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NEW YORK / OSLO (Dagbladet): In a series of Twitter messages in December, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo was accused of sexually harassing a former aide.
Late Saturday night local time, it emerged that another former aide is now also making accusations against the struggling governor.
Charlotte Bennett (25) was Cuomo’s (63) assistant and health consultant until she resigned in November. Now she tells the New York Times that she felt harassed by Cuomo last spring while the state was the epicenter of the corona pandemic.
Accused of serious threats: – Traumatic
– Terribly uncomfortable
She tells the newspaper that the worst episode occurred on June 5 when she was alone with the governor in an office. She claims that Cuomo then asked her a series of personal questions, even if he thought age difference played a role in romantic relationships. He is also said to have said that he was open to having a relationship with women in their 20s. Bennett interpreted the situation as if Cuomo was clearly hinting at the beginning of a sexual relationship.
– I understood that the governor wanted to sleep with me. He felt terribly uncomfortable and terrifying. I was wondering how I was going to get out of that and assumed I would lose my job, Bennett told the newspaper.
She disclosed the incident to Cuomo’s chief of staff, Jill DesRosiers, less than a week later and was transferred to another role with an office away from Cuomo.
– Never an intention
Cuomo, for his part, denies it, saying he thought he had acted as Bennett’s mentor.
“I never made a fuss against Ms. Bennett, and I never intended to act inappropriately,” Cuomo said.
He also says that he has now called for an independent investigation of the situation.
Prior indictment
Bennett’s allegations come against a governor already under heavy pressure with another sexual harassment allegation.
Lindsay Boylan, who worked as an assistant in Cuomo’s administration from 2015 to 2018, claims that Cuomo sexually harassed her for years.
– I could never know what might happen. Would they roast me for my work (which was very good) or would they harass me for my appearance? Or were they both in the same conversation? It was that way for years, he wrote on Twitter.
Reject the accusations
On Wednesday, the former aide gave more details about the allegations in a post titled “My Story of Working with Governor Cuomo.” She begins the post by recounting how Cuomo should have asked her to play poker during a flight in 2017.
She believes Cuomo created a culture in which “sexual harassment and bullying were so pervasive that it was not only tolerated, it was expected.”
– His inappropriate behavior towards women was a confirmation that he liked you, that you did something right, he writes.
However, Cuomo’s spokeswoman Caitlin Girouard has denied the allegations. She has said that “there is no truth in them”.
– As we’ve said before, Boylan’s allegations of inappropriate behavior are simply untrue, it said in an administration statement Wednesday.
– is going to win
– degrading
Boylan’s harassment allegations came after multiple media outlets reported in December that Cuomo was being considered for the job of attorney general in President Joe Biden’s new administration.
– I am committed to telling my story because no woman should feel compelled to hide her experiences of threats, harassment and humiliation in the workplace, she writes.
In the post, she claims, among other things, that she was told she looks like Lisa Sheilds, who was allegedly the governor’s ex-girlfriend. They told her she was “the best looking sister.”
– The governor called me Lisa in front of his companions. It was degrading, Boylan writes.
She also claims that Cuomo harassed other female employees, including through disparaging comments about her weight.
– Really disturbing
New York Mayor Bill de Blasio is now calling for an independent investigation into the allegations against New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, according to Reuters.
Mayor de Blasio describes Boylan’s claims as “really disturbing” and believes they should be investigated.
– When a woman comes forward with such specific accusations, they should be taken seriously. We need a thorough and independent investigation. I stand out – independently, says the mayor according to the news agency.
It will deprive the powers of attorney in case of crisis
In addition to the sexual harassment allegations, Cuomo is also accused of withholding information about New York’s crown deaths.
It is his Democratic Party colleagues in the state Senate who will deprive Cuomo of several of the crisis powers that were granted to him during the pandemic, writes the New York Times.
The background is that more than 9,000 coronavirus patients were sent from the hospital to a nursing home before being discharged during the onset of the pandemic, more than 40 percent more than the state health ministry has previously stated. writes NTB.
Additionally, Cuomo has had to admit that the number of nursing home residents in the state who have died from COVID-19 is nearly double what was previously said.
The state Senate may vote on the measures next week, according to the New York Times. At the same time, the FBI and a federal attorney general in New York have opened an investigation into the management of nursing homes by the Cuomo administration during the pandemic, three sources told the newspaper.
It is unclear if the investigation is directed at Cuomo or possibly other people.
