Andrew Cuomo ‘cooperating’ with Assembly impeach probe, rebuts retaliation ‘impermissible’
Embattled Gov. Andrew Cuomo will cooperate with a state Assembly probe as it moves toward likely impeachment proceedings in his sexual harassment scandal, a spokesman said Thursday — as a lawyer for his administration pushed back on allegations that their retaliation against the first woman to speak up was “impermissible.”
“The Assembly has said it is doing a full and thorough review of the complaints and has offered the Governor and his team an opportunity to present facts and their perspective,” said top Cuomo spokesman Rich Azzopardi in a statement. “The Governor appreciates the opportunity. We will be cooperating.”
Earlier Thursday, Assembly Judiciary Committee Chairman Charles Lavine (D-Glen Cove) published a letter sent to Cuomo’s counsel, asking that they provide statements and evidence in the governor’s defense no later than 5 p.m. on Aug. 13 as the body mulls formal articles of impeachment.
In a blistering official report issued Tuesday, independent investigators retained by state Attorney General Letitia James wrote that they’d determined Cuomo, 63, had sexually harassed to varying degrees 11 women, in violation of state and local law.
Cuomo has strongly denied inappropriately touching anyone.
The report also detailed alleged efforts by those close to the governor to retaliate against former state staffer Lindsey Boylan, the first woman to go public with her allegations of harassment.
In a separate Thursday statement issued through Cuomo’s office, Paul Fishman, outside counsel for the governor’s executive chamber, groused that the investigators relegated his team’s response to the retaliation allegation to a footnote in the report.
“One of the report’s many errors is its conclusion that the Executive Chamber impermissibly retaliated when it responded to Lindsey Boylan’s allegations,” said Fishman. “On July 18, we provided the Attorney General’s office with a 13-page, detailed analysis explaining why such a finding would be legally and factually wrong. The report irresponsibly mischaracterizes and dismisses that analysis in a footnote.”
Fishman’s statement included a link to their letter to investigators, which read in part, “We write because we are surprised that you would even consider concluding that
the Chamber’s conduct constituted unlawful retaliation under federal or state law.”
In a Dec. 2020 tweet, Boylan publicly accused Cuomo of sexually harassing her over her looks.
The day the tweet was published, Cuomo’s inner circle, including Azzopardi and top adviser Melissa DeRosa, decided to leak Boylan’s confidential personnel files to reporters in an attempt to discredit her, investigators wrote in the AG’s office report.
Additionally, Cuomo personally drafted a proposed open letter bashing Boylan, according to the report, but it was ultimately not published due to a lack of former administration employees willing to sign on to it.
In the analysis his team sent to investigators, Fishman contended that the administration was within its rights in its response to Boylan’s tweet.
“We are deeply troubled by the suggestion that either of the Chamber’s actions —
the release of certain documents related to Ms. Boylan’s employment, or the participation by a handful of its employees and their outside advisors in drafting or editing the discarded Unpublished Letter — could constitute retaliation,” the letter read in part.
“For several reasons, it is clear that neither the release of the documents nor the
drafting of the Unpublished Letter resulted in any actual ‘injury or harm’ to Ms. Boylan
with respect to her present or prospective employment,” it continued, citing as one example Boylan’s campaign for Manhattan borough president.
Fishman additionally argued that, since Boylan’s records could have been cleared for public release in response to a Freedom of Information Law request, they were not truly confidential — and claimed that the Executive Chamber had proof suggesting she went public to boost her own political aspirations.
“Moreover, the Chamber’s actions were reasonable because there was abundant
evidence from which the Chamber could have concluded that Ms. Boylan’s sexual
harassment allegations were tied to her political ambition,” he wrote. “She first raised her allegations about the Chamber’s alleged toxicity and the general environment of sexual harassment in government soon after declaring her candidacy for Congress in 2019. And she then made her more specific claims about the Governor as she launched her campaign for Manhattan Borough President in late 2020.
“In that light, the Chamber’s response was measured and narrow — it released only
documents that were already subject to release under FOIL, and only to correct the false narrative of a public attack against one public official by another public figure seeking her own election.”
Asked about Fishman’s contention, Boylan’s attorney, Jill Basinger, said that Boylan intends to back up the allegation of retaliation with a legal suit.
“Ms. Boylan intends to sue the governor and his close advisors for retaliating against her,” said Basinger in a statement. “As the attorney general’s investigation concluded, it was a calculated effort by the governor and his team to send a message to Ms. Boylan and every other survivor to be quiet or face the consequences. Retaliation in any workplace is unacceptable and this is a step towards creating an environment where survivors feel safe reporting harassment.
“We believe the attorney general’s report is comprehensive and accurate.”
