President Joe Biden called on New York Governor Andrew Cuomo to resign after a bombshell report found he sexually harassed 11 women.
‘I think he should resign,’ Biden said on Tuesday afternoon after delivering remarks on Covid-19.
The president said he stood by his previous comments that if an investigation found sexual harassment accusations against the Democratic governor to be credible, he should leave his post.
A 165-page report released by state Attorney General Letitia James’ office on Tuesday morning after a five-month-long independent investigation found that Cuomo sexually harassed multiple women.
The report with allegations from 11 victims contained some accusations that were not previously disclosed. They include an executive assistant who claims Cuomo groped her breast at his Albany mansion in November 2020, and two state troopers who said he made unwelcome advances.
When asked by reporters if Cuomo should be impeached, Biden said, ‘Let’s take one thing at a time here’.
Biden said that some of Cuomo’s ’embraces’ were ‘totally innocent’, but that apparently state Attorney General Letitia James ‘decided that there were things that weren’t’.
The president noted: ‘I’ve not read the report. I don’t know the detail of it. All I know is the end result’.
Cuomo previously used an image of Biden in a slideshow on touchy-feely gestures to explain that it is just the way he is.
Asked about the slideshow, Biden said, ‘Look, I’m not going to fly speck this’.
Biden revealed his stance shortly after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced that Cuomo should leave his post. She called the probe from James’ office ‘comprehensive and independent’.
‘As always, I commend the women who came forward to speak their truth,’ Pelosi said. ‘Recognizing his love of New York and the respect for the office he holds, I call upon the Governor to resign.’
The report stated that Cuomo ‘sexually harassed a number of State employees through unwelcome and unwanted touching, as well as by making numerous offensive and sexually suggestive comments’.
It concluded: ‘We find that such conduct was part of a pattern of behavior that extended to his interactions with others outside of State government.’
Cuomo forcefully denied allegations in the report hours after its release, saying that the facts ‘are much different’ that the conclusions of the probe.
‘I want you to know directly from me that I never touched anyone inappropriately or made inappropriate sexual advances,’ Cuomo said in a statement.
The Albany District Attorney said on Tuesday that he would use the report in an ongoing criminal investigation on Cuomo. Meanwhile, New York Democrats made plans to impeach the embattled governor.
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