A second ex-employee of powerful
New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo has accused him of s.e.xual harassment,
charges the governor denied on Saturday.
This time the allegations came
from 25-year-old former health adviser Charlotte Bennett, who told The New York
Times that the governor s.e.xually harassed her in the spring of 2020.
According to Bennett, the
63-year-old politician said in June that he was open to dating women in their
20s, and asked her if she thought age made a difference in romantic
relationships, the Times reported.
While Cuomo never tried to touch
her, “I understood that the governor wanted to sleep with me, and felt horribly
uncomfortable and scared,” Bennett told the paper.
She added that she spoke to
Cuomo’s chief of staff and legal counsel, who transferred her to another post
in another building. Bennett was happy with the new job and decided not to
insist on an investigation.
Cuomo became a national star last
spring with his straight-talking yet empathetic coronavirus briefings that
contrasted sharply with then-president Donald Trump’s dismissive approach to
the pandemic.
But the harassment allegations
come as he faces a growing storm over his handling of the coronavirus in
nursing homes in his state.
In a statement Saturday, Cuomo
said he “never made advances toward Ms Bennett nor did I ever intend to act in
any way that was inappropriate.”
He said he wanted instead to
support Bennett, who had told him that she was a s.e.xual assault survivor.
The governor, whose third term
expires at the end of 2022, called for “a full and thorough outside review” of
these charges, led by a former federal judge.
“I ask all New Yorkers to await
the findings of the review so that they know the facts before making any
judgments,” he added.
This is the second time in a week
that the Democratic governor, who has led New York state for 10 years, has been
accused of s.e.xual harassment.
On Wednesday, another ex-adviser,
Lindsey Boylan, said in a blog that he had harassed her when she was working
for his administration, from 2015 to 2018.
0 Comments