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New York Gov. Executive Assistant Andrew Cuomo broke her silence in an interview broadcast Monday, less than a week after the state attorney general released a damning report that the governor sexually harassed 11 women. The report sparked further calls for Cuomo’s resignation, an impeachment inquiry by the New York State Assembly, and multiple criminal investigations by prosecutors.
Brittany Commisso, who was only identified as “Executive Assistant # 1” in the GA report, came forward in an interview with CBS this morning and the Albany Times Union, days after filing a criminal complaint against Cuomo with the Albany County Sheriff’s Office.
She alleged that Cuomo groped her twice: once when he rubbed her buttocks while they took a selfie in December 2019 and a second time when he groped her chest while hugging her in his arms. arm in his private office at the governor’s mansion last November.
“What he did was a crime,” Commisso said in the interview. “He broke the law.
“The governor must be held responsible,” she added.
Commisso also called on him to resign and said he needed to consult.
Albany County Sheriff Craig Apple said on Saturday he opened a criminal investigation based on Commisso’s complaint last week. Apple has said that while the investigation is in its early stages, Cuomo could face misdemeanor charges.
Cuomo has denied all charges against him. He has refused to submit to calls for his resignation, including that of President Joe Biden, even as those who have helped him fight the allegations bear the consequences.
Cuomo’s main assistant, Melissa DeRosa, resigned Sunday night, and Roberta Kaplan, president of Time’s Up – a charity supporting survivors of sexual assault – resigned on Monday, after the AG’s report said that the two women were involved in efforts to discredit one of Cuomo’s alleged victims. , Lindsey Boylan. The Human Rights Campaign – the country’s largest LGBTQ rights group – noted he was investigating the role his manager, Alphonso David, played in the retaliation against Boylan.
On Monday, members of the New York State Assembly Judiciary Committee met in the impeachment inquiry against Cuomo.
Assembly member Charles Lavine, chairman of the judiciary commission, said on Monday he expected the impeachment inquiry to end “very soon” – possibly several weeks away – after which the commission would do so. a recommendation to the assembly on the advisability of drafting articles of impeachment. against Cuomo.
Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie said he was “heartbroken” and “no one should have to endure the type of behavior detailed in the Attorney General’s report.”
“As I said last week, the governor has clearly lost the confidence of the majority in the assembly,” Heastie said.
He noted that this was the first time in more than 100 years that the assembly had undertaken an inquiry into the impeachment of a sitting governor.
In addition to the ongoing impeachment investigation, the outside assembly attorney is also conducting an independent investigation into several allegations against Cuomo, including those involving Cuomo’s sexual misconduct and related retaliation, as well as his handling of COVID cases. -19 in nursing homes.
In his interview, Commisso described how Cuomo would kiss and kiss him inappropriately and without his consent.
“These weren’t hugs he would give his mother or his brother,” she said. “They were hugs with the intention of obtaining personal sexual satisfaction.”
Commisso accused the governor of lying when he told investigators she initiated their hugs.
In pre-recorded remarks responding to the AG’s report last week, Cuomo said he kissed everyone as a gesture of “warmth,” but denied sexually harassing anyone.
Commisso said his behavior was “not normal” for her or for the other women who accused him of sexual misconduct.
“It was not well received. And it was certainly not consensual,” she said.
“There is a difference between being a loving and warm person,” said Commisso. “The governor knows that what he did to me and what he did to these 10 other women, whether it was comment or actual physical contact, was sexual harassment. He broke the laws he did. has itself created. “
Commisso started working as Cuomo’s executive assistant in 2017, describing it as a “dream job” that “turned into a nightmare.”
She described in detail her tentative allegations that were set out in the GA report. She said on December 31, 2019, she was helping Cuomo with his upcoming State of the State speech at the Governor’s Mansion in Albany when he suggested taking a selfie together.
“I then felt as I took the selfie, his hand drop down my back on my butt, and he started rubbing it,” Commisso said. “Don’t drag it. Not, you know, brush it fast – rub my butt.”
In November 2020, she said Cuomo lured her to a “sexually aggressive” hug in her private office at the governor’s mansion.
“That’s when I said, ‘you know, governor, you know, you are’ – my words were ‘you’re going to get us in trouble’,” Commisso recalls.
She said Cuomo then slammed the door to his office.
“He came back to me, and that’s when he put his hand on my blouse and cupped my chest over my bra,” she said. “I exactly remember looking down, seeing his hand, which is a big hand, thinking to myself, Oh my God. It happens.“
She said it happened very quickly and Cuomo hadn’t said anything.
“When I stopped him he just walked away and walked away,” she said.
Cuomo and his lawyer have repeatedly denied his claims, saying he was busy working that day while surrounded by several employees and family members in the mansion.
Commisso said she was afraid to go public with her accusations because of what might happen to her daughter and because she feared retaliation from Cuomo and his “facilitators.”
But she told some of her colleagues after seeing Cuomo deny that he touched anyone inappropriately at a press conference in March.
“He almost has that smirk that he thinks he’s untouchable,” Commisso said, recalling the press conference. “I almost feel like he feels like he’s almost a celebrity and it’s just… It was the tipping point. I broke. I said, ‘He’s lying. ‘”
She apologized to Cuomo’s other alleged victims for not coming forward sooner.
Commisso said that despite her concerns about protecting her daughter, she also wanted her to know that she too had a voice.
“I never want her to be afraid to speak,” Commisso said. “I never want her to be afraid of a person in power, a man or a woman.”
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