One of Gov Andrew Cuomo’s accuser’s lawyers has accused him of trying to interfere in the Attorney General’s investigation and intimidate witnesses by having his own attorneys interview them about it before they testify, and ‘debrief them’ afterwards.
Debra Katz is the attorney representing Charlotte Bennett, one of the women who is accusing Cuomo is sexual harassment. She says when she worked for him in the summer, he asked her about her sex life and whether or not she would sleep with an older man.
New York Attorney General Letitia James is conducting an investigation into her claims and the claims of at least six other women who have accused Cuomo of sexual harassment.
One says he put his hand inside her blouse once to grope her. He denies all allegations of impropriety.
On Monday, he gave another indicator that he will not step down.
Cuomo was finishing an appearance at a church does for journalists when a supporter cried out to him: ‘I love you and you better stay where you are, we’ve got your back. I love you.
‘We love you, we need you at the finish line, you better stay.’
He replied: ‘OK, I’m not going anywhere, darling.’
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Debra Katz is the attorney representing Charlotte Bennett, one of the women who is accusing Cuomo is sexual harassment. Katz has accused the governor of attempting to intimidate witnesses
Cuomo’s administration last week hired outside counsel to investigate the specific groping claim, and those attorneys have contacted staff.
Katz claimed in a letter to AG James on Monday that the attorneys are also ‘debriefing’ staff once they have spoken to James’ 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,’ she said in the letter.
‘What the governor is doing is classic intimidation of witnesses 101.
‘Trying to know what witnesses are telling investigators after their interviews or asking to come along is clearly designed to chill people’s willingness to speak to investigators.
‘There is no reason that witnesses should be told anything other than the attorney general has hired two excellent investigators, speak to them,’ Katz later told CBS in an interview.
Cuomo’s acting counsel, Beth Garvey, told DailyMail.com on Monday: ‘These are the facts: Outside counsel was hired to represent the Chamber.
‘Employees have been advised that, if they want to be represented by a lawyer in this matter, they may choose private counsel or the outside counsel that is representing the Chamber.’
She added that they are under obligation to internally investigate the groping allegation, saying: ‘We fully informed the AG’s office of the required process with this type of allegation and they said to follow it.’
Multiple women have accused the governor of sexual harassment and others have described a toxic work environment where they said he was a bully.
He is refusing to step down despite the mounting allegations.
Cuomo is pictured on Monday at ab event a a church in Mt. Vernon. He is not allowing the media to attend the events, claiming it is down to COVID-19 restrictions
Cuomo on Monday after repeatedly refusing to step down. He told a fan: ‘I’m not going anywhere, darling’
He has retreated from the press by holding appearances in locations where he says they can’t attend due to COVID-19 restrictions, and not setting up the Zoom link for journalists to submit questions through that he had been doing before.
Cuomo with Charlotte Bennett, one of seven women who has accused him of sexual harassment
Cuomo said that he may have inadvertently made some women feel uncomfortable in the past but that his natural way of greeting people was often by hugging and kissing them.
In addition to the sex harassment claims, he is facing allegations of a cover up over COVID-19 nursing home deaths.
The state health department did not count the death of anyone who died in a hospital after being transported there from a nursing home as a nursing home death.
Instead, they said it was a hospital death which made the total nursing home death toll significantly lower than it actually was.
Many have claimed it was a strategic move to obfuscate the numbers, especially a controversial directive that sent thousands of recovering COVID patients back into nursing homes despite having tested positive.
Some of those families gathered this weekend for a memorial.
The women who’ve accused Gov Andrew Cuomo of harassment
Lindsay Boylan, 36
Former aide Lindsay Boylan, 36, was the first woman to accuse Cuomo of sexual harassment in a Medium post on February 24. She claimed that the governor asked her to play strip poker and kissed her on the lips without her permission when she worked for him in 2017.
Lindsay Boylan, 36
Charlotte Bennett, 25
Charlotte Bennett, 25, came forward a few days after Boylan and claimed that Cuomo sexually harassed her last June while she was working as a health policy adviser in his administration at the height of the COVID-19 crisis. Bennett accused Cuomo of ‘grooming’ her and asking inappropriate questions about her sex life. She also claimed that he told her he was open to dating women in their 20s.
Charlotte Bennett, 25
Anna Ruch, 33
Anna Ruch was the third woman to accuse Cuomo of sexual harassment and the only one thus far who did not work with him in a professional capacity. She claimed that Cuomo put his hands on her face and asked if he could kiss her just moments after they met at a September 2019 wedding in Manhattan.
Anna Ruch, 33
Ana Liss, 35
Ana Liss, who previously served as Cuomo’s policy and operations aide between 2013 and 2015, told the Wall Street Journal that during her time in his administration, the governor had subjected her to unsolicited advances, including touching her lower back, kissing her hand and quizzing her about her love life.
Ana Liss, 35
Karen Hinton, 62
The oldest allegations against Cuomo came from Karen Hinton, who served as a press aide for him when he led the US Department of Housing and Urban Development two decades ago and she was a consultant for the agency. Hinton told the Washington Post about a 2000 incident when she said Cuomo summoned her to his ‘dimly lit’ hotel room and embraced her after a work event. She said she tried to pull away from Cuomo when he pulled her back and held her before she managed to escape the room.
Karen Hinton, 62
Unnamed sixth accuser
The most damning allegations leveled against Cuomo to date came from a sixth accuser, whose name has not been released. The former aide claimed Cuomo called her to his Executive Mansion in Albany last year, saying he needed help fixing his cellphone. The pair were alone together on the second level of the residence when the woman said Cuomo closed the door, reached under her blouse and fondled her before she told him to stop.
