9 August 2021: Cuomo's Top Aide Melissa DeRosa Resigns

Top Cuomo aide Melissa DeRosa resigns

Andrew M. Cuomo's top aide, Secretary to the Governor Melissa DeRosa, announced her resignation on Sunday, 8 August 2021.

Melissa DeRosa, the top aide to Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, announced her resignation Sunday night.

“It has been the greatest honor of my life to serve the people of New York for the past 10 years,” she wrote in a brief statement that did not mention Cuomo and was not released by the Executive Chamber....

DeRosa's departure is yet another indication that governor is running out of allies less than a week after the release of a devastating report from the office of state Attorney General Letitia James that concluded Cuomo sexually harassed 11 women, including staff members. On Monday, one of those staffers, Brittany Commisso, will appear in a Times Union-CBS News interview to be broadcast at 7 a.m. on "CBS This Morning."

Also Monday, the state Assembly's Judiciary Committee is scheduled to discuss the next steps in a possible impeachment proceeding that could oust Cuomo from office.

DeRosa's unexpected resignation came hours before an interview with the ninth woman to allege sexual harassment on the part of Cuomo, whose allegations are among the most serious documented in the attorney general's blockbuster 3 August 2021 report. 87 times, which is as many times as Cuomo's name appears in the 168 page document. She has been implicated in many of the incidents involving the Cuomo administration's cover-up of COVID deaths among nursing home residents and also in its retaliations against Cuomo's accusers.

This report identifies the name of the ninth woman to come forward to accuse Cuomo of sexual harassment. Brittany Commisso's anonymity had previously been preserved by investigators and in the media since she remains employed in the New York Governor's office. Since she has filed a criminal complaint against Andrew M. Cuomo in Albany County, that anonymity will no longer be maintained.