There's an ongoing investigation into the sexual harassment claims against Gov. Andrew Cuomo after eight women accused him of sexual misconduct, including former state employees such as Lindsay Boylan and Charlotte Bennett. On Monday, Bennett's lawyer Debra Katz made an allegation that his office is trying to interfere with that investigation.
"The Executive Chamber is providing staffers with in-house attorneys to meet with them in advance of their investigatory interviews…and to attend those interviews with them,” according to a New York Post report quoting Katz's letter to New York Attorney General Letitia James. “It is my understanding that these attorneys are also ‘debriefing’ staffers after their interviews with investigators."
“This is highly improper and we object in the strongest possible terms to this obvious interference with what you have stated would be a ‘thorough and independent’ investigation,” Katz concluded.
The attorney also referenced an Albany Times Union report which suggested that senior aides to the governor are also conducting a "parallel investigation" into the harassment charges.
Boylan and other accusers reacted to the news in disgust.
This is how monsters (@NYGovCuomo) act when they have no fear of accountability. https://t.co/MF6cDf0MSX
— Lindsey Boylan (@LindseyBoylan) March 22, 2021
Cuomo did not comment on the investigations on a Monday press call. However, he has recently mocked lawmakers who are demanding his resignation, saying they are "reckless and dangerous" because they don't have all the "facts" yet. He has also apologized to those he made uncomfortable, yet said grabbing people's faces and planting kisses on them is just his "customary way of greeting."