The Democratic Party’s largest fundraising platform, ActBlue, removed Democratic New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s donation page Thursday amid widespread calls for his resignation.
Cuomo has received widespread backlash from prominent Democratic politicians following New York Attorney General Letitia James’ Tuesday announcement that an investigation held by her office concluded that the governor “sexually harassed multiple women” in violation of both state and federal law.
“You have attempted to make a contribution to a fundraising page that has no active recipients,” Cuomo’s contribution page reads. “Either the page’s owner has removed all committees or organizations from the page, or we have concluded processing contributions for these committees or organizations.”
New: Democratic fundraising platform ActBlue tells Axios it will no longer process donations for Gov. Andrew Cuomo, dealing a body blow to what’s left of his future political prospects https://t.co/j3Q1ArorbE
— Lachlan Markay (@lachlan) August 5, 2021
The donation platform similarly removed Democratic Kansas House candidate Aaron Coleman for admitting that he shared revenge porn, Axios reported. ActBlue appeared to receive pressure for Cuomo’s active donation page following the Attorney General’s announcement, given that the page remained after the first sexual harassment accusation in December, 2020.
Prior to the page’s removal, Cuomo raised $2.5 million for his reelection in the first half of the year, The Washington Free Beacon reported.
James’ investigation into Cuomo stemmed from accusations from eleven women, nine of whom worked for the governor. The probe interviewed 179 people and reviewed emails and text messages, finding that the governor harassed several women during his time in office between 2013 and 2020, according to Fox News.
Democratic politicians within the federal and state level, including President Joe Biden, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and New York Mayor Bill de Blasio, have called for Cuomo to resign. Lawmakers, state officials and candidates have called to impeach the governor if he refuses to step down. (RELATED: ‘He’s A Serial Sexual Predator’: Majority In NY State Assembly Support Impeachment If Cuomo Doesn’t Resign)
“It is beyond clear that Andrew Cuomo is not fit to hold office and can no longer serve as Governor,” de Blasio said in a Tuesday statement. “He must resign, and if he continues to resist and attack the investigators who did their jobs, he should be impeached immediately.”
President Joe Biden was reminded of an earlier statement in March when he called on Cuomo to resign over the initial sexual assault allegations, and he confirmed that he “stands by” his prior statement at a Tuesday press conference. However, the president did not say whether the governor should be impeached.
