New York Governor Andrew Cuomo refused to resign on Friday as dozens of Democratic-elected officials demanded he resign following a spate of allegations of sexual harassment of women who worked in his office.
“I’m not going to resign,” Cuomo told reporters in an afternoon conference. He rather tried to doubt the women who accused him of harassment.
“I did not do what was alleged, period,” he said. ‘I will not speculate on the possible motives of people, but I can tell you as a former Attorney General who has been through this situation many times, that there are often many motivations to make a statement, and therefore you should know the facts. before making a decision. ‘
The conference took place a few hours after a number of New York delegates – from progressive figures such as representatives Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Jamaal Bowman to institutions such as representatives Jerry Nadler and Nydia Velazquez – called on Cuomo to step up. stands in a flood of press releases. Cuomo explicitly pursued the Democrats in the conference.
“Politicians who do not know a single fact, but nevertheless form a conclusion and an opinion, are in my opinion reckless and dangerous,” he said. “The people of New York should not trust a politician who takes a stand. without knowing any facts or contents. ‘
Over the past three weeks, several women have publicly claimed that Cuomo sexually harassed them, including women who worked with the governor. The most serious allegation was made just this week by a former staff member who said the governor touched her at the Executive Mansion. The allegations have led many New York Democrats to demand Cuomo’s resign, including many of the lawmakers he will have to work with this month to form a state budget from the pandemic era ahead of an April 1 deadline. New York Attorney General Letitia James is investigating the allegations.
Cuomo, however, was challenging on Friday, sometimes beyond reasonable faith. In the Friday call, he compares the calls to thank him for ‘canceling culture’. He suggested he was not ‘part of the political club’, minutes before admitting he had been in politics since he was 23 and working for his father.
“I never harassed anyone, I never abused anyone, I never assaulted anyone, and I would never do that,” Cuomo said. “Is it possible that I took a picture with a person who says they were uncomfortable with the attitude in the picture? Yes. And that’s what you’re hearing about.”
Shortly before he began his call, a former Albany reporter explained the type of pose and the governor’s behavior while treating him in an essay in New York magazine.
“I never thought the governor wanted to have sex with me. It was not about sex,” she wrote. “It was about power. He wanted me to know that I was powerless, that I was small and weak, that I did not deserve what relative power I have: a platform to hold him accountable for his words and “He wanted me to know that he could take away my dignity at any moment with an inappropriate remark or a hand on my waist.”