Former New York Democrat Governor Andrew Cuomo (D) — who resigned after an investigation from New York state’s Attorney General Letitia James found that he had sexually assaulted or harassed 11 women — said in a recent interview with Bloomberg News that he feels “vindicated” and that he is not ruling out another run for office.
According to Bloomberg News, if Cuomo “had to do it all over, he wouldn’t have resigned.” He told the outlet, “I never resigned because I said I did something wrong. I said, I’m resigning because I don’t want to be a distraction.”
“It turns out in a remarkably short period of time that it did become all bogus. 11 became zero,” Cuomo said. “If you do an honest summary, which is what I get from people on the street, I have been vindicated.”
11 has not become zero, however. As reported by The Hill, numerous prosecutors “have emphasized that the decision to not pursue charges against the former governor does not take away from the credibility of the accusations against him. Oswego County District Attorney Gregory Oakes last week said the woman who brought the allegation against Cuomo was ‘reliable and reasonable.’”
James’s office also rebutted Cuomo’s claims in the interview.
“No one, including Andrew Cuomo, can dispute the fact that multiple investigations found allegations of sexual harassment against him to be credible,” a spokesperson said in a statement, according to Bloomberg News. “Only he is to blame for inappropriately touching his own staff and then quitting so he didn’t have to face impeachment. His baseless attacks won’t change the reality — Andrew Cuomo is a serial sexual harasser.”
New York state’s Attorney General Letitia James investigation into the allegations against Cuomo found that “the Governor sexually harassed a number of current and former New York State employees by, among other things, engaging in unwelcome and nonconsensual touching, as well as making numerous offensive comments of a suggestive and sexual nature that created a hostile work environment for women.”
The investigation also “revealed that the Governor’s sexually harassing behavior was not limited to members of his own staff, but extended to other State employees, including a State Trooper on his protective detail and members of the public.” It concluded that Cuomo created a culture “filled with fear and intimidation, while at the same time normalizing the Governor’s frequent flirtations and gender-based comments” which “contributed to the conditions that allowed the sexual harassment to occur and persist.”
