Media

Several Media Outlets Knew Cuomo Was Trying To Destroy One Of His Accusers

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Several media outlets knew that Democratic New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo was trying to destroy one of the women who accused him of sexual harassment.

Rich Azzopardi, Cuomo’s director of communications and senior adviser, sent a file on Cuomo accuser Lindsey Boylan to journalists from several prominent outlets, documents show. The files were sent hours after Boylan publicly accused Cuomo of sexual harassment in December of 2020.

The confidential files on Boylan were shared between Dec. 13 and Dec. 15 with reporters at The Associated Press, The New York Times, New York Post, The Hill, CBS, NY1 News and the New York Daily News. (RELATED: Cuomo Sexually Harassed State Trooper Assigned To Protect Him, Investigation Finds)

The files included information about Boylan’s time in the Executive Chamber, including investigation and counseling that took place before she left. They included three items from September of 2018 – a memorandum labeled “Confidential Personal Matter,” a memorandum labeled “Draft, privileged and confidential,” and an email labeled “Privileged and confidential / Attorney client communication / Attorney work product.”

Complaints against Boylan were also in the files, but witnesses testified that the complainants’ names were redacted before the files were sent to reporters.

After Boylan tweeted that Cuomo had sexually harassed her, Melissa De Rosa requested the “full file” on her. De Rosa is the Cuomo aide who admitted to withholding data on nursing homes during the pandemic.

New York Attorney General Letitia James announced Tuesday that an independent investigation found that Cuomo had sexually harassed multiple women. James said that Cuomo had violated state and federal law by subjecting employees to offensive or sexually charged comments as well as unwanted touching. He also was involved in pressure campaigns to keep them quiet, the investigation found.