A third woman has come forward, accusing the governor of grabbing her and making an unwanted advance at a wedding.
What You Need to Know About the Sexual Harassment Allegations Against Andrew Cuomo
Two women who are former aides to New York governor Andrew Cuomo say that he sexually harassed them at work.
“Yes, Governor Cuomo sexually harassed me for years,” Lindsey Boylan wrote on Twitter in December. “And I know I am not the only woman.” Last week she detailed the alleged harassment in a lengthy post on Medium, writing that the governor asked her to play strip poker at work and, once, forcibly kissed her.
This week a second former aide, Charlotte Bennett, came forward with more claims of harassment. She told The New York Times that last summer, when she worked as an executive assistant and health policy adviser to the governor, Cuomo repeatedly asked her inappropriate sexual questions, including about sex with older men. “I understood that the governor wanted to sleep with me, and felt horribly uncomfortable and scared,” she said.
https://twitter.com/LindseyBoylan/status/1338125549756182529The governor has denied all claims of inappropriate behavior.
“It’s just not true,” Cuomo said of Boylan’s story, in December. And in a statement to the Times on Saturday, he said that he “never made advances toward Ms. Bennett, nor did I ever intend to act in any way that was inappropriate.”
The New York governor attained national fame last spring as the virus that would kill half a million Americans ripped through his state. Though many lauded him for his leadership and declared themselves, unbelievably, “Cuomosexuals” on social media, recent reporting has revealed troubling reports about the governor’s COVID response. New York attorney general Letitia James reported in January that the Cuomo administration undercounted nursing home COVID deaths by the thousands. And in February, top aide to the governor Melissa DeRosa told New York lawmakers that the governor’s office delayed reports of deaths from COVID in New York nursing homes out of fear that it “was going to be used against us,” suggesting that the numbers were not announced in order to avoid a confrontation with the Trump administration. Cuomo has acknowledged that the delay was a “mistake” but denied that he suppressed the numbers on purpose.
Both the sexual harassment allegations and the COVID death-count scandal come as the New York gubernatorial race begins in earnest—Cuomo is expected to seek a fourth term as governor and is up for reelection in 2022.
AdvertisementOn Sunday, as the two women’s allegations gained increasing attention in the media, the governor’s office put out another statement. Cuomo acknowledged that “my interactions may have been insensitive or too personal” and that “some of the things I have said have been misinterpreted as unwanted flirtation.” But he defended himself, writing, “At work sometimes I think I am being playful and make jokes that I think are funny,” adding, “You have seen me do it at briefings hundreds of times.” He denied accusations of inappropriate touch and of propositioning sex, and called for an outside, independent review of the accusations.
What does Boylan, the first accuser, say happened?
In her Medium essay, Boylan writes that in 2016, after she started working for New York State, her boss told her that Cuomo had a “crush” on her. She provides screenshots from a 2016 email from another woman in Cuomo’s administration, in which the woman claimed that Cuomo had compared Boylan to his rumored ex-girlfriend, and said that Boylan was “better looking.” Boylan also writes that Cuomo started calling her by his rumored ex-girlfriend’s first name at work, and that “the governor would go out of his way to touch me on my lower back, arms, and legs.”
On a 2017 work trip, she writes, the governor asked her to play strip poker. In 2018 Boylan was promoted to deputy secretary for economic development and special adviser to the governor—she writes she turned the job down until she was able to ensure keeping an office that was physically distant from Cuomo’s. During a one-on-one meeting while she was in that role, she wrote, he suddenly kissed her without her consent. “Governor Andrew Cuomo has created a culture within his administration where sexual harassment and bullying is so pervasive that it is not only condoned but expected,” Boylan writes.
What about Bennett, the second accuser?
The second woman, Charlotte Bennett, told the Times that when Cuomo was her boss last summer, he would get the 25-year-old in one-on-ones and ask her personal questions about her dating life, specifically about dating older men. She said a week after an uncomfortable conversation with the governor about hugging, she told chief of staff Jill DesRosiers, and was transferred to a faraway office. She shared messages with the Times that she had sent to her parents and friends while she worked for Cuomo, complaining of the harassment.
Bennett and her mother thought that the governor was taking on the role of a mentor. But after she shared with him that she was a survivor of sexual assault, she said, he spoke about it in a deeply uncomfortable way. Later, she said, he started asking her questions about having sex with older men. She shared texts she’d sent to friends at the time, detailing these conversations. The governor, she said, asked her if she would date older men and encouraged her to get a tattoo on her butt. Disturbingly, the bulk of the harassment she says she experienced from Cuomo took place during the height of New York’s COVID outbreak—the time when the governor was receiving near-constant praise.
What about the third accuser?
On March 1, The New York Times reported that a woman named Anna Ruch said that she was a guest at a wedding that Cuomo attended in 2019, and that he tried to kiss her without her consent. Ruch, who, unlike the two other women, has never worked for Cuomo, described approaching the governor and thanking him for his speech, and then being uncomfortable when he placed his hand on her bare lower back. She said she removed his hand and that he called her “aggressive,” moving his hand to her cheeks. “Can I kiss you?” he asked, according to Ruch. She said she didn't respond and pulled away in shock. “I was so confused and shocked and embarrassed,” she said. A friend later told her that Cuomo had kissed her on the cheek. “I didn’t have a choice in his physical dominance over me at that moment. And that’s what infuriates me. And even with what I could do, removing his hand from my lower back, even doing that was not clear enough.”
AdvertisementIn a rare occurrence for a harassment accusation, Ruch was actually able to provide a photograph of the moment—she shared a picture with the Times that another wedding attendee had snapped of the governor with his hands on her face and her, apparently, shrinking away. “I felt so uncomfortable and embarrassed when really he is the one who should have been embarrassed,” she said.
How has Cuomo responded?
Cuomo has denied all allegations of sexual harassment and physical assault, but put out a statement apologizing for making anyone feel uncomfortable, writing that, “I now understand that my interactions may have been insensitive or too personal and that some of my comments, given my position, made others feel in ways I never intended.”
After denying Boylan’s claims in December and Bennett’s claims in February, the governor suggested that a former federal judge should conduct a review of Boylan’s and Bennett’s claims. After other leaders slammed this idea, Cuomo’s office announced that it would ask Attorney General Letitia James and the chief judge of the court of appeals to select an “independent and qualified lawyer in private practice without political affiliation” to conduct the investigation. James responded in the negative, saying that the situation requires a “truly independent investigation,” one that would allow her to subpoena witnesses and documents, which is beyond what the governor’s office had called for. Finally, on Sunday night, the governor’s office put out a statement saying that James should choose a special independent deputy attorney general to investigate the claims.
Bennett rejected Cuomo’s semi-apology in a strong statement to The New York Times, saying that the governor “has refused to acknowledge or take responsibility for his predatory behavior.” She added, “It took the governor 24 hours and significant backlash to allow for a truly independent investigation. These are not the actions of someone who simply feels misunderstood; they are the actions of an individual who wields his power to avoid justice.”
What are other lawmakers saying?
“Cuomo is an abuser,” Ron Kim, a Democrat and New York assembly member said on The View in February. Kim, whose relative died of COVID in a nursing home, said on Twitter that Cuomo should be held accountable for “abusive treatment of women.” Kim has alleged that he personally experienced abuse from the governor. Earlier last month Kim told CNN, “Governor Cuomo called me directly on Thursday to threaten my career if I did not cover up for Melissa [DeRosa] and what she said.”
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, one of the most powerful Democrats in office, weighed in on Monday. “The women who have come forward with serious and credible charges against Governor Cuomo deserve to be heard and to be treated with dignity,” she said, in a statement to Fox News. “The independent investigation must have due process and respect for everyone involved.” New York senator Kirsten Gillibrand said the allegations are “serious and deeply concerning,” and called for a full, independent investigation. The White House has responded too. Press secretary Jen Psaki, told CNN that President Biden supports “an independent review” of the accusations, and that both women “should be treated with respect and dignity.”
Jenny Singer is a staff writer for Glamour. You can follow her on Twitter.
This story originally appeared on: Glamour - Author:Jenny Singer
