A former female aide to Governor Andrew Cuomo has accused him of sexually harassing her while they worked together during the height of the pandemic last spring.
The new allegations were first reported by the New York Times, and come days after another former aide said that Cuomo sexually harassed and forcibly kissed her.
Charlotte Bennett, who had been an executive assistant in the governor's office from 2019 to 2020, told the Times that the governor had inappropriate conversations with her in May, asking whether she was having sex with other people, whether she would have sex with older men, and telling her that he was lonely. Bennett, who is 25, said the 63-year-old governor repeatedly asked her when she last "really hugged somebody," and claimed that he was comfortable sleeping with women in their 20s.
"I understood that the governor wanted to sleep with me, and felt horribly uncomfortable and scared," Bennett told the Times. "And was wondering how I was going to get out of it and assumed it was the end of my job."
She was also surprised by Cuomo's "seeming fixation" about her being a survivor of a sexual assault, after she mentioned going back to her college to speak to students about the issue, according to the Times. Bennett reportedly texted a friend, "The way he was repeating, ‘You were raped and abused and attacked and assaulted and betrayed,’ over and over again while looking me directly in the eyes was something out of a horror movie... It was like he was testing me.”
Bennett, who had originally seen the governor as a mentor figure, said she now sees that time together as "grooming." After she told Jill DesRosiers, the governor's chief of staff, about the incident, she was moved out of the governor's office and into a role as a health policy adviser last June. The Times also reported she said she gave "a lengthy statement to a special counsel to the governor, Judith Mogul, toward the end of June."
In a statement sent out on Saturday night, the governor denied making any "sexual advances" towards Bennet, but said he would ask for a "full and thorough outside review" of the matter.
"Ms. Bennett was a hardworking and valued member of our team during COVID. She has every right to speak out," Cuomo said in the statement. "When she came to me and opened up about being a sexual assault survivor and how it shaped her and her ongoing efforts to create an organization that empowered her voice to help other survivors, I tried to be supportive and helpful. Ms. Bennett's initial impression was right: I was trying to be a mentor to her. I never made advances toward Ms. Bennett nor did I ever intend to act in any way that was inappropriate. The last thing I would ever have wanted was to make her feel any of the things that are being reported."
Cuomo's statement continued, "This situation cannot and should not be resolved in the press; I believe the best way to get to the truth is through a full and thorough outside review and I am directing all state employees to comply with that effort. I ask all New Yorkers to await the findings of the review so that they know the facts before making any judgements. I will have no further comment until the review has concluded."
In a separate statement, Cuomo's top counsel Beth Garvey said that Bennett was "thoroughly debriefed on the facts which did not include a claim of physical contact or inappropriate sexual conduct. She was consulted regarding the resolution, and expressed satisfaction and appreciation for the way in which it was handled."
Bennett explained to the Times that she didn't ask for an investigation "because she was happy in her new job and 'wanted to move on.'"
On Wednesday, Lindsay Boylan, a former adviser for Cuomo and a current candidate for Manhattan Borough President, published a long essay detailing Cuomo's behavior, saying he joked with her about playing strip power; told a colleague that she looked like the "better looking sister" of a former girlfriend; and kissed her on the lips in his Manhattan office. "I was in shock, but I kept walking,” she wrote, and recalled worrying someone might have seen. "The idea that someone might think I held my high-ranking position because of the Governor’s 'crush' on me was more demeaning than the kiss itself."
Cuomo's office also denied Boylan's allegations. However, a number of prominent New York Democrats, including State Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins, Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie, Senator Charles Schumer, Mayor Bill de Blasio, and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, supported Boylan coming forward.
"The continued allegations are deeply disturbing and concerning," Stewart-Cousins said in a statement on Saturday. "The behavior described has no place in the workplace. A truly independent investigation must begin immediately."
Heastie also called for an independent investigation in a statement: "As I previously stated, all allegations of harassment must be taken seriously. A truly independent investigation is warranted."
Even Cuomo's lieutenant governor, Kathy Hochul, issued a statement, "Everyone deserves to have their voice heard and taken seriously. I support an independent review."
According to Garvey, former federal judge Barbara Jones will lead the review.
Another prominent Manhattan Democrat, State Senator Liz Krueger, questioned the choice of Jones to lead the investigation, because of her ties to another friend of Cuomo's, Steve Cohen.
“The disturbing pattern of behavior that has been attributed to the Governor must be subject to a full, transparent, and independent investigation," Krueger said in a statement. "We must quickly determine the appropriate person or entity to carry this out. And we must assure others who may wish to come forward that they will be respected and heard. A retired judge who works with Steve Cohen, is not acceptable option.”
State Assembly Member Yuh-Line Niou, a Democrat, reiterated her calls on Saturday for Cuomo to resign.
“These are things we see in part. When you put all the pieces together it’s a very disturbing pattern,” she told Gothamist. “If there are two then there are many more.”
“The fact she told so many people she’s working with, and they dismissed it, I’m infuriated,” she added.
Nick Langworthy, chairman of the NY State Republican Party, also called for NY Attorney General Letitia James to step in. "In 2018, Andrew Cuomo demanded then-Judge Kavanaugh submit to a lie detector test and said victims must be believed. We don’t need another one of his infamous whitewashed reports," he said in a statement. "These serious and disturbing allegations indicate a pattern of abuse that must be investigated outside of the governor’s reach. We have an independently elected AG for a reason--Attorney General Tish James needs to do her job."
These specific allegations of Cuomo's behavior come after Assembly Member Ron Kim described an abusive phone call he received from the governor. Kim, a critic of the Cuomo administration's handling of nursing homes during the pandemic, decided to come forward because Cuomo spent a good part of his press conference slamming Kim and accusing the Queens lawmaker of pay-to-play politics.
"You are not going to derail or destroy any more lives @NYGovCuomo," Boylan Tweeted on Saturday night.
With additional reporting from Jake Offenhartz and Brigid Bergin.
