Manhattan prosecutors are investigating Gov. Andrew Cuomo for “potential sex crimes” and want to interview the state trooper who told investigators about enduring “unwelcome touching” while assigned to his security detail, according to a letter made public Wednesday.
In the letter to the state Attorney General’s Office, Manhattan Chief Assistant District Attorney Nitin Savur asked for the female trooper’s name and a way to contact her or her lawyer.
According to the bombshell report released Tuesday by Attorney General Letitia James, the trooper told investigators that Cuomo “ran his finger down the center of her spine” and said, “Hey, you,” while she and a male state police investigator rode an elevator with the governor to his Manhattan office.
The allegation is one of several incidents of “inappropriate behavior” and “unwelcome touching” of different parts of the trooper’s body that she described in sworn testimony, according to the report.
Savur also asked for the name and contact information of an unidentified woman who told investigators about a September 2019 incident during which Cuomo allegedly grabbed her rear end while they posed for a photograph following a speech he delivered in New York City.
Cuomo allegedly “’took his hand and double tapped the area where her] butt and [her] thigh meet,’ and then moved his fingers upward to ‘kind of grab that area between [her] butt and [her] thigh,'” according to James’ 168-page report.
“In order to properly investigate these potential sex crimes, it is necessary for us to speak with the two victims,” Savur wrote.
Savur also asked for “any and all investigative materials pertaining to” the women, “as well as material relating to any other incidents which occurred in Manhattan, including but not limited to interview transcripts, interview notes, all witness statements (oral and written), and electronic communications (text messages, emails, Blackberry pins and recorded conversations).”
The AG’s Office didn’t immediately to a request for comment.