Gov. Cuomo attempted to cover up sexual harassment claims, AG report says
Gov. Andrew Cuomo and his team tried to cover up the sex-harassment allegations against him by ignoring reporting procedures — while he personally plotted to “discredit and disparage” an accuser, probers said Tuesday.
The “overall culture” within the administration not only allowed the illicit behavior — but fueled it, too, said investigators with state Attorney General Letitia James’ office in their scathing report.
“We conclude that the Executive Chamber failed to follow its own policies and procedures related to sexual harassment in responding to several of the complaints,” said the explosive 168-page document.
“These failures by the Executive Chamber when allegations of harassment potentially implicated the Governor, in our view, were a symptom of an overall culture that allowed the Governor’s harassing behavior to occur and enabled it to continue,” the report said.
The probers cited the case of former executive staffer Charlotte Bennett.
They alleged that Cuomo’s top aides — counsel Judith Mogul, Secretary Melissa DeRosa and former Chief of Staff Jill Des Rosiers — dragged their feet on reporting Bennett’s complaints to the Governor’s Office of Employee Relations, which the staffers were supposed to have immediately done under state law.
The lack of a quick official probe into Bennett’s allegations — as well the embattled administration’s handling of several other accusations against the governor — amounted to a cover-up, the scathing report said.
The trio of aides had screened Bennett’s initial complaint, which was that Cuomo’s flirtatious behavior toward her made her uncomfortable — and that he was “grooming” her for sex, the document said. The staffers then had her transferred to another position, where she would no longer have to interact with the governor.
The report said it was “wrong” for the top staffers to conclude Bennett’s complaint about Cuomo’s alleged pervy behavior didn’t constitute sexual harassment that warranted a formal complaint to be filed with the Governor’s Office of Employee Relations.
“It is not a fair reading of the Executive Chamber policy that counsel or any supervisor to whom allegations are reported should serve a screening role in the way that Ms. Mogul, Ms. DesRosiers, Ms. DeRosa, and others did,” the stinging report said.
“The Executive Order and the policy make it mandatory for [the Governor’s Office of Employee Relations] to investigate all allegations of a sexually harassing nature. The Executive Chamber’s policy requirement that GOER be involved in issues of potential sexual harassment is designed to avoid exactly what occurred with respect to Ms. Bennett.”
Meanwhile Cuomo himself was involved in the dirty work of a smear campaign against Lindsey Boylan, a former top aide in the state’s Economic Development Office, according to the official report.
“Governor Cuomo, himself, and the Executive Chamber engaged in ‘retaliatory behavior’ by ‘intend[ing] to discredit and disparage’ a former employee that came forward with her story of harassment,” the report said.
Earlier this year, Boylan, 37, published an online essay in which she accused Cuomo, 63, of repeatedly harassing her, leading to a flood of similar allegations from current and former aides. She previously tweeted that Cuomo sexually harassed her.
Boylan later said Cuomo once boorishly joked that he would “mount” her if he were a dog.
Cuomo has denied that claim — and others involving his alleged harassment.
But the report said not only did he sexually harass multiple women, his administration broke several laws in its smear campaign against Boylan.
“When Ms. Boylan alleged in December 2020 that the Governor had sexually harassed her, the Executive Chamber responded by, among other things, releasing to the press confidential files relating to complaints made against Ms. Boylan,” probers wrote.
“The investigation found that Governor Cuomo’s sexual harassment of multiple women and his and the Executive Chamber’s retaliation against a former employee for coming forward with her claims of sexual harassment violated multiple state and federal laws, including Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the New York State Human Rights Law, and 42 U.S. Code § 1983, in addition to the Executive Chamber’s own equal employment policies,” the report said.
The document also found that Cuomo and his team had drafted a letter aimed at smearing Boylan and circulated it to a number of current and former members of the Executive Chamber for their consideration. The missive was not released.
Cuomo himself personally hand-wrote the first draft of a proposed letter attacking Boylan, his aides told the AG investigators.
“Following Ms. Boylan’s tweet alleging sexual harassment against the Governor,
beginning around December 15, 2020, the Governor and a group of advisors worked on a draft letter or op-ed,” the report said.
“The letter was to be sent by former Executive Chamber staff members who had worked with Ms. Boylan and the Governor. The various drafts of this letter included complaints against Ms. Boylan that were part of the Confidential Files. The drafts also discussed alleged interactions between Ms. Boylan and male colleagues other than the Governor.”
The draft letter even tied Boylan to former Republican President Donald Trump.
“The letter denied the legitimacy of Ms. Boylan’s allegations, impugned her credibility, and attacked her claims as politically motivated (including with theories about connections with supporters of President Trump and a politician with an alleged interest in running for Governor),” the report said.
Investigators said Stephanie Benton, the governor’s executive secretary, and DeRosa testified that “the Governor wrote the first draft of the letter by hand and that Ms. Benton typed it up.”
According to the report, Cuomo testified that he did not “remember handwriting any document” but he “participated in drafts.”
Cuomo said he did not know if he started the letter or if “someone else started it and then [he] chimed in,” the investigators said.
In an 85-page response to the AG’s report, Cuomo lawyer Rita Glavin said, ” The Governor has repeatedly made clear—including in his sworn testimony—that he never
made any inappropriate sexual advances to anyone nor inappropriately touched anyone in a sexual manner.
“The Governor understands that Ms. Bennett took his comments and conversations with her to mean something else. He never intended to make Ms. Bennett feel uncomfortable or suggest anything untoward in what he thought was a paternalistic and mentoring relationship. Far from it,” Glavin said.
“He is deeply saddened that his efforts to help her have now appeared to hurt her,” the lawyer wrote.
“The Governor did relate to Ms. Bennett through his experience with his family member who was also a victim of sexual assault, which is why he engaged with her in the ways that he did. In retrospect, he understands that he should not have engaged in such personal discussions with her even if his intent was to be helpful and came from a place of compassion and concern.”
Glavin said Boylan, a former top official at the Empire State Development agency, was a problem employee who subordinates had complained was a “bully” who “treats them like children” and was unprofessional.
The Cuomo lawyer also suggested that Boylan’s harassment complaints against Cuomo were politically motivated. Boylan leveled the accusations while she was running in the Democratic primary for borough president — and used them to “attract voter support,” Glavin said.
“Ms. Boylan’s agenda and motivations are obvious,” Glavin said.
