A present aide to New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo has gone on record by name to make the newest accusation of sexual harassment in opposition to the besieged Democrat.
The aide, 33-year-old Alyssa McGrath, told The New York Times that Cuomo had as soon as appeared down her shirt, commented on her look by calling her “stunning” in Italian and in any other case engaged in flirtatious conduct.
McGrath joins greater than a half dozen different girls, together with one other present aide and several other previous Cuomo aides, in accusing the 63-year-old governor of sexual harassment, or of making inappropriate bodily contact and feedback.
“I’ve little question in my thoughts that each one of these accusers are telling the reality,” McGrath advised The Times.
She stated Cuomo “has a means of making you’re feeling very comfy round him, nearly such as you’re his pal.”
“But then you definately stroll away from the encounter or dialog, in your head going, ‘I can not consider I simply had that interplay with the governor of New York,’ ” McGrath stated.
The different present aide making accusations in opposition to Cuomo, who has not been publicly recognized, reportedly advised supervisors that he aggressively groped her breast within the governor’s mansion after summoning her on the pretext of serving to him together with his cell phone.
McGrath advised The Times that that different girl described the incident to her final week after it was first detailed by The Times Union of Albany.
“She froze when he began doing that stuff to her,” McGrath advised The New York Times. “But who’re you going to inform?”
McGrath additionally stated that the co-worker advised her Cuomo requested her to not discuss in regards to the incident, having recognized that she and McGrath routinely spoke and texted one another about interactions with him.
“He advised her particularly to not inform me, McGrath stated.
Last week, Albany police have been notified in regards to the allegation made by the opposite aide.
McGrath advised The Times that after former Cuomo aide Charlotte Bennett went public with her claims of sexual harassment in opposition to the governor, she was angered whereas watching Cuomo state at a March three information convention that he by no means “touched anybody inappropriately.”
“It makes me actually upset to listen to him talk about this and fully deny all allegations,” she stated, noting that she believes Bennett and the opposite accusers, who include another former aide, Lindsey Boylan.
While Cuomo has denied performing inappropriately towards any girls, he has apologized for making feedback that he says he now understands made some folks really feel uncomfortable.
He additionally refused to resign regardless of requires him to do so from a majority of Democrats in New York’s congressional delegation and scores of Democrats within the state legislature.
U.S. Sen. Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, a Democrat from New York, stated earlier Friday about Cuomo: “There’s been [a] lot of allegations of misconduct, sexual harassment.”
“The governor has misplaced the arrogance of his governing companions and plenty of New Yorkers. He ought to step down,” Schumer stated.
A group of legal professionals working below the supervision of state Attorney General Letitia James is investigating allegations in opposition to Cuomo made by varied girls.
Another legal team — hired by the state Assembly for an impeachment inquiry — is investigating the ladies’s claims, in addition to the cover-up of Covid dying information on nursing dwelling residents by Cuomo aides.
Cuomo’s workplace referred questions on McGrath’s claims to Rita Glavin, a lawyer for the governor.
Glavin, who didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark, advised The Times that “the governor has greeted women and men with hugs and a kiss on the cheek, brow, or hand.”
“Yes, he has posed for images together with his arm round them. Yes, he makes use of Italian phrases like ‘ciao bella,’ ” Glavin stated.
“Ciao bella” is Italian for, “Hello, stunning.”
“None of that is outstanding, though it could be old school. He has made clear that he has by no means made inappropriate advances or inappropriately touched anybody,” Glavin stated.
McGrath’s lawyer, Mariann Wang, fired again in a press release to CNBC.
“The governor’s deflections are usually not credible. This was not simply pleasant banter,” Wang stated.
“Ms. McGrath understands the frequent phrase ‘ciao Bella.’ As she herself says: ‘I might not name my dad and mom to seek out out what that phrase means. I do know what that phrase means.’ “
Boylan used Glavin’s phrases in opposition to Cuomo in a tweet Friday.
“I agree with @NYGovCuomo lawyer,” Boylan tweeted. “Glavin stated: ‘None of that is outstanding, though it could be old school.’ Women are sexually harassed & assaulted day-after-day on this nation by highly effective males just like the governor of New York. It ends now.”
Former Cuomo aide Ana Liss, who has accused the governor of fostering a poisonous office setting, advised 13WHAM News that she was interviewed Thursday by four investigators for the AG’s probe.
“I do not assume the typical particular person in New York want to know that their governor is an absolute monster,” Liss advised 13WHAM News.
Liss final week advised the outlet: “I’m not going to talk for any extra girls’s experiences. I simply know there have been actions that occurred that if the general public knew about it, they’d be shocked and appalled — and younger girls, like proper out of faculty.”
Bennett and Boylan also are known to have spoken to investigators for the AG’s probe.