Ex-Gov. Andrew Cuomo regrets quitting over sexual harassment scandal
Former Gov. Andrew Cuomo expressed regret for resigning over the sexual harassment allegations against him — and defiantly claimed that he’s been “vindicated” by the court of public opinion, according to a report Monday.
In an interview last week, Cuomo said that if he were able to relive events, he wouldn’t quit the way he did while facing an all-but-certain impeachment last year, Bloomberg News said.
“I never resigned because I said I did something wrong. I said, I’m resigning because I don’t want to be a distraction,” Cuomo said.
Cuomo, 64, also suggested that he’d been exonerated by five district attorneys who declined to prosecute him over various accusations — including allegedly groping an aide in Albany’s Executive Mansion — even though four of the prosecutors said they found his accusers “credible.”
“It turns out in a remarkably short period of time that it did become all bogus. Eleven became zero,” Cuomo said.
“If you do an honest summary, which is what I get from people on the street, I have been vindicated.”
Two people familiar with Cuomo’s thinking said he’s recently expressed a desire to re-enter public life but he repeatedly deflected questions about running for office again during a Friday interview, Bloomberg said.
But Cuomo reportedly remains obsessed with Attorney General Letitia James, who he claims essentially railroaded him out of office through a one-sided, politically motivated investigation that ignored inconsistencies in — and potential ulterior motives behind — his accusers’ accounts.
Cuomo, a Democrat who was state attorney general before being elected governor, accused James of “prosecutorial misconduct” and is advocating for a new law that would penalize such conduct, Bloomberg said.
Cuomo reportedly described the firing of his younger brother, Chris Cuomo, from his $6 million-a-year job as a CNN host — over revelations that he secretly worked with Andrew Cuomo’s aides to try to stem the sexual harassment scandal — as “collateral damage” from James’ probe and said it upset him more than even his own resignation.
Cuomo also accused James of setting back the cause of women’s rights, saying her bombshell report — which alleged that he “violated multiple federal and state harassment laws” — “hurt a lot of people in a lot of different ways. And it was a brand of ugly politics like I had never seen before.”
“I think what they did here undermines the MeToo movement and the women’s movement and undermines the law,” Cuomo said.
“Because when you politicize claims, or trivialize claims, the next woman who has a legitimate claim is going to get painted with the same brush.”
In a statement to Bloomberg, a James spokesperson said, “No one, including Andrew Cuomo, can dispute the fact that multiple investigations found allegations of sexual harassment against him to be credible.”
“Only he is to blame for inappropriately touching his own staff and then quitting so he didn’t have to face impeachment,” James’ spokesperson said.
“His baseless attacks won’t change the reality — Andrew Cuomo is a serial sexual harasser.”
A lawyer for former state economic development official Lindsey Boylan — who sparked the scandal by going public with misconduct allegations against Cuomo — said the former governor “should just accept responsibility for his actions and move on.”
“Two independent investigations found he sexually harassed multiple women. Enough is enough,” lawyer Julie Gerchik said.
