17 September 2021: Did Cuomo Exploit State Government Resources for Defense Lawyer's Press Briefings?

Who paid for Cuomo's attorney briefings?

The reporting team at WNYT identifies a potential scandal hiding in plain sight, involving Andrew M. Cuomo's personal defense attorney Rita Glavin. Here's an extended excerpt from their report:

When Gov. Cuomo was defending himself against sexual harassment allegations, his outside counsel called two virtual briefings. The state seal was visible, and the American Sign Language interpreter that the governor used in his daily coronavirus updates was part of these briefings.

However, these were briefings by his outside counsel. So we wondered if the state was paying with your tax dollars and if that was appropriate.

We emailed the governor's office before he resigned to ask. We got no response.

So we filed a Freedom of Information request, and we got some records Thursday. It's an invoice that shows the total cost of the two virtual briefings in August is more than $33,000.

We also asked how the costs were or will be paid. We were told those records are not yet available.

WNYT's reporters will have to file another Freedom of Information Law (FOIL) request to obtain that additional information.

Here's a screenshot of Glavin's 10 August 2021 press briefing utilizing New York state government resources:

We've retroactively added an entry to the timeline to capture the 10 August 2021 press briefing in context. The briefing took place prior to Andrew M. Cuomo's resignation announcement later that day.