President Joe Biden doesn’t want to rush to judgment despite mounds of accusations, a photo, and seven women claiming that New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo sexually harassed them—and don’t even get me started with the claims that Cuomo and his staff mishandled COVID-19 deaths in nursing homes.
“I think the investigation is underway and we should see what it brings us,” Biden told reporters on the White House South Lawn, CNN reports.
Biden’s comments come as several prominent New York Democrats, including Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, have called for Cuomo to step his ass down.
“I salute the brave women who came forward,” Schumer said Sunday morning on MSNBC. “There are multiple, serious, credible allegations of abuse so that Gov. Cuomo has lost the confidence of his governing partners and so many New Yorkers, so for the good of the state, he should resign.”
From CNN:
White House press secretary Jen Psaki has previously pointed to New York Attorney General Letitia James’ independent investigation in briefings. And White House deputy press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told MSNBC earlier Sunday that “Every woman that comes forward ... they should be heard, they should be listened to and they should be respected. That’s what the President believes, that’s what the Vice President believes.”
White House chief of staff Ron Klain said Sunday evening after Biden’s comments that the investigation into Cuomo, “ought to run its course.”
“What the President said is that there’s a process. These charges are very serious charges. They ought to be investigated and that process ought to run its course,” Klain said on MSNBC, later adding that the women making the allegations, “have a right to be heard.”
Vice President Kamala Harris has yet to explicitly weigh in on the allegations.
Biden doesn’t want to die on this hill, as Cuomo is facing multiple allegations of sexual harassment and unwanted advances. Cuomo has apologized for “making anyone feel uncomfortable” but has maintained that he “never touched anyone inappropriately.”
Because Cuomo won’t step down, he’s now the subject of an impeachment investigation. Meanwhile, 16 members of New York’s 19-person Democratic House delegation have said that he needs to resign ASAP.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said that the women should be believed, but stressed she has “confidence in the Attorney General of New York” to investigate the claims.
“Again, with all respect in the world for what these women have come forward and said.”
Which is Pelosi totally talking out of both sides of her mouth. If the women are to be believed then what other evidence is needed for Cuomo to sit his indignant ass down outside of the governor’s house?