Gov. Andrew Cuomo maintained Tuesday that he “never touched anyone inappropriately,” pushing back on a bombshell official report that concluded he sexually harassed several women in violation of state and federal law — while suggesting that he was the victim of a smear campaign.
Speaking on video without reporters to ask questions, the governor was adamant in his denial, as he has been since the scandal erupted.
“I want you to know directly from me that I never touched anyone inappropriately or made inappropriate sexual advances,” he told New Yorkers.
“That is just not who I am,” continued Cuomo, 63. “And that’s not who I have ever been.”
Cuomo directly responded to some of the allegations laid out in the independent report commissioned by state Attorney General Letitia James, including those of former staffer Charlotte Bennett, who has said that the governor asked probing questions about her sex life that left her convinced he “wanted to sleep with” her.
The governor said that Bennett’s was the “one complaint that has been made that bothered me most.”
He said that he only tried to be supportive of Bennett — who confided in Cuomo that she was a sexual assault survivor — because of a relative’s own experience with sexual assault.
“The truth is that her story resonated deeply with me,” he said. “I had heard the same story before, with the same ugliness, the same injustice, the same damage.
“Not only had I heard the story before, I had lived with the story before,” Cuomo continued. “My own family member is a survivor of sexual assault in high school.”
Saying that the relative was “about the same age” as Bennett, Cuomo claimed that he only asked the personal questions out of concern for Bennett.
“I thought I had learned enough and had enough personal experience to help her,” he said. “But I was wrong.”
The governor then appeared to blame Bennett and her attorney for not understanding where he was coming from.
“I have heard Charlotte and her lawyer and I understand what they are saying,” he said. “But they read into comments that I made and draw inferences that I never meant. They ascribe motives that I never had.
“And simply put, they heard things that I just didn’t say.”
Directly addressing Bennett in the approximately 15-minute video, Cuomo apologized while stopping short of admitting malice.
“Charlotte, I want you to know that I am truly and deeply sorry,” he said. “I brought my personal experience into the workplace, and I shouldn’t have done that. I was trying to help.”
Cuomo then addressed the case of a current staffer, who testified to the independent investigators that the governor reached under her blouse and groped her over her bra inside the Executive Mansion.
“Let me be clear: That never happened,” said Cuomo.
Noting that a lawyer for that woman — whose identity has not been released publicly — has indicated intent to file a legal suit, Cuomo said he was prepared to face a trial.
“I welcome the opportunity for a full and fair review before a judge and a jury, because this just did not happen,” he said.
Speaking more generally, Cuomo said that “other complainants raised against me questions that have sought to unfairly characterize and weaponize everyday interactions that I’ve had with any number of New Yorkers.”
Repeating a defense he’s invoked throughout the scandal, Cuomo openly acknowledged touching and kissing people’s faces on a regular basis, but said that it was an innocent gesture aimed at men as well as women.
“I’ve been making the same gesture in public all my life. I actually learned it from my mother and from my father,” he said, referring to the late three-term Gov. Mario Cuomo. “It is meant to convey warmth, nothing more.”
Cuomo at this point spoke over a slideshow of photos of him touching or kissing the faces of men, women and children at public events through the years.
Cuomo also announced the online release of an 85-page rebuttal report authored by attorney Rita Glavin, which featured several additional photos of Cuomo — and other politicians — kissing, hugging or touching supporters and allies.
“The Report ignored key facts and pieces of evidence that undermine many of those allegations, and the press conference confirmed that this ‘investigation’ had a predetermined outcome regardless of all the evidence,” wrote Glavin, returning to the audit commissioned by the AG’s office.
He said that he has come to “understand that there are generational or cultural perspectives that frankly I haven’t fully appreciated.”
Though the independent investigators tapped by James corroborated, at least to some extent, the accounts of 11 women, Cuomo argued, as he has before, that he was the victim of a politically motivated hit job.
“Today we are living in a super-heated, if not toxic political environment,” he said. “Politics and bias are interwoven throughout every aspect of this situation. One would be naive to think otherwise. And New Yorkers are not naive.
“For those who are using this moment to score political points or seek publicity or personal gain, I say they actually discredit the legitimate sexual-harassment victims that the law was designed to protect.”
Throughout the address, Cuomo gave no indication that he was prepared to resign, despite long-standing bipartisan calls for him to step aside.
