18 June 2021: NY GOP Chairman Calls Assembly Impeachment Probe a "Sham"

GOP chairman blasts ‘sham’ Cuomo impeachment probe

It seems we're not the only ones describing the New York Assembly's impeachment probe as a "sham". New York State Republican Party Chairman Nick Langworthy levied that charge on 17 June 2021. Here are the relevant excerpts from this report:

State Republican Party Chairman Nick Langworthy sharply criticized state lawmakers Thursday for ending legislative session without voting to remove Gov. Andrew Cuomo from office, and calling the Legislature's impeachment probe into the governor "a sham"....

Dozens of legislators have spoken out against Cuomo or called for his resignation since March. The state GOP chair said the Legislature has the votes to remove the governor [from] office.

"What they lack is the courage to call the question," Langworthy added. "They lack the integrity to actually bring articles of impeachment to the floor. It's a sham of a so-called investigation."

The report also covers the Republican party's efforts to remove mask mandates on school children and to strip Governor Cuomo's emergency COVID powers, which look to outlast the COVID pandemic in New York.

Cuomo's Emergency Powers Outlasting COVID Emergency

This report emphasizes Langworthy's comments related to the Governor Cuomo's continuing emergency powers:

“He can’t cancel every restriction and then still hold on to this power,” Langworthy said. “That’s just not fair.”

The first article expands the context for Langworthy's comments:

Langworthy on Thursday echoed the Republican leaders' sentiments, saying all remaining COVID-19 rules and restrictions in the state should be removed - especially the state of emergency, which continues the governor's broadened spending and executive powers.

We need to strip that power immediately," Langworthy said.

Those emergency powers could also be stripped through impeachment. At least they could be, if the New York legislature's impeachment probe wasn't being run in a way that naturally leads outside observers to keep describing it as a sham. That term was first linked to the Assembly's probe by Lindsey Boylan, a Democratic party candidate for Manhattan Borough President and the first woman to come forward to accuse Governor Cuomo of sexual harassment, back on 18 March 2021.