New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo apparently has trouble reading the room.
Two more women have come out claiming that the governor sexually harassed them, bringing the total number of reported victims to Cuomo’s unwanted advances to five, which is one more than four and one less than six. Five. The same number of fingers on one hand; the exact amount of money that the Luniz had on it.
And this nigga still won’t resign. In fact, as more state Democrats are starting to call for his resignation, Cuomo has become more emboldened, telling a top state lawmaker that they would have to impeach him if they want him out of office, the Associated Press reports.
According to the Wall Street Journal, Ana Liss, now 35 years old, claimed that during her time as a policy and operations aide for Cuomo during 2013 and 2015, that the governor asked if she had a boyfriend, called her “sweetheart” and touched her lower back and kissed her hand when she rose from her desk.
Liss told the Journal that she initially perceived Cuomo’s conduct as harmless flirtations, but over time she felt that the governor’s behavior was patronizing, and diminished her from an educated professional to “just a skirt.”
“It’s not appropriate, really, in any setting,” she told the Journal.
Liss is the fourth former aide to claim that the governor sexually harassed her during her tenure.
From Vox:
Separately, Karen Hinton — a former Cuomo aide who also worked with the now-governor as a consultant when he led the New York Department of Housing and Urban Development — told the Washington Post in a piece published Saturday that Cuomo invited her to his hotel, asked her personal questions about her marriage, and hugged her repeatedly in a manner that was “very long, too long, too tight, too intimate” when she attempted to leave.
“He pulls me back for another intimate embrace,” Hinton told the Post of the encounter. “I thought at that moment it could lead to a kiss, it could lead to other things, so I just pull away again, and I leave.”
Multiple people also confirmed to the Post that Hinton detailed the encounter to them shortly after it occurred in 2000, with one friend stating that Hinton was “really creeped out. It really freaked her out.”
In what can only be described as a Trump-like move, Cuomo’s office not only dismissed both women’s claims but released a statement casting Hinton as “a known antagonist of the Governor’s who is attempting to take advantage of this moment to score cheap points with made-up allegations from 21 years ago” and claiming that hugs and kisses — the behaviors that make up the alleged inappropriate and unwanted physical contact — are just “what people in politics do,” Vox reports.
Umm...who is going to tell Cuomo that hugs and kisses on the road greeting people and hugs and kisses...You know what, fuck him. He knows the difference.
Both women’s stories are backed up by several folks who also worked for Cuomo.
Liss and Hinton now join three other accusers—Lindsey Boylan and Charlotte Bennett—who also both worked for Cuomo, and Anna Ruch, who did not work with Cuomo but met him at a wedding and claims that the governor felt her bare back and attempted to kiss her.
But it isn’t just women who worked for Cuomo that claimed the environment was toxic, two men have come out to claim that Cuomo routinely belittled them, called them “pussies” and claimed they have no balls.
From the Washington Post:
Many former aides and advisers described to The Post a toxic culture in which the governor unleashes searing verbal attacks on subordinates. Some said he seemed to delight in humiliating his employees, particularly in group meetings, and would mock male aides for not being tough enough.
The Post reached out to more than 150 former and current Cuomo staffers, stretching back to his time at HUD in Washington. Most did not respond. Among those who did, the majority spoke on the condition of anonymity, because they said they still fear his wrath and his power to destroy careers.
Also from the Post:
Longtime staffers described what they said is a Jekyll-and-Hyde aspect to Cuomo: charming one moment, raging with anger the next. With gallows humor, former Cuomo aides joke about their therapy bills from absorbing his rampages for so many years, according to three former administration officials.
“You didn’t know which Andrew you were going to get,” said one woman who had worked at HUD as a political appointee during Cuomo’s tenure as head of the agency.
She recalled one incident of Cuomo yelling at her in his office so loudly that colleagues came to check on her well-being. She said she cannot recall why he was so upset or the words he used but said: “I remember thinking it was pretty vicious and over the top, like if I had killed somebody. Not even my own parents had ever yelled at me the way he yelled at me.”
And because Cuomo has trouble reading the room, he has yet to notice that the stories surrounding his office have overtaken a national pandemic. Cuomo and his bullshit have become a distraction, and did I mention that Cuomo refuses to step down?
Fuck this guy.