An investigation into Democratic New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo found that the governor sexually harassed a state trooper assigned to protect him.
The investigation, released Tuesday by Attorney General Letitia James, found that Cuomo “sexually harassed a number of State employees through unwelcome and unwanted touching, as well as by making numerous offensive and sexually suggestive comments” and that this conduct “was part of a pattern of behavior that extended to his interactions with others outside of State government.”
Cuomo met “Trooper #1” at an event on the Robert F. Kennedy Bridge in November 2017 where he requested that Trooper #1 be transferred to the Protective Services Unit (PSU) of the New York State Police, a unit “in charge of protecting the Governor and works in close vicinity of the Governor,” according to the report.
“Trooper #1 was then hired into the PSU, despite not meeting the requirement to have at least three years of State Police service to join the PSU,” the report said. (RELATED: Will Cuomo Be Held Accountable For Allegedly Sending Grandmas To Die In Nursing Homes?)
Cuomo sexually harassed the female New York state trooper “on a number of occasions,” the report said, including by “running his hand across her stomach, from her belly button to her right hip, while she held a door open for him at an event,” by “running his finger down her back, from the top of her neck down her spine to the middle of her back, saying ‘hey, you,’ while she was standing in front of him in an elevator,” and by “kissing her (and only her) on the cheek in front of another Trooper and asking to kiss her on another occasion, which she deflected.”
There should be a zero tolerance policy when it comes to sexual harassment & must send a clear message that this behavior is not tolerated.
— Andrew Cuomo (@NYGovCuomo) May 17, 2013
Cuomo also made sexually suggestive and gender-based comments to the trooper, according to the report, such as asking her to help him find a girlfriend and “describing his criteria for a girlfriend as someone who ‘[c]an handle pain,'” and “asking her why she wanted to get married when marriage means ‘your sex drive goes down.'”
“Trooper #1 found these interactions with the Governor not only offensive and uncomfortable, but markedly different from the way the Governor interacted with members of the PSU who were men, and she conveyed these incidents contemporaneously to colleagues,” the report said. “Several other PSU Troopers corroborated Trooper #1’s allegations, including some who had personally witnessed some of the touching and comments as well as the gender-based difference in the way the Governor treated Troopers.”
Cuomo’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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