Politics

The People vs. Andrew Cuomo is now officially a thing

A criminal complaint against the former governor complicates any attempts for him to stage a political comeback.

Two months after his resignation, Andrew Cuomo was slapped with a criminal charge of allegedly groping a female aide.

Two months after his resignation, Andrew Cuomo was slapped with a criminal charge of allegedly groping a female aide. lev radin/Shutterstock

Ex-Gov. Andrew Cuomo faces a criminal charge in the alleged groping of a female aide in the Executive Mansion last year, one of many acts of alleged sexual misconduct that led to his resignation more than two months ago. 

A misdemeanor complaint released Thursday alleges that Cuomo forcibly touched an unnamed woman on the afternoon of Dec. 7 on the second floor of the mansion, an account that matches the allegations made by former staffer Brittany Commisso months ago. Cuomo has denied the allegations in the past via an attorney, who has focused on supposed discrepancies in her story in recent months while the governor and his allies have sought to discredit wider allegations of sexual misconduct made by nearly a dozen women. 

The filing of a criminal charge against the former governor marks a turning point in the long political saga that led to the downfall of the former pandemic hero of the political left. While he has faced a long list of alleged misconduct, he has never been criminally charged with anything. This includes the reported cover-up of data showing the true COVID-19 death toll among nursing home residents and a controversial multibillion book deal he inked last year. Getting criminally charged now though surely complicates any attempts by the former governor, who still has a huge campaign war chest at his disposal, to ever stage a political comeback.

He joins the long list of former New York officials charged with crimes after they left office, though Cuomo is unlikely to do hard time given the relatively minor nature of his alleged offense and his lack of prior convictions. Forcible touching is a Class A misdemeanor that could result in up to a year in jail if he were ever found guilty. However, the Times Union reported Thursday that Albany County officials are still considering whether or not to pursue the charge against him, though the New York Post reported Thursday that he could be arrested as soon as next week. Cuomo is scheduled to appear in court on Nov. 17, according to the Times Union. A spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment Thursday afternoon. 

New York Focus first broke the story Thursday afternoon about the filing of the criminal complaint, which was dated Oct. 25 and officially received by the court system earlier today, but confusion followed after the Times Union reported that the complaint had been released “erroneously.” Rita Glavin, an attorney for Cuomo, responded to the charging of Cuomo Thursday by denying the groping while stoking doubt about the intentions of officials alleging wrongdoing by the governor. A criminal charge against Cuomo for allegedly touching Commisso, however, seemingly validates a key part of the damning report issued by state Attorney General Letitia James, which alleged sexual misconduct with 11 separate women. 

Cuomo allies have cast doubt on her intentions while her office and outside attorneys investigated the governor, especially considering her expected run for governor, but she said Thursday that Team Cuomo is full of it when it comes to their ongoing efforts to vindicate the former governor in the court of public opinion. “From the moment my office received the referral to investigate allegations that former Governor Andrew Cuomo sexually harassed multiple women, we proceeded without fear or favor. The criminal charges brought today against Mr. Cuomo for forcible touching further validate the findings in our report,” she said in a statement

The release of the complaint, however, confirmed that the charge was real and whatever happens to Cuomo in the end, his political enemies are celebrating tonight. “This is a really big deal,” attorney general candidate Zephyr Teachout, Cuomo’s 2014 rival for the Democratic nomination for governor, tweeted Thursday evening. “Andrew Cuomo, who has avoided legal liability for a decade, is charged.”

X
This website uses cookies to enhance user experience and to analyze performance and traffic on our website. We also share information about your use of our site with our social media, advertising and analytics partners. Learn More / Do Not Sell My Personal Information
Accept Cookies
X
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Do Not Sell My Personal Information

When you visit our website, we store cookies on your browser to collect information. The information collected might relate to you, your preferences or your device, and is mostly used to make the site work as you expect it to and to provide a more personalized web experience. However, you can choose not to allow certain types of cookies, which may impact your experience of the site and the services we are able to offer. Click on the different category headings to find out more and change our default settings according to your preference. You cannot opt-out of our First Party Strictly Necessary Cookies as they are deployed in order to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting the cookie banner and remembering your settings, to log into your account, to redirect you when you log out, etc.). For more information about the First and Third Party Cookies used please follow this link.

Allow All Cookies

Manage Consent Preferences

Strictly Necessary Cookies - Always Active

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data, Targeting & Social Media Cookies

Under the California Consumer Privacy Act, you have the right to opt-out of the sale of your personal information to third parties. These cookies collect information for analytics and to personalize your experience with targeted ads. You may exercise your right to opt out of the sale of personal information by using this toggle switch. If you opt out we will not be able to offer you personalised ads and will not hand over your personal information to any third parties. Additionally, you may contact our legal department for further clarification about your rights as a California consumer by using this Exercise My Rights link

If you have enabled privacy controls on your browser (such as a plugin), we have to take that as a valid request to opt-out. Therefore we would not be able to track your activity through the web. This may affect our ability to personalize ads according to your preferences.

Targeting cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.

Social media cookies are set by a range of social media services that we have added to the site to enable you to share our content with your friends and networks. They are capable of tracking your browser across other sites and building up a profile of your interests. This may impact the content and messages you see on other websites you visit. If you do not allow these cookies you may not be able to use or see these sharing tools.

If you want to opt out of all of our lead reports and lists, please submit a privacy request at our Do Not Sell page.

Save Settings
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Cookie List

A cookie is a small piece of data (text file) that a website – when visited by a user – asks your browser to store on your device in order to remember information about you, such as your language preference or login information. Those cookies are set by us and called first-party cookies. We also use third-party cookies – which are cookies from a domain different than the domain of the website you are visiting – for our advertising and marketing efforts. More specifically, we use cookies and other tracking technologies for the following purposes:

Strictly Necessary Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Functional Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Performance Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Social Media Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Targeting Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.