A second woman accused New York governor Andrew Cuomo of sexual harassment on Saturday, allegations prompting further calls for an independent investigation and throwing heightened spotlight on the already imperiled administration. Charlotte Bennett, the 25-year-old former aide to the governor who came forward to the New York Times, said Cuomo had asked her questions about her sex life, whether she had interest in older men, and whether she practiced monogamy, part of a detailed account of questions and comments that Bennett said she “absolutely” interpreted as clear entreaties to a sexual relationship. The harassment took place over a series of episodes late last spring, at the peak of New York’s coronavirus crisis, and Bennett’s account lines up with text messages discussing the encounters that she had kept with family and friends from that period, according to the Times.
At one point, the 63-year-old governor told Bennett he was lonely and mentioned “wanting a girlfriend, preferably in the Albany area,” Bennett recalled; at another, Cuomo said he was open to dating women in their 20s. “He asked me if I believed if age made a difference in relationships and he also asked me in the same conversation if I had ever been with an older man,” Bennett told the Times. Bennett was then working as an executive assistant; after disclosing the uncomfortable interactions with Cuomo to his chief of staff in June, she was transferred to a new position as a health policy adviser—still working in the executive branch, but with an office in a different part of the Capitol. Bennett left the administration in November. She said she wanted to share her account of sexual harassment in part to counter the way Cuomo “wields his power,” according to the Times.
Bennett said the governor never tried to touch her “but it was like the most explicit it could be,” according to a reported text message she sent to a friend at the time. Cuomo is, however, accused of making unwanted physical advances toward a different former aide, Lindsey Boylan, who wrote in a Medium post last week that the governor kissed her on the lips after a one-on-one briefing in 2018. Boylan first accused the governor of sexual harassment in December, alleging he had suggested they play strip poker on a flight. Cuomo’s office has firmly denied Boylan’s allegations and reiterated that stance following last week’s revelation, calling her claims “quite simply false” and issuing a denial from four current and former staffers who flew with Cuomo and Boylan and said the strip poker interaction never happened, according to CNN.
Responding to the latest allegations against him, the governor said Saturday he believed he had been acting as a mentor to Bennett, the Times reports, and did not deny asking Bennett personal questions. Cuomo said he had “never made advances toward Ms. Bennett, nor did I ever intend to act in any way that was inappropriate” and urged New Yorkers to wait for the findings of an outside review of the matter, which he had requested, “before making any judgements.” Boylan’s accusations had already prompted calls for an independent investigation, the need for which was compounded by Bennett’s account to the Times. Following Saturday’s explosive report, Cuomo’s office initially said the investigation would be conducted by former federal judge Barbara Jones but came under fire for the decision shortly thereafter, as New York politicians questioned the integrity of a review led by an investigator whom Cuomo appointed himself—not to mention the potential conflict of interest in the governor picking someone with ties to one of his closest advisers.
On Sunday, the administration backtracked and said New York’s attorney general and chief judge will choose who leads the review of accusations against him. That reversal came after Rep. Jerry Nadler—whom Boylan unsuccessfully challenged in a Democratic primary last year—called the allegations “deeply troubling” and emphasized the need for an independent trial. New York City mayoral frontrunner Andrew Yang also chimed in, tweeting that “Albany must show they take all allegations seriously through action,” which “starts with an aggressive independent investigation.”
The harassment claims against Cuomo come as the governor is facing increasing scrutiny over his handling of the pandemic, notably his administration withholding data on nursing home deaths caused by the coronavirus—a revelation his top aide, Melissa DeRosa, confirmed earlier this month during a private meeting with state legislators, when she said Cuomo’s team delayed handing over the nursing home data because it was prioritizing responding to a federal inquiry and also feared the information “was going to be used against us” by President Donald Trump. On Sunday, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, who has sparred for years with Cuomo, touched on multiple crises in a statement calling for accountability and transparency. “The State legislature must immediately revoke the Governor’s emergency powers that overrule local control,” he said. “In addition, two fully independent investigations must be held immediately into the deaths at nursing homes and the disturbing personal misconduct allegations.”
As Vanity Fair’s Chris Smith previously reported, “Cuomo’s obsession with controlling events and his willingness to strong-arm people” has exacerbated the nursing home mess, with the governor using a press conference to attack a state assemblyman who had accused him of obstruction of justice. Despite his bullying tactics, Democrats in Albany are nevertheless speaking up. “A lot of legislators normalize the governor’s abusive behavior. But this was such an egregious admission about what happened with nursing homes that if you stay silent, you’re basically condoning it. Fifteen thousand people lost their lives, and their families deserve to know what happened here,” state senator Alessandra Biaggi told Smith last week. On Saturday night, following publication of Bennet’s allegations, Biaggi tweeted: “@NYGovCuomo, you are a monster, and it is time for you to go. Now.”
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