blaming and undermining our ability to come forward,' the letter said.

'This behavior harms all survivors. This behavior discourages survivors from seeking support and speaking out and causes ripples of distrust felt throughout our movement.'

It also called for a third party investigation 'illustrating the full extent to which Time's Up board members and staff members have been approached by, offered advice to, or are representing perpetrators of harm' and a return of donations 'by individuals and corporations that have active allegations of sexual harassment, sexual assault, or are litigating in opposition to survivors.'

The Human Rights Campaign also said it was launching an internal investigation over the advocacy organization's leader Alphonso David's inclusion in the attorney general's report.

Kaplan stood down Monday, citing her work counseling Cuomo and his former top aide Melissa DeRosa throughout the attorney general's investigation in her resignation letter.

James' report found that Cuomo's staff sought the help of Tchen and Time's Up Legal Defense Fund founder and board chair Roberta Kaplan (pictured) while drafting a letter denying allegations made against the governor by Lindsey Boylan. Kaplan resigned Monday

Roberta Kaplan, Julianne Moore, Andrew Cuomo, Mira Sorvino and Michelle Hurd are seen during the signing of New York State legislation extending the stature of limitations for rape ni 2019

Cuomo's office drafted a letter discrediting Boylan and her allegations.

The letter, which was never published, 'denied the legitimacy of Ms. Boylan's allegations, impugned her credibility, and attacked her claims as politically motivated', James' report said.

The report said that DeRosa testified that Cuomo told her to seek help from Kaplan over the letter.

'According to Ms. DeRosa, Ms. Kaplan read the letter to the head of the advocacy group Times Up [Tchen], and both of them allegedly suggested that, without the statements about Ms. Boylan's interactions with male colleagues, the letter was fine,' James said in her report.

Cuomo also partnered with Time's Up on numerous occasions as governor as he publicly tried to create an image as a supporter of women's rights.

Lindsey Boylan (pictured) was the first woman to publicly accuse Cuomo of sexual harassment

Cuomo resigned Tuesday - one week after James' report found he sexually harassed at least 11 women - including nine state employees.

The report also found he retaliated against one woman - Boylan - for coming forward with her accusations.

Cuomo still faces at least three criminal investigations, with the District Attorneys of Manhattan, Albany and Westchester all opened criminal investigations into Cuomo's conduct last week and urged women to come forward.

Since then, one woman - Brittany Commisso - has filed a report with the Albany Sheriff's office.

Commisso is named as 'executive assistant number one' in James' report. She has accused the governor of groping her breast at the executive mansion in November.

Cuomo also faces lawsuits over his behavior with Boylan saying she intends to sue him.

He may also still be impeached by state lawmakers to prevent him ever taking office again.

TIME'S UP'S APOLOGY IN FULL:

To the survivors in our organization, the TIME'S UP network, and throughout our community…

I am sorry. As someone working to combat sexual harassment and sexual violence, support survivors, and advance gender equity, the last thing I want any of my actions to do is to cause added pain or harm to survivors. And yet, I now know that some of my actions have done just that. For that I am profoundly sorry.

I also know that the news and events of the past week hurt, triggered, and disappointed many of you. TIME'S UP was born because survivors decided that enough was enough and exposed the pervasiveness of long-standing, hidden sexual harassment and abuse in the work place. Combatting sexual harassment and abuse and building safe, fair, and dignified workplaces so that it doesn't happen in the first place remains our mission. Realizing that, in pursuit of that mission, we have caused harm to the very community at the core of our founding is deeply disturbing, and I see and own these mistakes, now and in the past.

One of the ways TIME'S UP has tried to contribute to the movement to end sexual violence is to work with public policy makers and corporate employers to advance the needs of survivors and workers. This is why, in 2019, TIME'S UP worked with the New York Governor's office to ensure the passage of the New York Safety Agenda, legislation that has enacted major improvements in the state laws on sexual harassment, sexual assault, and sexual abuse. When our then-Board Chair Robbie Kaplan contacted me about actions in Cuomo's office, I responded believing that, as they had been in the past, his office was interested in doing the right thing for women. The facts revealed in the Attorney General's findings — that the letter was drafted by Cuomo as part of an ongoing effort to undermine the survivors — were completely unknown to me until the investigation's report was released. I would never participate in or condone, in any way, such an attack or strategy.

I believe we were used as cover for heinous actions going on behind the scenes and, more recently, being used to distract and distort the actual legal and moral violations that occurred. But that in no way excuses my oversight and mistakes in failing to protect survivors and our work, and I recognize that similar scenarios may have played out in the past that I failed to see for what they were. For that, again, I am profoundly sorry.

I know that trust is broken, and must be earned back at a pace that's aligned with the needs of the communities I've let down. To achieve that, I am committed to work openly in a collaborative process with our staff, survivors, our board, partners, allies, critics and the entire community that's worked with us from the start. I want to design that process in a way that's intersectional and aligned with our values. I will have more details about that process to share with everyone very soon. In the interim, I hope that those of you who are willing to talk with us will, and we are looking at the input we've already received from the open letter as part of this process. This moment, while devastating in many regards, forced us to reckon with the fact that we've moved out of alignment with the broader survivor community, full stop. We say it all the time internally, but we have to acknowledge through consistent action that it was the sacrifice, strategy, and work of survivors that made our founding possible in the first place. The progress we have made was seeded by your work and that of impacted people-led movements who have fought for change for decades. We have a responsibility to honor that and to earn our place in that lineage.

Over the years, TIME'S UP expanded its work to include gender and racial equity issues — from equal pay to caregiving to ending all forms of workplace harassment. The vision for that and all of our work includes survivors, but we have to recommit ourselves to building strategies that don't just include you all, but that are also led and informed by you. You, and our collective work to build a world free of sexual violence, is what makes this organization powerful. Please know that it was never my or this organization's intention to make you more susceptible to harm or for you to lose a safe space and trusted community in us — we know that what matters is the impact, not our intentions.

Again, we want to hear from you, and hope you will share your feedback on what we can do to move into a chapter where we both fight for accountability externally and model it internally, and where we are moving in lockstep with our partners and allied communities toward the goals we're collectively trying to achieve.

With love, gratitude, open ears and an open mind,

Tina Tchen, President and CEO