30 July 2021: Team Cuomo's Attempt to Politicize Scandal Probes

Cuomo said AG probe would clear him. Now his aides say it’s political.

This report represents a 'straight news' version of the facts behind Chris Churchill's recent column in which he ridiculed the assertions made by Team Cuomo about the smears they are attempting to land on the attorneys investigating Andrew M. Cuomo's scandals. Here are the introductory paragraphs of the story about Andrew M. Cuomo's attempt to politicize the investigations.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, facing a cascade of misconduct claims earlier this year, dashed off a letter in March directing state Attorney General Tish James to investigate the scandals that were threatening to end his career.

When James is done with her work, Cuomo assured the public, everyone will see he had done nothing wrong. “I ask the people of this state to wait for the facts from the attorney general's report before forming an opinion,” he said at the time, refusing calls to resign.

Nearly five months later, James and the outside attorneys she hired to conduct the work appear close to wrapping up the inquiry after interviewing the governor last weekend. But Cuomo’s top aides no longer seem convinced James will deliver the findings their boss had promised and staked his future on.

In recent days and weeks, the governor’s communications team has sprinkled comments about any investigation-related news with assertions that James — the first Black woman to hold statewide office in New York — is using the probe to launch her own run for governor next year, when Cuomo may seek a fourth term.

“The continued leaks are more evidence of the transparent political motivation of the attorney general’s review,” Rich Azzopardi, Cuomo’s communication director and a senior adviser, said in a statement after news of the governor’s interview emerged in The New York Times.

By Wednesday, the jabs had become so blatant that fellow Democrats had started to cringe, and the head of a separate legislative impeachment investigation sent Cuomo a very public reprimand.

If recent news coverage of Team Cuomo's smear attacks is any indication, the news media isn't falling into line with Cuomo's preferred narrative.