By Ryan Teague Beckwith and Keshia Clukey
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, less than a year after bravura performances in daily coronavirus briefings led to talk of a presidential run, instead finds himself facing multiple scandals and rumblings of a primary challenge.
Revelations that his administration hid the number of people who died from the coronavirus in nursing homes, and by doing so underreported New York’s death toll, undercut his central claim to fame and have led to efforts to strip him of pandemic-era emergency powers.
They’ve also raised questions about Cuomo’s leadership, especially after a Democratic state assemblyman accused him of threatening to destroy the lawmaker’s career for raising questions about the issue.
Add to that are two allegations of sexual harassment. In the first instance, Lindsey Boylan, a former economic-development aide, accused Cuomo in a Medium post of giving her an unwanted kiss, inviting her to play strip poker on a taxpayer-funded flight, and other abuse that led her to quit her job.
On Saturday, a second former aide accused Cuomo of harassment, according to the New York Times. Charlotte Bennett, a former health policy adviser, said Cuomo had asked her questions about her sex life and made what she interpreted as sexual overtures. Bennett didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment from Bloomberg News.
Cuomo has denied his call to Assemblyman Ron Kim was threatening, and rejected the harassment allegations as false. Four other state officials who flew with Cuomo when Boylan was present issued a statement through Cuomo’s office saying no such conversation happened.
In a statement on Saturday, Cuomo said he had “tried to be supportive and helpful” when Bennett “opened up about being a sexual assault survivor.” Cuomo called for “a full and thorough outside review.” A former federal judge has been named to lead that process.
The cascading incidents add to the political weight around Cuomo’s neck. In a statement on Saturday, Republican Representative Elise Stefanik of New York called for Cuomo to resign.
The controversy for Cuomo, 63, comes after a long career that includes stints as a U.S. Cabinet official, state attorney general, and three terms as governor.
The reviews were glowing for Cuomo in the early months of the pandemic, for his must-see briefings and heated rebukes of then-President Donald Trump’s handling of the pandemic. The hashtag #PresidentCuomo was trending even as Joe Biden was struggling to campaign under pandemic restrictions.
But recently, State Attorney General Letitia James released a report on Jan. 28 alleging the Cuomo administration undercounted Covid-19 deaths in nursing homes by as much as 50%, and may have obscured data available to assess…
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