Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) called for an investigation into sexual harassment and other claims against Democratic New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Monday.
After one of Cuomo’s former aides accused him of sexual harassment and verbal abuse earlier this week, Stefanik said that Cuomo’s own calls for investigation into public figures accused of similar acts should be applied to him, as well.
“I am publicly calling for an independent investigation into the serious allegations of pervasive workplace sexual harassment & verbal abuse by Governor Andrew Cuomo. The people of New York deserve a Governor who lives up to his own public statements on sexual harassment,” Stefanik said, beginning a thread of five times Cuomo has called for an investigation into allegations of misconduct against others.
I am publicly calling for an independent investigation into the serious allegations of pervasive workplace sexual harassment & verbal abuse by Governor Andrew Cuomo. The people of New York deserve a Governor who lives up to his own public statements on sexual harassment.👇THREAD
— Elise Stefanik (@EliseStefanik) December 14, 2020
Stefanik provided a series of statements Cuomo made in a May 2018 while appointing a special prosecutor to investigate allegations of abuse against former New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman.
“The brave women who chose to come forward deserve swift and definitive justice in this matter,” Cuomo stated at a press conference at the time.
“There can be no suggestion of any possibility of the reality or appearance of any conflict or anything less than a full, complete, and unbiased investigation,” Cuomo said in a May 2018 letter to Nassau County District Attorney Madeline Singas and then-Acting New York State Attorney General Barbara Underwood. The letter informed Singas and Underwood that Cuomo was appointing Singas to investigate the allegations into Schneiderman.
“I have tremendous accolades for the women who came forward. That is the essence of this Me Too movement and this Me Too moment,” Cuomo stated during the same press conference.
“Change comes when people demand change, and change comes when the problem is revealed and exposed. That is always Step 1, and what you’re seeing now is women standing up all across the country and saying this nation has a chronic, disturbing, and disgusting behavior of sexual harassment against women, and it’s gone on for a long, long time and it has to stop,” Cuomo said.
“News of the alleged improprieties are grossly disturbing and must be fully investigated,” Cuomo said.
The governor denied the accusations of sexual harassment and verbal abuse in a press conference Monday.
“It’s not true,” Cuomo 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.”
On Sunday, Former adviser Lindsey Boylan, who is running for Manhattan borough president, accused Cuomo of sexually harassing her for years, adding “I *know* I am not the only woman.”
“Yes, @NYGovCuomo sexually harassed me for years. Many saw it, and watched,” Boylan 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.”