New York’s embattled Governor Andrew Cuomo said Friday he will not step down despite calls to do so by heavyweights within his Democratic Party, as he faces multiple allegations of sexual harassment and inappropriate touching.
“I am not going to resign. I did not do what has been alleged,” the 63-year-old Democrat said on a call to reporters, referring to accusations made by six women since February.
Cuomo also implored his critics to “wait for the facts” to emerge in a new investigation of the claims.
The governor first refused publicly to step down last week, but the crisis has only mushroomed since.
After his latest comments, the calls for him to quit his post redoubled, with New York’s two US senators including Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer saying the “multiple, credible” allegations mean Cuomo has lost the ability to govern.
“It is clear that Governor Cuomo has lost the confidence of his governing partners and the people of New York,” Schumer said in a statement with Senator Kirsten Gillibrand. “Governor Cuomo should resign.”
A formal investigation was greenlighted this week to probe the claims, which now come from six women who say Cuomo sexually harassed or inappropriately touched them.
Cuomo, who won national acclaim last year as a straight-talking pragmatist in the first onslaught of the coronavirus pandemic, now stands increasingly isolated.
Earlier Friday, US congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a popular progressive representing parts of New York City, said the governor could no longer effectively lead the state.
The latest accusation, reported Wednesday in the Times Union newspaper in state capital Albany, appears more serious than previous claims.
It says Cuomo put his hand under the blouse of a female staffer and touched her “aggressively” at the end of 2020 in his private residence.
“The fact that this latest report was so recent is alarming, and it raises concerns about the present safety and wellbeing of the administration’s staff,” popular progressive Ocasio-Cortez and fellow House Democrat Jamaal Bowman said in a joint statement.
The lawmakers, both from New York, also mentioned the crisis over Cuomo’s alleged hiding of data on Covid-19 nursing home deaths.
“We believe these women… and we believe the 55 members of the New York State legislature including the State Senate majority leader, who have concluded that Governor Cuomo can no longer effectively lead in the face of so many challenges,” they wrote.
Another powerful Democrat, House Judiciary Committee chairman Jerry Nadler, said investigations must be allowed to run their course, but that does not mean Cuomo should remain in office.
“Governor Cuomo has lost the confidence of the people of New York,” Nadler said in a statement. Governor Cuomo must resign.”
– ‘Many motivations’ –
Cuomo sought to discredit the accusers by attacking their purposes for coming forward, saying “there are often many motivations for making an allegation.”
True to his reputation as a tough politico, he stressed that he would not bow to the phenomenon known as “cancel culture” that has fueled debates over censorship and free speech.
In just the past two weeks, Cuomo has suffered a dizzying fall from grace, stuck in the worst crisis of his political career as he governs the nation’s fourth most populous state.
Remaining in office appeared increasingly untenable for the governor, who has served in the post for 10 years and whose father Mario Cuomo was also a three-term governor of New York.
After meeting with lawmakers, Democratic state assembly speaker Carl Heastie said Thursday he was “authorizing the Assembly Judiciary Committee to begin an impeachment investigation” — the first step towards an eventual impeachment.
