After enjoying an adoring media spotlight throughout 2020 for his award-winning “leadership,” the tide seems to be turning for New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, who was described as “America’s governor” almost one year ago.
Not only is he under active investigation for his administration’s cover-up of their disastrous COVID-19 policies — which involved mandating that nursing homes admit COVID-19 positive patients — Cuomo is now facing another scandal involving accusations of sexual harassment and, reportedly, sexual assault.
Here’s a full timeline of the accusations being leveled against Cuomo.
December 7, 2020
As reported by The Daily Wire, Lindsey Boylan — who worked in Governor Cuomo’s administration from 2015 to 2018, described the role as the most “toxic team environment” in a series of tweets.
Most toxic team environment? Working for @NYGovCuomo. https://t.co/mtM1VYXxSH
— Lindsey Boylan (@LindseyBoylan) December 5, 2020
She continued to say that “If people weren’t deathly afraid of him, they’d be saying the same thing and you’d already know the stories.”
“Seriously, the messages and texts I receive when I speak the truth about this…it’s a whole book of people who have been harmed,” she continued. “Don’t be surprised that it’s the same small group of white people sitting alongside him at every presser. The same group that he has had by him the whole time, doing his dirty work. If you’re not one of those handful, your life working for him is endlessly dispiriting. I tried to quit three times before it stuck. I’ve worked hard my whole life. Hustled – fake it till you make it style. That environment is beyond toxic. I’m still unwrapping it years later in therapy!”
Responding to one comment which read, “My ex girlfriend’s mother used to work for him and she would end every day in tears because he is such a megalomaniac,” Boylan wrote, “This is a universal story. He is a total a**hole surrounded by enablers.”
She also recalled witnessing Cuomo “demolishing” someone on the phone, who turned out to be a “famous reporter.”
It freaked me out. If a reporter is just gonna “take it,” from this asshole, how is anyone ever going to be able to speak out against him?
— Lindsey Boylan (@LindseyBoylan) December 5, 2020
December 13, 2020
Then, as reported by The Daily Wire, Boylan accused Cuomo of sexually harassing her “for years.”
“Yes, @NYGovCuomo sexually harassed me for years. Many saw it, and watched,” she said. “I could never anticipate what to expect: would I be grilled on my work (which was very good) or harassed about my looks. Or would it be both in the same conversation? This was the way for years.”
“Not knowing what to expect what’s the most upsetting part aside from knowing that no one would do a damn thing even when they saw it. No one. And I *know* I am not the only woman,” she continued. “I’m angry to be put in this situation at all. That because I am a woman, I can work hard my whole life to better myself and help others and yet still fall victim as countless women over generations have. Mostly silently. I hate that some men, like @NYGovCuomo abuse their power.”
At the time, Cuomo was reportedly being considered as Biden’s pick for attorney general.
December 14, 2020
Cuomo denied the allegations.
“Yeah, I heard about the tweet and what it said about comments that I had made and it’s not true,” he said. “Look, I fought for and I believe a woman has the right to come forward and express her opinion and express issues and concerns that she has, but it’s just not true.”
February 24
Boylan published a piece on Medium titled, “My story of working with Governor Cuomo,” which began with the line “‘Let’s play strip poker.’”
“I should have been shocked by the Governor’s crude comment, but I wasn’t,” wrote Boylan, saying that Cuomo made this comment while flying on a taxpayer-funded jet alongside his press aide and a state trooper.
“Governor Andrew Cuomo has created a culture within his administration where sexual harassment and bullying is so pervasive that it is not only condoned but expected. His inappropriate behavior toward women was an affirmation that he liked you, that you must be doing something right. He used intimidation to silence his critics. And if you dared to speak up, you would face consequences,” Boylan continued. “That’s why I panicked on the morning of December 13.”
Boylan explained her decision to discuss the atmosphere in Cuomo’s administration, saying that “a former Cuomo staffer confided to me that she, too, had been the subject of the Governor’s workplace harassment,” and that “Andrew Cuomo abused his power as Governor to sexually harass me, just as he had done with so many other women.”
She then referenced Assembly Member Ron Kim, who asserted last week that Cuomo had threatened to “destroy” him, and that New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio had stated that Cuomo’s bullying “is nothing new.”
“I expect the Governor and his top aides will attempt to further disparage me, just as they’ve done with Assembly Member Kim. They’d lose their jobs if they didn’t protect him. That’s how his administration works. I know because I was a part of it,” Boylan wrote.
She then began to describe her history in the Cuomo administration, joining state government in 2015 and being quickly promoted to Chief of Staff at the state economic development agency. After being appointed, a friend warned her: “Be careful around the Governor.”
She wrote of being told by her boss that Cuomo had a “crush” on her, and that “Stephanie Benton, Director of the Governor’s Offices, told me in an email on December 14, 2016 that the Governor suggested I look up images of Lisa Shields — his rumored former girlfriend — because ‘we could be sisters’ and I was ‘the better looking sister.’ The Governor began calling me ‘Lisa’ in front of colleagues. It was degrading.”
“I had complained to friends that the Governor would go out of his way to touch me on my lower back, arms and legs,” she continued. “His senior staff began keeping tabs on my whereabouts.”
Later, she stated that Cuomo “kissed me on the lips” after a “one-on-one briefing with the Governor to update him on economic and infrastructure projects.”
After saying that she resigned on September 26, 2018, Boylan wrote, “There is a part of me that will never forgive myself for being a victim for so long, for trying to ignore behavior that I knew was wrong. The Governor exploited my weaknesses, my desire to do good work and to be respected. I was made to believe this was the world I needed to survive in.”
“It was all so normalized — particularly by Melissa DeRosa and other top women around him — that only now do I realize how insidious his abuse was,” Boylan added.
After the Medium piece was released, Megyn Kelly shared the post on Twitter, saying “This is so damned brave of her,” and that Cuomo is “a disgusting bully.”
This is so damned brave of her. He is a disgusting bully.
I’m sure CNN will be all over this tonight – just as they aggressively covered any allegs made against male Fox News anchors/reporters. I mean, the Governor certainly outranks a journo when it comes to news value right? https://t.co/J3WDC9kbht— Megyn Kelly (@megynkelly) February 24, 2021
If these allegations are true, then Andrew Cuomo joins the seemingly ever-growing list of high profile Democrats whose careers have been built on abuse, bullying, and debauchery while they and their counterparts lecture others on the importance of dignity and respect.
Yet again, it seems like “Believe All Women” simply doesn’t apply to Democrats.