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‘To the level of a crime’: Latest Cuomo sexual harassment claim reported to Albany police
Police said on Thursday they have been notified that New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) might have been involved in an alleged incident between him and a female aide that may have risen “to the level of a crime.”
It is the latest development in the ongoing sexual harassment saga for the embattled governor, who has been accused of such harassment by at least six women so far, some of whom being current and former members of his administration. Cuomo has repeatedly denied the claims made against him.
MORE ON CUOMO: De Blasio and nearly 60 New York Democrats demand Gov. Cuomo resign
The Albany Police Department (APD) officials on Thursday said they received word from the New York State Police and the governor’s office.
The alleged incident took place at the Executive Mansion between Cuomo and a significantly younger female aide. On Tuesday, The Albany Times Union reported this most recent allegation, in which the woman recently told a supervisor in the executive chamber that Cuomo aggressively groped her late last year at the governor’s mansion, where he resides.
MORE ON CUOMO: Gov. Cuomo reacts to sixth sexual harassment accuser
The Times Union reported that the woman, whose identity the newspaper withheld since she could not be reached for comment, is a member of the executive chamber staff and had been summoned to the mansion to do work, according to an official close to the matter.
Steve Smith, a spokesman for the APD, told The New York Times that the department had not received a formal complaint from the woman, but that it had contacted a lawyer for her.
Smith also noted that this does not mean that the department has opened a criminal investigation, but that it has offered its services to the female aide, “as we would do with any other report or incident,” according to The New York Times.
Albany police officials said they heard from the state police on Wednesday night, per The New York Times, after the publication of the Times Union article.
According to Smith, after state police contacted the APD, the department’s deputy chief of police, Edward Donohue, who oversees the APD’s criminal investigation unit, subsequently spoke to the governor’s acting counsel, Beth Garvey.
MORE ON CUOMO: Kamala Harris ignores question on Gov. Cuomo sexual harassment allegations
Garvey confirmed in a statement that she reported the allegations and intiated the call, after a lawyer for the alleged victim informed the governor’s office that she did not want to file a report.
“As a matter of state policy, when allegations of physical contact are made, the agency informs the complainant that they should contact their local police department,” Garvey said. “If they decline, the agency has an obligation to reach out themselves and inform the department of the allegation.”
“In this case, the person is represented by counsel and when counsel confirmed the client did not want to make a report, the state notified the police department and gave them the attorney’s information,” the counsel added.
Currently, the accusations made against Cuomo are the subject of an independent investigation launched by New York Attorney General Letitia James (D).
On top of that, Cuomo’s administration is also in the crosshairs of a federal investigation into reports that his administration withheld number of COVID-related deaths in nursing homes from federal prosecutors, among other alleged things involving the nursing home data. Cuomo and his office have denied that they covered up the numbers.
MORE ON CUOMO: Gov. Cuomo: It’s ‘a lie to say’ nursing home death numbers ‘were inaccurate’
For these scandals, a growing bipartisan group of state lawmakers are either calling for the governor’s resignation or his impeachment. Earlier this week, lawmakers began to pave the way for commencing impeachment proceedings.
MORE ON CUOMO: Report: Cuomo advisers altered report on COVID-19 nursing home deaths
You can follow Douglas Braff on Twitter @Douglas_P_Braff.
In an MSNBC podcast interview, Black Lives Matter co-founder Patrisse Cullors used the vile statement that her organization is financed with “White guilt money.” Cullors was answering host Trymaine Lee’s question about the “tsunami of flooding” of cash flow and if they had proper ways to ensure its cash was “being directed in proper ways.”
Speaking on the “Into America” podcast, she said of the money “yes, it was a major shock…it was also a lot of like, ‘oh, wait, I did not see that coming.’ You know, contrary to what, you know, has been reported, much of the funding that came in was from individual donors.”
She then elaborated that those individual donors were specifically, “a lot of White guilt money.” She did not, however, address whether or not “guardrails” were in place to spend the millions of dollars it has raised.
Fox News reports “the Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation, its primary nonprofit, collected $90 million throughout 2020, a financial snapshot released by the group in early 2021 showed.”
“Cullors stepped away from the BLM Global Network Foundation in May 2021 amid scrutiny over her $3.2 million real-estate buying binge, which included the BLM leader scooping up four homes. Cullors also allegedly eyed property in the Bahamas at a posh resort where Justin Timberlake and Tiger Woods own homes.”
Recently Cullors was exposed by New York Magazine which exposed that BLM Global Network Foundation purchased a $6 million Los Angeles mansion, at which Cullors held personal parties such as a birthday for her son and an election party after Biden’s win.
BLM co-founder says group flooded with 'White guilt money'. The joke is on corporate America. https://t.co/lRgiTdJ3VE
— Katrina Pierson (@KatrinaPierson) May 17, 2022
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