Tuesday, April 27, 2021

27 April 2021: "Have I touched people? Yes." Says Governor Cuomo When Asked About Sexual Harassment Allegations

‘Have I touched people? Yes,’ Cuomo says as he’s pressed on sex harass complaints

This report comes after Governor Cuomo was directly asked questions by reporters in-person for the second time since December 2020. Let's get straight to the Governor's comments:

“Have I touched people? Yes,” Cuomo matter-of-factly responded during a COVID-19 press briefing in Binghamton when he was asked by a reporter if he has ever touched “anybody” or any women in the governor’s mansion.

Cuomo later followed up, “Of course, you touch people,” and explained that he has “shook hands” with folks.

“I didn’t touch them inappropriately,” he insisted....

“I told you, I never touched anyone inappropriately,” the governor said when asked by The Post Tuesday about a female aide who has accused Cuomo of groping her while they were alone in a room inside the Executive Mansion in Albany.

When pressed whether he committed the act regardless of whether he believed it was inappropriate or not, Cuomo replied, “I have never touched anyone inappropriately, groping would be inappropriate.”

Cuomo again declared that he “didn’t do anything wrong” as he denied the slew of sexual assault and misconduct claims against him.

From the timeline:

De Blasio says nursing home, sex-harass scandal-scarred Cuomo ‘living a life of illusion’

There's no love lost between New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio and New York Governor Andrew Cuomo. The Mayor took the opportunity of Governor Cuomo's recent in-person questioning by the press to point to several other problems with Governor Cuomo's conduct in office:

“It’s clear, with the fact that there was a cover-up of the nursing home scandal is documented. His top aide said it in front of a group of legislators,” de Blasio said, in reference to the stunning admission by secretary to the governor Melissa DeRosa, which was exposed by The Post.

De Blasio continued, “We have numerous women who’ve come forward to talk about sexual assault and harassment — I mean, these things are documented, so I don’t understand how he’s saying that.”...

The mayor, who has called for Cuomo’s resignation, said Tuesday, “I think the investigations will proceed and I absolutely assume the investigations will prove, in fact, that something very wrong happened.”

From the timeline:

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