Last month, the most serious allegation of sexual misconduct against Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D-NY) came to light when a current staffer claimed the governor groped her breast. Albany Police said it may have risen to "level of a crime." The Times Union, which first reported that alleged incident, on Wednesday published further details from the staffer in question.
The anonymous staffer detailed the incident in question, with added emphasis:
She walked to her car parked at the Capitol and drove a short distance to the governor's mansion. In a recent interview with the Times Union — her first public statements on the matter — she described what happened when she reached the office on the second floor: The governor came out from behind his desk, and began groping her in a sexually aggressive manner.
"And that wasn’t just a hug," she said. "He went for it and I kind of like was, 'Oh, the door is right there.' ... I was mortified that a woman who works here is going to come in and see. ... I was terrified of that happening, because that’s not who I am and that’s not what I’m here for."
As panic set in, it flashed in her mind that insulting the governor could cost her the career she had been working so hard to build.
"I said to him, I said, 'You’re going to get us in trouble,'" she recalled. "I didn’t know what else to say. … It was pretty much like 'What are you doing?' That’s when he slammed the door (shut). He said, 'I don’t care.'"
He walked toward her a second time.
"I remember exactly what I was wearing," she said. "I remember him slamming (the door) so hard that I remember thinking to myself that I’m sure the staff is, like, 'Is everything OK up there?' He came right back and he pulled me close and all I remember is seeing his hand, his big hand. I remember looking down like, 'Holy sh_.'"
The governor, she said, had reached under her blouse and his hand was grasping one of her breasts over her bra.
"I was just so confused and so taken aback by it. … He never said anything, which was odd," she said. "At this moment, I don’t know what to say — I don’t know what to do. Now my hives are coming out. I’m, like, swearing in my mind. I remember I walked out and he walked back into his office. ... I remember going downstairs and escorting myself out and going to my car and sitting there for a second and going, 'OK, I have to now go back into the Capitol, go back to my desk and do my job and pretend that, like, that didn’t just happen.'
"I didn’t have another choice. I remember (thinking), 'You have to pull yourself together … even if you have to sit here for a couple minutes to do that,'" she continued. "If I told someone, I’m done. And who do you tell?"
The staffer had taken "an opportunity in June 2019 to return to the governor's staff as an executive assistant to one of Cuomo's top advisors." Lyons reported that "The woman said that in late 2019, the governor's conduct around her became more aggressive and the flirtatious conversations more inappropriate."
The staffer goes on to describe the governor telling her, "Let's take a selfie," during which she recalls, "I said OK. I remember standing up in his upstairs office. I was holding up the phone. I was nervous. As the phone is up I feel him, like, not just sliding his hands, he’s like rubbing my butt cheek, but not saying anything. That was the first blatant move."
Lyons also reported that "For roughly two years, [the staffer] said, she believes Cuomo had been grooming her in a pattern of inappropriate behavior that began with tight hugs and kisses on the cheek."
Other incidents are laid out, including inappropriate touching and "conversations [which] had also evolved into Cuomo asking probing and inappropriate questions," such as the governor telling her, "Oh, if you were single, the things that I would do to you."
Reporting from Brendan J. Lyons of the Times Union, as well as the staffer's own words, point to a pattern of sorts, as well as that the governor may have known what he was doing was wrong, despite how he has publicly said in part that "I never knew at the time that I was making anyone feel uncomfortable. I never knew at the time that I was making anyone feel uncomfortable. I certainly never, ever meant to offend anyone or hurt anyone or cause anyone any pain. That is the last thing I would ever want to do."
Emphasis is added:
For roughly two years, she said, she believes Cuomo had been grooming her in a pattern of inappropriate behavior that began with tight hugs and kisses on the cheek.
"It was never in front of anybody. He made sure that it was either at the mansion or, if it was at the Capitol, that no one was around," she said. "I remember thinking one time Stephanie was around, or (Secretary to the Governor) Melissa (DeRosa) was around, and I had been so used to him getting up and hugging me that when he didn’t I said 'Hmm.' It felt calculated — he would totally act different."
...
He asked her to send [the selfie] to another female colleague — but cautioned her to never show it to anyone else.
"I said, 'Yes sir, I understand, and I won’t.' I never did," she said. "If he looks you in the eye and says, 'You don’t tell a soul or tell anyone,' then you won’t. He’s kind of letting you know it would be in your best interest not to, if you know what’s good for you. … I didn’t tell a soul. I didn’t say anything about what he did. He never mentioned anything about that incident."
...
Later that month, the woman who has accused him of groping her said she was taking dictation for the governor at his Capitol office when he brought up what had happened a month earlier.
"Near the end of it, he looked up at me and he said, 'You know, by the way, you know people talk in the office and you can never tell anyone about anything we talk about or, you know, anything, right?'" she recalled of the conversation. "I said, 'I understand.' He said, 'Well, you know, I could get in big trouble, you know that.' I said, 'I understand, governor.' And he said, 'OK.'"
The woman said she interpreted the governor's words that day as a threat.
This staffer is not the only one to have noticed such a "pattern," a term used by fellow accuser Charlotte Bennett. As reported by Denis Slattery of the New York Daily News on Thursday, Bennett released a statement slamming not only the governor but others. "The Governor’s pattern of predatory behavior is clear-cut and abhorrent, and the similarities between my allegations and the allegations of my anonymous former coworker are nauseating. His predatory behavior must stop, and those who enable him must be brave enough to hold him accountable," her statement read.
"Hold[ing] him accountable" was one emphasis of Slattery's coverage of Bennett, especially if the further alleged incidents could have been prevented. Slattery also reported that:
Bennett said she believes if staffers in the office had taken her complaints about the governor’s behavior more seriously, it could have prevented the later alleged groping.
“His heinous behavior was normalized and enabled by the senior staff who failed to report my allegations,” she said.
The alleged groping is by far the most aggressive accusation against Cuomo, but Debra Katz, Bennett’s attorney, said investigators should look at those around the governor who she says have enabled his alleged behavior.
“Predators develop patterns of abuse and the similarities between this accuser’s experience and Charlotte’s experience make clear that Gov. Cuomo had a clear pattern of who he would target and how he would go about targeting them,” Katz said. “If not for Charlotte Bennett speaking up early to protect herself, her experience could very well have ended like this woman’s, and it is absolutely sickening to see that so many enablers were willing to allow that to happen.”
The governor's most recent accuser, Sherry Vill, is a married woman who claims Gov. Cuomo grabbed her face and kissed her at her own home.
Gov. Cuomo continues to vehemently deny the accusations, and despite calls from high profile Democrats, has refused to resign.
