Gov. Andrew Cuomo “sexually harassed” multiple women in the workplace, creating a hostile work environment that violated state and federal law, state Attorney General Letitia James said today.
The findings, released today, detail what James said was a pattern of sexual harassment by Cuomo involving multiple women, including a state trooper.
“These 11 women were in a hostile and toxic work environment,” James said. The investigative report revealed “a disturbing pattern of conduct by the governor of the state of New York.”
In addition to unwanted touching, he called women staffers “honey,” “sweetheart,” or “darling,” the report says. He kissed women at work, sometimes on the lips, the findings show. In one case, he called a female aide “Daisy Duke.”
The women said the behavior made them feel deeply humiliated, taken advantage of, and “creeped out,” the report says.
The four-month investigation included interviews with 179 people, including New York state troopers and other state workers, James said this morning.
Those interviews, along with 70 subpoenas that produced more than 70,000 documents, unveiled a “deeply disturbing” picture, James said. More than once today she called the governor’s workplace “toxic,” saying that his leadership fostered fear and worries of retribution at work.
The behavior, investigators said, created an overall work culture that included bullying and vindictiveness.
“It was a culture where you could not say no to the governor,” investigator Joon Kim said this morning. Another witness described it was “the twilight zone,” where normal rules did not apply.
James did not call for the governor to resign today. She said that decision is up to the governor, who is in his third term.
The attorney general also said the investigation was complete. When asked if she was referring any accusations to law enforcement, James said the report is public and that other investigators could look into accusations if they chose.
“While concluding that the Governor engaged in unlawful sexual harassment, we do not reach in this report a conclusion as to whether the conduct amounts to or should be the subject of criminal prosecution,” the report says.
Later today, Cuomo denied any wrongdoing in a video message.
“I do banter with people,” Cuomo said. “I try to put people at ease. I try to make them smile. I try to show my appreciation and friendship.
“I now understand that there are generational or cultural perspectives that frankly, I hadn’t fully appreciated. And I have learned from this.”
The investigation also found the governor’s office mishandled complaints about him, moving a staffer rather than reporting the complaint to the appropriate state office. Rather, the governor’s staff attacked the accuser, a top investigator said, instead of looking into the complaints.
That behavior, the report says, included close and intimate hugs, kisses on the face and lips, and grabbing the butt of an executive assistant. She also said the governor “reached under her blouse and grabbed her breast,” the report says.
In another accusation, a female state trooper assigned to protect the governor said he touched her inappropriately in an elevator, “running his finger down her back, from the top of her neck down her spine to the middle of her back, saying ‘hey, you,’ while she was standing in front of him in an elevator,” the report reads.
“The law is clear that these types of sexually suggestive comments—if made as a ‘joke’ or otherwise—particularly when part of a pattern of comments and conduct, as it was with the Governor, constitute unlawful sexual harassment,” the report says.
James thanked the women who came forward during the investigation. Many are named in the report.
“I am inspired by all the women who came forward,” James said. Moreover, she said, “I believe them.”
In his testimony, Cuomo denied multiple accusations, including touching anyone inappropriately. He also denied touching the state trooper.
The governor did admit he may have “kissed certain staff members on the lips” without remembering specific instances, the report says. He also admitted to hugging but claimed the woman was the instigator. He said he “would go along” with tight hugs with one woman “because he did not “want to make any one feel awkward about anything.”
The report is available on the attorney general’s website. It includes accounts of 11 complainants, including nine who worked for the state.
Kim said today the governor conducted unwanted touching. “These were not isolated incidents,” Kim said. “These were part of a pattern.”
Some of the accusations have been previously reported, including first-hand accounts from women who came forward and gave interviews.
Other details are new. A Syracuse-area National Grid employee, Virginia Limmiatis, said in 2017 the governor inappropriately touched her chest at a public event. He then leaned in “with his face close to Ms. Limmiatis’s cheek, and said, ‘I’m going to say I see a spider on your shoulder,’ before brushing his hand in the area between her shoulder and breasts (and below her collarbone),” the report says.
She immediately told people at the event what happened, the investigation found.
“We find that such conduct was part of a pattern of behavior that extended to his interactions with others outside of State government,” the report says.
The conclusion goes on: “We also find the Executive Chamber’s response to allegations of sexual harassment violated its internal policies and that the Executive Chamber’s response to one complainant’s allegations constituted unlawful retaliation,” the report reads. “In addition, we conclude that the culture of fear and intimidation, the normalization of inappropriate comments and interactions, and the poor enforcement of the policies and safeguards, contributed to the sexual harassment, retaliation, and an overall hostile work environment in the Executive Chamber.”
In March, Cuomo authorized the investigation by James after several current and former aides accused him of sexual harassment and inappropriate behavior in the workplace. Some of those accusations included accounts of unwanted touching and kissing.
James then hired two lawyers to conduct the investigation. They are Kim, a former federal prosecutor, and Anne L. Clark, an employment lawyer.
Cuomo and James are both Democrats.
James is also investigating whether Cuomo used state workers to help him write a book about the coronavirus pandemic. That investigation is continuing, James said.
Got a story idea or news tip you’d like to share with a Syracuse-area reporter? Please contact me through email, Twitter, Facebook or at 315-470-2274.