Cuomo Just Tried to Walk It Back

Cuomo

The walls seem to be closing in on ‘Clingy Andy Cuomo’. The sexual harassment allegations are starting to pile up. And CNN’s Chris Cuomo’s more powerful, older brother can be envisioned screaming into a phone “Walk It Back!”

First, Lindsey Boylan accused him of sexual harassment, Cuomo denied, denied, denied. Then Charlotte Bennett made another accusation but she had some proof and Gov. Cuomo “called for an independent investigation” and according to Ed Morrissey of HotAir “tried to choose their own investigator.” that’s a big no, no. It’s not very “independent” to pick a Judge (Barbara Jones) who has business ties to your administration and New York Attorney General Letitia James called shenanigans.

AG James said,

“To clarify, I do not accept the governor’s proposal. The state’s Executive Law clearly gives my office the authority to investigate this matter once the governor provides a referral. While I have deep respect for Chief Judge DiFiore, I am the duly elected attorney general and it is my responsibility to carry out this task, per Executive Law,” James said in a statement. “The governor must provide this referral so an independent investigation with subpoena power can be conducted.”

When the AG added “I urge the governor to make this referral immediately,” the Governor folded faster than Superman on laundry day… all in the same day.

“We had selected former Federal Judge Barbara Jones, with a stellar record for qualifications and integrity, but we want to avoid even the perception of a lack of independence or inference of politics,” the statement said. “The work product will be solely controlled by that independent lawyer personally selected by the Attorney General and Chief Judge.” a statement from Cuomo’s office said.

Clingy Andy Cuomo Walk Back #1

In the first desperate walk back, Cuomo buckled according to ABC news and “referred the case into allegations of sexual harassment against the governor to New York Attorney General Letitia James, the governor’s office announced Sunday night.

His office made their first hurried statement,

“The Governor’s office wants a thorough and independent review that is above reproach and beyond political interference.  Therefore, the Governor’s office has asked Attorney General Tish James to select a qualified private lawyer to do an independent review of allegations of sexual harassment.  The independent lawyer will be legally designated as a Special Independent Deputy Attorney General and granted all powers provided under Section 63(8) of the Executive Law.  As necessary, other lawyers from the appointed lawyer’s firm shall be similarly designated to assist in the review. The lawyer shall report publicly their findings.   The Governor’s office will voluntarily cooperate fully.”

This decision will enable the Attorney General (who already issued damning findings in relation to COVID19 nursing home deaths) to utilize subpoena power in the investigation.

Clingy Andy Cuomo Walk Back #2

In a second extremely weak “belated epiphany” as Morrisey called it, Cuomo issued another bafflingly weak, let’s just call it like it is: half-assed apology.

“Questions have been raised about some of my past interactions with people in the office.

“I never intended to offend anyone or cause any harm. I spend most of my life at work and colleagues are often also personal friends.

“At work sometimes I think I am being playful and make jokes that I think are funny. I do, on occasion, tease people in what I think is a good natured way. I do it in public and in private. You have seen me do it at briefings hundreds of times. I have teased people about their personal lives, their relationships, about getting married or not getting married. I mean no offense and only attempt to add some levity and banter to what is a very serious business.

“I now understand that my interactions may have been insensitive or too personal and that some of my comments, given my position, made others feel in ways I never intended. I acknowledge some of the things I have said have been misinterpreted as an unwanted flirtation. To the extent anyone felt that way, I am truly sorry about that.

“To be clear I never inappropriately touched anybody and I never propositioned anybody and I never intended to make anyone feel uncomfortable, but these are allegations that New Yorkers deserve answers to.

“That’s why I have asked for an outside, independent review that looks at these allegations.

“Separately, my office has heard anecdotally that some people have reached out to Ms. Bennett to express displeasure about her coming forward. My message to anyone doing that is you have misjudged what matters to me and my administration and you should stop now – period.”

Wait, HOLD UP

Walk

Cuomo has claimed in his statement that,

“My interactions may have been insensitive or too personal and that some of my comments, given my position, made others feel in ways I never intended.”?

“Only attempt to add some levity and banter”?

“I am being playful and make jokes that I think are funny”?

“I never inappropriately touched anybody”?

Let’s review. Because it’s always better to judge the left by their own standard, some of these will seem innocuous to a conservative mind, but others are downright inappropriate:

  • Lindsey Boylan’s claimed on Medium:
    • Cuomo said to her “Let’s play strip poker.” on his private jet.
    • “As I got up to leave and walk toward an open door, he stepped in front of me and kissed me on the lips.
    • “I had complained to friends that the Governor would go out of his way to touch me on my lower back, arms and legs.
    • “He made unflattering comments about the weight of female colleagues.”
    • “He ridiculed them about their romantic relationships and significant others.”
    • “He said the reasons that men get women were “money and power.”
  • Charlotte Bennett claimed according to the NY Post:
    • Cuomo “griped about being lonely during the pandemic and whined he “can’t even hug anyone.” Cuomo, 63, then pressed her: “Who did I last hug,” she said. She tried to dodge the question by saying she missed hugging her parents. “And he was, like, ‘No, I mean like really hugged somebody,’” she said. “I understood that the governor wanted to sleep with me, and felt horribly uncomfortable and scared,” Bennett told the Times.
    • “When she told Cuomo in May of her experience as a sexual-assault survivor, he seemed fixated by the revelation, she said. She told a friend via text message: “The way he was repeating, ‘You were raped and abused and attacked and assaulted and betrayed,’ over and over again while looking me directly in the eyes was something out of a horror movie,” according to the Times. “It was like he was testing me.”
    • “Cuomo told her he was lonely since his relationship celebrity chef Sandra Lee, his girlfriend of 14 years, ended in 2019. He stressed to her that Lee was “out of the picture,” and referred to “wanting a girlfriend, preferably in the Albany area.“Age doesn’t matter,” he told her, as he asked about her feelings about age differences in relationships — a conversation she told a friend about at the time, in a text reviewed by the Times.He was “fine with anyone above the age of 22,” she said he told her.
    • Once, when she told him she was mulling getting a tattoo, he suggested she get it on her buttocks, so people wouldn’t see it when she wore a dress, she told the Times.

Even Cuomo Deserves to Walk Into A Court Room

Everyone deserves their day in court, and Cuomo is innocent until proven guilty. However, the testimony of these two women is pretty disturbing and clearly depicts an older man, seemingly accustomed to getting his way due to power and status behaving extremely inappropriately. And his initial attempts to control the investigation (obvious and ham fisted as they were) are troubling.

This could be a serious case of Sexual Harassment that is pervasive throughout his administration as Boylan claims, or it could be a desperate old man coming off of a hard breakup confident that his power will still get him what he wants and failing to see where the lines are.

Either way, it’s a clear case of clingy, creepy, kissy Cuomo. Especially if you, as the left requires “Believe all women”, but instead they walk it back, walk it back, walk it back… Wasn’t this guy supposed to be the next big hope of the Democrat party?

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