One of Andrew Cuomo’s attorneys has released a new attack on the credibility of some of the former governor’s female accusers as well as the New York State Attorney General, who published a report on Cuomo’s sexual misconduct that led to his resignation.
The New York Daily News reported that Cuomo’s attorney, Rita Glavin, sent a letter to state Assembly Judiciary Committee Chairman Charles Lavine on September 13 that included an attack on the credibility of Cuomo’s accusers, particularly Charlotte Bennett.
Glavin claims in her letter, citing an unnamed source, that Bennett as a student at Hamilton College lied about a meeting with school president David Wippman and was one of four students alluded to in a federal lawsuit alleging false accusations against a male student.
Debra Katz, Bennett’s attorney who also represented Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh accuser Christine Blasey Ford, fired back at Glavin’s letter, calling the claims about her client “false, defamatory and disgusting.”
“Her exclusive reliance on an unidentified witness whose allegations crumble under even the lightest scrutiny is particularly troubling,” Katz said, according to the Daily News. “Her client must be desperate to authorize this type of gutter ball. We are confident the committee will see through this transparent effort to smear a highly credible woman whose courage in coming forward led to the governor’s downfall.”
Glavin in her letter also states that the committee doesn’t need to produce its own report on Cuomo’s conduct since he stepped down.
“Any ‘report’ would necessarily trample on the governor’s due process rights,” she added.
As The Daily Wire has reported, Cuomo supported policies for New York colleges that eviscerated the due process rights of students accused of sexual misconduct while supporting the notion that accusers must always be believed. Once he was accused, however, he demanded due process rights and worked with others to undermine the credibility of his accusers, something he would not have tolerated for college students.
Glavin also in her letter cautioned the committee against accepting New York Attorney General Letitia James’ report about Cuomo’s alleged misconduct. James’ report concluded that Cuomo sexually harassed “multiple women” and then retaliated against them when they made accusations against them.
“The independent investigation has concluded that Gov. Andrew Cuomo sexually harassed multiple women,” James said when she released the report. She added that Cuomo, “engaged in unwanted and inappropriate groping, kissing, hugging, and comments that accusers called ‘deeply humiliating, uncomfortable, offensive, or inappropriate.”
Sexual misconduct is not the only issue the Assembly Judiciary Committee is probing in relation to Cuomo. It is also looking into allegations that he withheld nursing home data from the public to make it seem as if New York was handling the COVID-19 pandemic better than it actually was by having his staff alter a damning report, as well as allegations that he gave his family preferential treatment in receiving COVID-19 tests and forced his staff to work on his book.