Asked if he had completed sexual harassment training on Wednesday, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said the “short answer is yes.” But Charlotte Bennett, one of the women accuse the governor of sexual harassment, said his office director completed the training for him in 2019.
“In 2019, he did not follow the training for sexual harassment,” Bennett told anchor and managing editor Norah O’Donnell to CBS Evening News. “I was there. I heard [the office director] says, ‘I can not believe I’m doing this for you’ and makes a joke about the fact that she completed the training for him. And then I heard her at the end ask him to sign the certificate. ‘
Stephanie Benton, Cuomo’s office director, categorically denies the exchange, according to a statement from the governor’s office adding: “this is not true.”
“Some civil servants are taking an online course; for Senior Executives, the training takes the form of personal review of documentation,” Beth Garvey, the council’s special adviser, told CBS News. “The governor has reviewed this mandate and completed the training.”
In her interview with O’Donnell, Bennett also described what apparently happened after she told Cuomo’s chief of staff that the governor some inappropriate comments, including asking her if her experience with sexual assault has affected her sex life.
In that meeting, Bennett said, she told Cuomo’s top assistant that she no longer wanted to work directly for him.
“I sat down and quickly said, ‘I like working here. I love you. But the governor crossed a line with me last week,'” Bennett said. “And she asked me what I refer. And I said, ‘He said he was lonely, he said he wanted a girlfriend. He asked me if I had slept with older men. He said he was willing to sleep with younger women. . ‘And at that point, it was enough for her. And she was just like, ‘What can we do here?’
Two days later, Bennett says she was transferred to a new job.
“It felt to me like we did not have to investigate a new job. And I really did not want it to be investigated. I was terrified,” she said.
Bennett told CBS News she was happy with the deal. But after the meeting, Bennett texted her mother, saying she felt, “Happy and relieved and sad … He should not have robbed me of this experience or this path.”
Thanks to Charlotte Bennett
Then, on June 30, Bennett said she would be called to another meeting – this time with the governor’s chief of staff and general council.
“It was a long and thorough conversation,” Bennett said. “At first they apologized. They said it was inappropriate. When I asked them if they could let it go, I said, ‘I do not want it to be investigated. Let me know,’ you know, because I was scared, she said, “You came to us before something serious happened. It was just care and it has not yet been considered sexual harassment. Therefore, we do not need to investigate.”
Debra Katz, who represents Bennett in the independent investigation into the allegations in New York State, said Cuomo’s staff are required by law to investigate the claims.
“When she said, ‘I’m scared to death, I do not want you to investigate,’ what they should have said is, ‘We have a legal duty to investigate,'” Katz said.
In 2019, the governor signed an amendment that made it easier to prove sexual harassment.
“The law he himself signed makes it clear that sexual harassment involves the creation of conditions to make someone feel uncomfortable because you are sexually suggesting them,” Katz said.
In a new statement to CBS News, Cuomo’s special counsel said: “We still believe the matter has been dealt with properly and look forward to cooperating fully with the Attorney General’s review.”
Bennett said she was “confident” in the attorney general’s investigation and asked Cuomo to resign if the findings of the investigation support her allegations.
“I think he should start telling the truth. I am very confident in this investigation,” she said. “But if this investigation finds that he turned around like that, which he absolutely has because I have temporary evidence, he should resign.”