Andrew Cuomo, the disgraced former governor of New York, is expected to be arrested next week and charged with a misdemeanor in the alleged groping of one of his former aides, The New York Post has learned.
Cuomo’s political troubles began earlier this year when his deadly nursing home COVID policy finally started to get traction in the media after the New York attorney general’s office concluded that the New York State Department of Health undercounted nursing home COVID deaths. Several New York state Senate Democrats tried to strip Cuomo of his emergency COVID powers, and he even faced calls for his impeachment for his cover-up of nursing home COVID deaths.
Despite that controversy, it wasn’t until multiple women started coming forward accusing Cuomo of sexual misconduct that things really looked bleak for him. Cuomo clearly hoped that Democrat Attorney General Letitia James’s investigation would exonerate him, but her investigation concluded that Cuomo sexually harassed at least eleven women in violation of state and federal laws.
A week after the report was released, Cuomo announced his intention to resign. “My instinct is to fight through this controversy because I believe it is politically motivated,” Cuomo said. “I believe it is unfair and it is untruthful. If I could communicate the facts through the frenzy, New Yorkers would understand. I believe that.”
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“This situation, by its current trajectory, will generate months of political and legal controversy. That is what is going to happen,” Cuomo conceded. “That is how the political wind is blowing.” He listed other priorities the state needs to be focused on, including “time and money the government should spend managing COVID, guarding against the Delta variant, reopening the state, fighting gun violence, and saving New York City.”
“New York-tough means New York-loving, and I love New York and I love you. I would never want to be unhelpful in any way, and I think given the circumstances, the best way I can help now is if I step aside and let government get back to governing, and therefore, that’s what I’ll do.”
He submitted his resignation letter on August 23.
His resignation, however, would not protect him from legal troubles stemming from his criminal behavior.
A misdemeanor complaint against Cuomo “has been filed in Albany City Court,” according to Lucian Chalfen, a spokesman for the state Office of Court Administration. “As this is a sex crime, a redacted complaint will be available shortly,” he said. Cuomo is reportedly being charged with forcible touching.
Cuomo will have to register as a sex offender if convicted.
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