Andrew Cuomo, the 56th governor of New York, was accused of sexual harassment by multiple women starting in December 2020, with the accusations covering a range of alleged behavior. He denied all allegations and has apologized for his comments being interpreted as sexually charged. On February 28, 2021, New York Attorney General Letitia James announced that she would hire and deputize a law firm to conduct an independent investigation into the allegations. On March 11, the New York State Assembly authorized an impeachment investigation into the allegations. In August 2021, James released an investigatory report which stated that Cuomo sexually harassed 11 women during his time in office, with actions such as unwanted groping, kissing and sexual comments. The controversy surrounding these allegations culminated in Governor Cuomo's resignation from office. Cuomo was replaced by his Lieutenant Governor, Kathy Hochul.
The entire New York congressional delegation, including New York's two United States Senators, Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand, and over 120 New York State legislators called for Cuomo's resignation, as did House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Bill de Blasio, the mayor of New York City, and Eric Adams, the Brooklyn Borough President and Democratic nominee for Mayor of New York City. President Joe Biden stated his support for Attorney General James's independent investigation; he later called on Cuomo to resign after the investigatory report was released. On August 10, Cuomo announced that he would step down from office in 14 days, making his resignation effective on August 24.
On January 4, 2022, Albany County District Attorney David Soares dropped a criminal complaint against Cuomo and also announced that Cuomo would not face any other charges related to other groping allegations, citing lack of evidence. Three days later, a judge dropped the criminal charge against Cuomo. On January 31, 2022, the last of five criminal cases which had been pursued against Cuomo were dismissed.
Sexual harassment allegations
Whether a behavior is sexual harassment depends upon a number of factors. The harassment can be: Severe: a single instance can be sexual harassment if it is sufficiently severe. Pervasive: a behavior can be sexual harassment if it is repeated frequently enough. Unwelcome: the harasser knows, or reasonably ought to know, that the behavior is not desired by the victim. Additionally, retaliation against someone who submits a sexual harassment complaint is illegal.
Lindsey Boylan
In December 2020, Lindsey Boylan, a former aide to New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, and then a candidate for Manhattan Borough President, accused him in a series of tweets of sexual harassment and creating a toxic environment. The New York Times published a link to Boylan's lengthy essay in Medium wherein she accused Cuomo of sexual harassment and "described several years of uncomfortable interactions." She said she resigned in 2018 after "he forcibly kissed her during a meeting." She also alleged that "he had compared her to a former girlfriend, and asked her to play strip poker." Cuomo has denied these allegations. In an interview, Boylan said Cuomo's questions and comments about sexual issues made her conclude, "The governor's trying to sleep with me."
On March 17, Boylan criticized Speaker of the New York State Assembly Carl Heastie and the New York State Assembly's impeachment investigation, tweeting “What would be the point of survivors talking to investigators of your sham investigation @CarlHeastie?” Boylan cooperated with the Attorney General of New York's independent investigation, and met with the investigators on March 16.
In an article written by Ronan Farrow in The New Yorker, Boylan also claimed Cuomo made an inappropriate comment concerning his new dog, Captain. After a February 2018 news conference, Cuomo's dog, a Shepherd-Malamute mix, jumped up and down near her. Boylan claims that Cuomo said, if he were a dog, he would try to "mount" her as well. Boylan said she remembered "being grossed out" and that it was "a dumb third-grade thing to say". She did not respond to Cuomo's remark, and said in the article: "I just shrugged it off." A Cuomo spokesperson declined to comment.