OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who is officially resigning this week, snapped at a reporter who asked him about his sexual assault scandal.
He was talking to reporters about the approaching Hurricane Henri, which has now become a tropical storm, when a reporter asked him about the scandal on Saturday, Fox News reported.
“I don’t want to get into Albany politics, which is what has been going on for the past few months,” he said to the Law Journal reporter. “This is about a storm briefing to save lives of New Yorkers.”
“But you’re the Law Journal. If you think justice is to accept a complaint from a person, without investigation, and without credibility determinations, and without looking at past actions of a person, then you don’t know what the justice system is,” he said in an answer that attacked one of his accusers, Charlotte Bennett, Attorney General Letitia James, and the reporter at the same time.
“I can make a complaint about you today. Maybe it’s true, maybe it’s not true, but that’s why they do investigations,” he said.
It is another disgraceful event adding to the disgraceful likely end of the governor’s career. His resignation helped him avoid impeachment, but that was not acceptable to some who still want him to be impeached.
Cuomo is stepping down from his office as the Governor of New York, but that doesn’t mean he shouldn’t still be impeached and barred from running for office again, says New York State Rep. Ron Kim – a Democrat and a member of the state’s legislature who previously made the waves when he publicly outed Cuomo for trying to strong-arm him into supporting the governor.
The state assemblyman went to the press in February claiming that Cuomo threatened to “destroy” him after he criticized the governor’s nursing home policy in 2020. Kim told CNN that Cuomo called him “to threaten my career if I did not cover up for Melissa [DeRosa] and what she said,” alleging that the governor tried to pressure him into making a statement. Cuomo then warned him not to “cross certain lines” because the Democrats are “in this business together” and that Kim had not yet seen his wrath.
Speaking on Friday, Kim said he reached out to a Cornell Law School professor for some advice on impeaching the governor despite his exit from office. Kim then posted the professor’s correspondence on Twitter, which explained why the New York State Assembly’s reason not to impeach Cuomo was “regrettably short on both legal authority and persuasive authority.”
And New York Republican Rep. Elise Stefanik called for Cuomo to be arrested.
Cuomo announced on Tuesday afternoon that he is resigning from office after several women have accused him of sexual misconduct.
In a scathing press release, Stefanik said that “no one is above the law” and that Cuomo “must resign and be arrested immediately.”
“New Yorkers have lived for far too long under the Worst Governor in America’s corrupt and criminal tenure,” said Stefanik.
“This resignation is long past overdue. Governor Cuomo needs to be arrested and prosecuted for sexual harassment, sexual assault, and sexual abuse. Governor Cuomo also needs to be arrested and prosecuted for his criminal acts covering up the tragic deaths of our most vulnerable seniors in nursing homes,” she added.
“In addition, Governor Cuomo and his staff, funded by the taxpayers, must be prosecuted for illegally using state resources to negotiate a multimillion-dollar book deal. There are multiple federal and state laws that the Governor and his staff have broken, and they need to be held accountable. Every New Yorker must know that there is equal justice under the law – no matter if you are the most powerful figure in New York or an everyday New Yorker,” she continued.
“The systemic culture of criminal corruption, political vengeance, and illegal retaliation under Andrew Cuomo was brushed under the rug for years by Democrats, the media, and the cesspool of Albany. It is a disgraceful chapter in New York’s history,” Stefanik said.
“The next Governor Kathy Hochul must purge Cuomo’s abusive, corrupt, and criminal political appointees immediately to clean house for the sake of every New Yorker,” she concluded.
