Former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said he will be giving all campaign donations from Harvey Weinstein to charity, seven days after the first sexual allegations against the Hollywood mogul surfaced.
Cuomo faced criticism after originally announcing that he would be returning only part of the money that Weinstein donated to his campaigns. However, he changed his stance Thursday, seven days after The New York Times first reported the sexual harassment allegations against Weinstein.
Several democrats, including Cuomo, announced the day after the reports broke that they would be giving donations from Weinstein to charity. But Cuomo said he would only be giving $50,000 of the money Weinstein donated, which is all from his last campaign over the past year. Weinstein has reportedly given $110,000 total to Cuomo’s campaigns over the years.
Cuomo finally announced Thursday that he would donate the additional $60,000 from his prior campaign donations.
“The allegations against Harvey Weinstein are disturbing, horrid and the debate should be on how to best root out this reprehensible behavior and protect women from harassment and abuse,” the Cuomo campaign said in a statement.
“It’s shameful that some have sought to use this matter to score political points, but the real issues are far too serious to allow any distraction to overtake them,” the statement continued. “For that reason, the extraordinary step will be taken of giving all contributions from prior campaigns whose committees have been closed for years so that we can dispense with the Republican ploys and focus on the real issues.”
Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton also faced backlash, as it took her five days to make an announcement about the sexual harassment allegations against Weinstein, who was a close friend of the Clintons.
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