NEW YORK (WWNY) – As investigators probed sexual harassment claims against then-Governor Andrew Cuomo last summer, Cuomo defiantly insisted he had never done anything seriously wrong.
New York’s attorney general began releasing evidence – hundreds of pages of it – Wednesday that her office collected as part of its investigation into the allegations against Cuomo.
The transcripts include Cuomo’s 11-hour interview with investigators in which he denied many of the allegations, said he was careful in how he behaved around women, and said several of his accusers had misrepresented what happened.
“I would have to lose my mind to do some — such a thing. It would be an act of insanity to touch a woman’s breast and make myself vulnerable to a woman for such an accusation,” he said.
“I am 63 years old. I have been in every public office, state, federal. Numerous people have tried to set me up. I’m always wary of people. I have phenomenal precautions.”
Cuomo is charged with one misdemeanor count of forcible touching, for allegedly fondling the breast of aide Brittany Commisso last year. In his testimony to investigators, Cuomo described Commisso as “flirtatious,” and said “I was warm back.”
The trove of documents released Wednesday formed the basis for a report that alleged Cuomo sexually harassed 11 women.
That report led Cuomo to announce his resignation a week later. In his testimony last summer, Cuomo characterized his misdeeds as minor, calling women “sweetheart” or “darling.” But the statements to investigators from his 11 accusers, also released Wednesday, paint a far different picture.
A female state trooper assigned to Cuomo’s security detail told investigators Cuomo “tried to be flirtatious. A lot of times, it came off creepy.”
Once, she said, Cuomo asked her “‘Why don’t you wear a dress?’ And I looked at him and said ‘Where would I put my gun?’”
She described a pattern of unwelcome advances. She said Cuomo invited her upstairs at the executive mansion – she declined – and during an encounter on an elevator, “he runs his finger down the center of, like, my back on my spine, basically from the top of my neck,” she recalled,
She said Cuomo “just said ‘Hey you.’ So I turned around and said ‘Oh hey, how are you sir?’”
On another occasion, she said, Cuomo touched her stomach on her bellybutton – “I felt completely violated” – and asked, more than once, to kiss her.
“I remember just freezing, in the back of my head I’m like ‘Oh, how do I say no, politely’ because in my head, if I say no, he’s going to take it out on the detail. And now I’m on the bad list.”
Cuomo kissed her on the cheek, she said, and she subsequently got advice to tell him that she was sick and didn’t feel well.
The trooper’s testimony also incidentally revealed things about Cuomo not related to the sexual harassment claims.
“The Governor is extremely particular about who drives him because there’s an expectation when you drive him,” she said.
“He’s a car guy. He doesn’t want anyone passing him.”
In a release, the attorney general’s office said it held off releasing the evidence at the request of several district attorneys so they could determine if they should file charges against Cuomo before the documents were publicly released.
But, the release said, discovery laws are forcing the district attorney’s office in Albany County, where the criminal complaint was filed against Cuomo on October 28, to begin releasing some of the evidence. That criminal complaint, in which Commisso says Cuomo groped her in the governor’s mansion, has since been called into question.
You can see all the released evidence here.
There is much more to read from the transcript release. The New York Times has an extensive series of articles on what Cuomo and his accusers said here; CNN’s coverage is here; Politico has a story here.
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