Just days after New York State attorney General Letitia James released her bombshell report on Gov. Andrew Cuomo's multiple alleged instances of sexual harassment, intimidation, and — in at least one instance — retaliation, a Cuomo staffer has filed a criminal complaint against the governor. While the details of the complaint have not been made public, it comes from one of the women who offered among the more serious allegations against Cuomo in the James report. (Mic has reached out to the Albany County Sheriff for more details regarding the complaint and will update this story if we hear back.)
Filed in Albany County on Thursday, the complaint comes from an unnamed staffer, identified only as “executive assistant #1” in James’s report, who had previously alleged that Cuomo groped her while the pair were alone in the governor’s executive mansion this past November. The incident, first reported by the Albany Times Union, prompted Cuomo to deny the allegation to the paper, calling it "gut-wrenching" while insisting that "I have never done anything like this." The woman also claimed she had been harassed by Cuomo at other instances, as well. James's report includes a separate incident in which Cuomo allegedly groped the woman's butt during a holiday party in 2020 while taking selfies in his office.
Speaking with the New York Post, Albany Sheriff Craig Apple confirmed the complaint had been filed, and highlighted the severity of the unnamed staffers allegations.
"The end result could either be [the complaint] sounds substantiated and an arrest is made and it would be up to the DA to prosecute the arrest," Apple said, adding that "just because of who it is we are not going to rush it or delay it."
While Cuomo has not yet publicly responded to news of the criminal complaint, he has emphatically pushed back on James's report, insisting in a taped statement released Tuesday that "the facts are much different than what has been portrayed" in her investigation.
James's report — and now this criminal complaint — have refueled growing calls for Cuomo's impeachment from office, with New York State Assembly Judiciary Committee Chair Charles Lavine reportedly informing the Governor on Friday that "the Committee's investigation is nearing completion and the Assembly will soon consider potential articles of impeachment against your client."
Cuomo has agreed to cooperate with lawmakers' investigation into his behavior, while simultaneously waging a public relations battle to restore his image, most notably by releasing an 85 page rebuttal to the James report, consisting mostly of photographs of him embracing various constituents and allies. Should the Albany Sheriff find cause to arrest Cuomo over the criminal complaint, however, it's unlikely that a scrapbook of hugging and kissing photos is going to be of much use in court.
