New York Attorney General Letitia James said she’s ready to oversee an investigation into sexual harassment allegations against Gov. Andrew Cuomo and called for an official referral from Cuomo, including subpoena power.
“I stand ready to oversee that investigation and make any appointments necessary,” said James in a statement Sunday. Given state law, this can only be accomplished through an official referral from the governor’s office and must include subpoena power, she said. “I urge the governor to make this referral immediately.”
The move came after a second former Cuomo aide, Charlotte Bennett, accused the governor of harassment, according to a New York Times report on Saturday.
Cuomo should resign following a second allegation of sexual harassment, former economic aide and first accuser Lindsey Boylan said. Boylan detailed her experience with Cuomo in a Medium post last week.
“What is abundantly clear to me is the governor should resign,” Boylan, who is now running for Manhattan borough president, said Sunday on Twitter. “And if he does not resign, he should be removed from office,” Boylan said.
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said the allegations against Cuomo are “disturbing” and there should be an investigation led by “someone fully independent of the governor, not the former business partner of the Governor’s top adviser,” according to a statement on Sunday morning.
Cuomo’s special counsel and senior adviser Beth Garvey said the governor’s office had selected former Federal Judge Barbara Jones to lead the review, but “to avoid even the perception of a lack of independence or inferences of politics,” it has asked the Attorney General of New York State and the Chief Judge of the Court of Appeals to jointly select an “independent and qualified lawyer in private practice without political affiliation.”
”We will leave all decisions concerning the investigation to be made in the discretion of the independent counsel selected by the Attorney General and Chief Judge,” Garvey said in a statement.
New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said in Sunday on Twitter that the accounts of sexual harassment by Cuomo are “extremely serious.” She called for an independent investigation led by the office of the attorney general, not by an individual selected by the governor.
Meanwhile, de Blasio, a longtime political foe of Cuomo, renewed his call for the state legislature to immediately revoke the governor’s emergency powers and urged an independent investigation into COVID-19 deaths at nursing homes.
