An unnamed woman whose allegations of sexual harassment against New York Governor Andrew Cuomo were described in a state attorney general’s report has come forward after formally filing a criminal complaint late last week.
Brittany Commisso, 32, revealed to “CBS This Morning” in an interview set to air Monday, that she is “executive assistant #1” as described in the state’s report on Cuomo.
One of ten other accusers, Commisso told state investigators that the governor had repeated inappropriate contact with her. According to the report, Commisso has accused Cuomo of frequently hugging and kissing her — including once on the lips — grabbing her butt during a photo, and reaching under her blouse and grabbing her breasts.
“What he did to me was a crime,” Commisso told CBS News. “He broke the law.”
According to The New York Times, the then-unnamed executive assistant filed a criminal complaint with the Albany County sheriff’s office on Friday. CBS News reports that Commisso is the first accuser to file a criminal complaint against Cuomo.
Cuomo has denied that he kissed her on the lips or grabbed her breasts. Although Cuomo says he regularly hugged her, he has also suggested that she was the one who was constantly initiating and described himself as “more in the reciprocal business.”
Rita Glavin, an attorney for the governor, said Friday that there is evidence that was omitted from the state attorney general’s report that undermines the account from the former executive assistant. “This woman’s story as stated in the report is false,” she said.
Commisso also said Cuomo had made inappropriate comments to her, including once when she showed up in a dress and he allegedly remarked, “it’s about time you showed some leg.” The governor has said he didn’t make that comment and would “never say” such a thing.
The state attorney general’s report details allegations from another accuser, a state trooper who has not come out publicly, that sound similar to Commisso’s allegations.
According to the report, the trooper was driving Cuomo to an event when he asked her why she wasn’t wearing a dress. She responded that she wouldn’t have anywhere to put her gun. After Cuomo asked another question about her attire, a detail commander in the car interjected, saying that all detail members were required to wear business attire.
The detail commander later allegedly told her not to tell anyone about what had happened in the car, although by the time she was told that, she had already told someone in another detail car, “[O]h my god, can you believe the Governor asked me why I don’t wear a dress?”
The state trooper has said that, a month later, Cuomo ran his hand across her stomach while she was holding a door open for him — a move that she says left her feeling “completely violated.” The incident happened only a month after the New York governor signed a law strengthening protections for sexual harassment in the workplace.
Investigators say they corroborated the incident with a senior member of Cuomo’s security detail and that that person had even asked at the time whether she wanted to report it. She told investigators that she declined to report it out of fear that either she, or the senior member who asked whether she wanted to report it, would be punished.
Cuomo has denied ever purposefully running his hand across the trooper’s stomach.