In the bombshell report issued by the office of New York Democrat Attorney General Letitia James, which accused New York Democrat Governor Andrew Cuomo of a series of incidents of sexual harassment, James also indicated that Cuomo’s brother Chris, an anchor for CNN, was part of a group of “confidantes” who were “brought in to control and direct the response” to the sexual harassment allegations against Andrew Cuomo and noted that he was given “confidential and often privileged information” despite the fact he had no formal role with the state.
The report stated, “As additional allegations of sexual harassment against the Governor surfaced in the spring of 2021, the Governor’s team of advisors from within and outside the Chamber had ongoing and regular discussions about how to respond to the allegations publicly. The group included the Governor, senior Executive Chamber staff Ms. DeRosa, Mr. Azzopardi, Peter Ajemian (the Governor’s Director of Communications at the time), Ms. Mogul, and Ms. Garvey. It also included Ms. Lacewell, Jefrey Pollock, Lis Smith, Mr. Cohen, Mr. Vlasto, Mr. Bamberger, and Ms. Lever, as well as the Governor’s brother Chris Cuomo.”
The report added that Chris Cuomo was part of a group that was “regularly provided with confidential and often privileged information about state operations and helped make decisions that impacted State business and employees—all without any formal role, duty, or obligation to the State.”
The relevant part of the report stated:
We also find it revealing and consistent with the Executive Chamber’s overall approach that, when faced with allegations of sexual harassment brought against the Governor, the inner circle of confidantes brought in to control and direct the response included a number of individuals with no official role in the Executive Chamber. For example, in response to the sexual harassment allegations, the Governor and the Executive Chamber actively consulted Ms. Lacewell, Mr. Cohen, Ms. Smith, Mr. Bamberger, Mr. Vlasto, Ms. Lever, Mr. Pollock, Mr. David, and Chris Cuomo. Ms. Lacewell at the time did not have any official role in the Executive Chamber; she had a full-time job heading a separate state agency as the Superintendent of the Department of Financial Services.
The rest were not State employees at all, although Mr. Cohen had a role on the Board of ESD at the time. Some had never served in the Executive Chamber, and others, like Mr. Cohen, had not served there in a decade. None of them was officially retained in any capacity by the Executive Chamber or any of the individuals involved. Nonetheless, they were regularly provided with confidential and often privileged information about state operations and helped make decisions that impacted State business and employees—all without any formal role, duty, or obligation to the State.
“The probe included interviews with 179 individuals who came into contact with Andrew Cuomo between 2013 and 2020 and around 70,000 pieces of evidence, James said. The investigation, she added, painted a “deeply disturbing yet clear picture” of systemic problems in Cuomo’s office,” The Daily Wire reported.