President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris are not asking the New York government to resign Andrew Cuomo, although a growing number of New York and National Democrats say it is time for the governor to resign from the scandal.
The president and vice president do not even go as far as House President Nancy Pelosi, D-California, and House Democratic Caucus President Hakeem Jeffries, DN.Y. For the past two days, the two dignitaries have not explicitly said Cuomo should resign, but imply that he should seriously consider it.
This comes as Cuomo’s support evaporates among other Democrats, including Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, DN.Y., the top New Yorker in Congress, and among traditional allies in the New York legislature.
President Biden and Vice President Harris, then candidates, will speak at a news conference at Alexis Dupont High School in Wilmington, Del., Wednesday, August 12, 2020.
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Cuomo is accused, among other things, of sexually harassing several women and obscuring the deaths of nursing homes due to the coronavirus. Many attributed a large portion of the deaths in New York’s coronavirus to the state’s policy of early in the pandemic to discharge infectious patients in the group homes filled with many vulnerable people.
But among Democratic politicians, allegations of sexual harassment appear to be the main driver of calls to resign Cuomo.
“Facing and overcoming the Covid crisis requires a secure and consistent leadership. We commend the courageous actions of the individuals who came forward with serious allegations of abuse and misconduct,” said Sen. Schumer and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand DN.Y., in a statement Friday.
They added: “Because of the multiple, credible allegations of sexual harassment and misconduct, it is clear that Governor Cuomo has lost the trust of his government partners and the people of New York. Governor Cuomo must resign.”
As the number of public defendants against Cuomo continued to grow, the president and vice president did not abandon the governor. The White House did not respond to a query sent Sunday asking if Biden and Harris believed Cuomo should resign.
In this image taken from a video of the NY governor’s office, the New York government, Andrew Cuomo, speaks at a news conference on Wednesday, March 3, 2021 in Albany, NY. Sieged by allegations of sexual harassment, a somber Cuomo apologized and said he “learned an important lesson” about his own behavior around women, but he said he intended to stay in office.
(Office of the NY Governor via AP)
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Biden himself was questioned about Cuomo on Sunday and reiterated the White House’s position earlier that people should wait for the outcome of New York Attorney General Letitia James’ investigation, despite the fact that in recent days a number of new accused appeared.
“I think the investigation is underway and we need to see what it brings to us,” Biden said Sunday.
The disputed governor was also asked to resign by at least 26 federal lawmakers and 135 lawmakers in New York. More than 85% of the delegation to Congress in New York asked Cuomo to resign. These include, among others, the mainstay Jerrold Nadler, DN.Y., and the progressive firefighter, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, DN.Y., among others.
“This week, the second allegation of sexual assault and the sixth harassment against Governor Cuomo was raised,” Ocasio-Cortez said in a joint statement with Rep. Jamaal Bowman, DN.Y., another progressive representative of New York City. Some of the accused against Cuomo did not go so far as to call Cuomo’s behavior sexual harassment, but stressed that it was inappropriate and made them uncomfortable.
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“The fact that this latest report was so recent is worrying, and it raises concerns about the current safety and well – being of the administration’s staff,” the pair continued. “[W]we believe these women, we believe the reporting, we believe the Attorney General, and we believe the fifty-five members of the New York State Legislature, including the Senate Majority Leader, who concluded that Governor Cuomo can no longer effectively face so many challenges. ‘
Pelosi and Jeffries are, among others, national Democrats for still not explicitly urging Cuomo to resign. But each has issued stern statements raising the question of whether Cuomo can continue to do his job.
On ABC’s “This Week” Sunday, Pelosi reiterated that there is “no tolerance” for sexual harassment in the House of Representatives, but did not explicitly say Cuomo should resign.
“I think we should see the results of the investigation … but he can decide,” Pelosi replied. “And hopefully this outcome will be soon. What I’m saying is that the governor should look into his heart – he loves New York – to see if he can govern effectively. And that may be one of the considerations he has. . “
Jeffries, who is the highest-ranking New York Democrat in the House, has meanwhile also no longer rightly said that Cuomo should resign.
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“The allegations against Governor Andrew Cuomo are very serious and deeply disturbing. Every woman who has come forward should be treated with dignity and respect,” he said. Jeffries also said that the decision of the state legislature to open an indictment against Cuomo was ‘the right decision’.
“Under these extraordinary circumstances, the governor must seriously consider whether he can continue to lead the state effectively. No one is above the law,” he added.
Cuomo has so far refused to resign. At the same time, he apologized for making some women uncomfortable, while denying that he had ever touched a woman improperly.
“Women have the right to come forward and be heard, and I fully encourage that. But I also want to be clear, there is still a question of truth; I did not do what was claimed. Period , “he said in a press conference. Cuomo continued to encourage people to wait for the outcome of the investigation by James before making a ruling on whether he should remain in office.
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“There are often many motivations to make a claim and therefore you need to know the facts before making a decision,” he added, adding that those who called on him to resign were “reckless and dangerous”. .
The governor and his office also defended their decision on nursing homes. Acting councilor Governor Beth Garvey claimed last week that “no one … has ever changed the death rate” and that “the March 25 advice was not a primary driver of death in nursing homes.”
Fox News’ Remy Numa and Danielle Wallace contributed to this report.