ALBANY, N.Y. — Gov. Andrew Cuomo is off the hook when it comes to impeachment.
Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie, a Bronx Democrat, announced Friday that the impeachment investigation into the scandal-scarred governor will be suspended once Cuomo steps down later this month.
The decision came despite the fact that the Assembly’s almost-completed probe discovered “credible evidence in relation to allegations that have been made in reference to the governor,” Heastie said.
Over the course of the five-month investigation, lawmakers uncovered evidence apparently backing up the recent attorney general's report detailing sexual harassment and misconduct. The Assembly probe also scrutinized misuse of state resources in relation to Cuomo’s pandemic book deal and the “improper and misleading disclosure of nursing home data” during the COVID-19 crisis.
Evidence collected by the Assembly Judiciary Committee and independent investigators will be passed along to “relevant investigatory authorities,” Heastie said.
The announcement comes three days after Cuomo chose to step down as lawmakers laid out a path that would have likely led to a vote on articles of impeachment by next month. That came in the wake of a bombshell report from New York Attorney General Letitia James’ office finding Cuomo sexually harassed 11 women and oversaw a “toxic” workplace.
In his resignation speech, Cuomo said a drawn-out impeachment process would be a “distraction” as the state grapples with COVID and other issues.
“Wasting energy on distractions is the last thing state government should be doing, and I cannot be the cause of that,” he said.
While removal was off the table, many lawmakers on both sides of the aisle hoped the impeachment process would continue, anyway. That would pave the way for a public report and give the Senate the chance to bar Cuomo from holding office ever again in New York, they argued.
“I believe the committee was given a charge to report back on four issues, and we have an obligation to make a report,” Democratic Assemblyman Tom Abinanti of Westchester told the New York Daily News earlier this week. “Whether that can be in context of impeachment is a legal determination that we need to discuss with our lawyers.”
Cuomo was initially given a 5 p.m. deadline Friday to present evidence and documentation to the Assembly ahead of a planned Monday meeting that would have determined the fate of the probe.
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