Ex-governor Cuomo sees another charge dropped
The former New York governor, Andrew Cuomo, got handed a second win this week, as Albany County announced they are not pursuing a forcible touching charge against the disgraced Democrat.
The charges in this particular matter against Cuomo were originally filed by the Albany County Sheriff’s Department, though they will now be dismissed.
“While we found the complainant in this case cooperative and credible, after review of all the available evidence we have concluded that we cannot meet our burden at trial,” County District Attorney David Soares announced in a Tuesday statement.
In his final months in office, Cuomo faced numerous allegations of sexual misconduct, including from ex-staffers. The alleged incident at the center of these once potential charges occurred at the executive mansion in December of 2020. The complaint, filed in October, claimed Cuomo forced his hand under the complainant’s blouse forcibly and for “no legitimate reason.”
Cuomo has denied the accusation and other accusations of misconduct, including the alleged incident at the executive mansion.
“I would have to lose my mind to do such a thing,” he said in a deposition.
Other instances of alleged harassment have been investigated by district attorneys, but none have filed charges yet.
This case had already faced delays as the district attorney’s office appeared to accuse the sheriff’s office of filing charges too soon, saying in a November filing that they were still conducting an investigation, delaying an originally scheduled arraignment.
Soares said in his statement, however, that he found the complainant in the matter to be “cooperative” and “credible.”
Harassment allegations are only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to Cuomo’s controversies. During the Covid-19 pandemic, he also faced accusations of misreporting nursing home deaths following a controversial order mandating nursing homes in the state to take in positive Covid patients, raising the death toll. The Manhattan district attorney announced this week, however, that the probe into the claims has ended with no charges being filed, according to Cuomo’s legal team.
Cuomo saw his star rise significantly during the pandemic, with frequent press conferences making national news and the governor setting himself up as one of former President Donald Trump’s most vocal critics.
The Democrat ended up resigning in August after his controversies became too many to count.
On top of sexual harassment allegations and the nursing home death controversy, Cuomo also riled up critics by publishing a book on his ‘leadership’ during the Covid-19 pandemic, released in the fall of 2020, when the pandemic was still very much active. Following allegations that staff members had volunteered time to work on the book – for which the governor was paid seven figures – a state ethics board last month ordered Cuomo to fork over his book profits, concluding the former governor misused state resources for his own gain.
