Two extra ladies have come ahead to accuse New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo of inappropriate conduct, in accordance with studies from The Wall Street Journal and The Washington Post.
A former press aide, Karen Hinton, instructed the Submit that Cuomo invited her to his dimly lit resort room after a piece occasion in Los Angeles in 2000, embraced her as she tried to depart after which pulled her again towards him as she pulled away.
Ana Liss, one other ex-aide to Cuomo, mentioned the governor in 2014 hugged and kissed her on each cheeks and grabbed her waist, the Journal reported.
The brand new allegations compound the strain on the Democratic governor, who’s going through warmth from prior claims of sexual harassment, in addition to a scandal over his administration’s dealing with of Covid nursing residence loss of life knowledge.
Present spokesmen for Cuomo responded to the brand new allegations, each of which had been revealed Saturday.
Cuomo’s communications director Peter Ajemian mentioned that Hinton’s allegations “didn’t occur.” Wealthy Azzopardi, a senior advisor to Cuomo, mentioned of Liss’ account that “reporters and photographers have coated the governor for 14 years watching him kiss women and men and posing for footage.”
“On the public open-house mansion reception, there are lots of of individuals, and he poses for lots of of images,” Azzopardi mentioned. “That is what individuals in politics do.”
On Friday, New York state lawmakers approved a bill to strip the embattled governor of the temporary powers he was given to cope with the pandemic. Cuomo advised he’ll signal the invoice.
In late January, New York Attorney General Letitia James said the Cuomo administration had underreported the variety of Covid deaths associated to nursing properties by as much as 50%.
Cuomo has maintained that the state did not cover up deaths, however mentioned final month that “we should always have executed a greater job of offering as a lot data as we may as rapidly as we may.”
James is now overseeing an investigation into the sexual harassment allegations towards Cuomo from a number of ladies who’ve come ahead throughout the previous two weeks.
Lindsey Boylan, a former state financial growth official now working for Manhattan borough president, wrote in a Feb. 24 Medium post that Cuomo “abused his energy as Governor to sexually harass me, simply as he had executed with so many different ladies.”
Cuomo’s workplace strongly denied Boylan’s allegations, together with that the governor kissed her with out consent and invited her to play strip poker throughout a flight.
Days after Boylan’s explosive publish, one other former aide to Cuomo, Charlotte Bennett, told The New York Times that the governor had requested her about her intercourse life and whether or not she “had ever been with an older man.”
“I understood that the governor wished to sleep with me,” Bennett instructed the Instances.
Cuomo, 63, mentioned in a statement that Bennett “has each proper to talk out,” however maintained that he “by no means made advances towards Ms. Bennett” and by no means supposed “to behave in any method that was inappropriate.”
On Monday, the Times published claims by another woman, Anna Ruch, who mentioned that Cuomo put his hand on her naked decrease again and requested to kiss her when she met him for the primary time at a marriage in 2019.
Cuomo at a press convention Wednesday apologized “for whatever pain I caused,” saying “I now perceive that I acted in a method that made individuals really feel uncomfortable.”
The governor mentioned he wouldn’t resign.
Hinton’s alleged encounter with Cuomo got here after a piece occasion in 2000, when Cuomo was Secretary of Housing and City Growth underneath President Invoice Clinton. Hinton had been a communications official on the company earlier than leaving in 1999, following a screaming match with Cuomo, The Washington Submit reported.
In December 2000, she agreed to work as a paid guide to rearrange press protection for Cuomo’s journey to Los Angeles to advertise a HUD program. After the occasion, Cuomo invited her to his dimly resort room to speak, Hinton instructed The Washington Submit.
As she acquired as much as depart, Cuomo embraced Hinton in a method she described to the Submit as “very lengthy, too lengthy, too tight, too intimate.” She mentioned she pulled away, and Cuomo pulled her again for one more embrace, at which level she left.
Ajemian, Cuomo’s communications director, mentioned Hinton “is a recognized antagonist of the Governor’s who’s trying to reap the benefits of this second to attain low-cost factors with made up allegations from 21 years in the past.”
“All ladies have the fitting to return ahead and inform their story — nonetheless, it is also the duty of the press to think about self-motivation,” Ajemian mentioned. “That is reckless.”
Liss, who was an aide to Cuomo between 2013 and 2015, mentioned Cuomo had referred to as her sweetheart and requested private questions, together with if she had a boyfriend, the Journal reported.
Liss instructed the Journal that she felt Cuomo’s office conduct diminished her to “only a skirt.”
Boylan tweeted messages of assist for Hinton and Liss on Saturday night time.
