Sunday, 17 Nov 2024

Chilling photo shows moment New York's Andrew Cuomo allegedly groped assistant

A photo has been released which shows smiling New York governor Andrew Cuomo allegedly groping one of his assistants during a selfie – as a damning report claims he sexually harassed 11 women.

The picture, released on Tuesday as part of the 165-page report into the disgraced governor’s sexual harassment allegations, shows him posing in a grey jumper while he sits back on a couch with an aide at his home.

The staffer, named only as ‘Executive Assistant #1’ in the document, is one of the primary complainants in the report and is said to have told investigators that the governor had asked her to take selfies as they worked together inside his office in Albany, on December 31, 2019.

As she held up the camera, Cuomo ‘moved his hand to grab her butt cheek and began to rub it’ for at least five seconds, the report claims.

The assistant, who is described as in her 30s, ‘was shaking so much during this interaction’ that the photos came out blurry – which is when Cuomo apparently suggested the two sit down to take one more.

He then allegedly told the woman to send the picture to another aide, Alyssa McGrath – who has also spoken out about sexual harassment in the governor’s office – and told her ‘not to share the photograph with anyone else’.

The unnamed assistant also testified that ‘she did not know why the Governor wanted her to send the photograph to Ms. McGrath, but guessed that the Governor “wanted to make (Ms. McGrath) jealous”.’

The chilling selfie was included in the bombshell report, released on August 3, which concluded that Cuomo sexually harassed as many as 11 women in violation of state and federal law.

The findings came from Attorney General Letitia James’ office following a five-month-long independent investigation.

Cuomo has since been urged to resign from his post at governor of New York – calls that were led by president Joe Biden – but the 63-year-old has so far refused to step down.

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The assistant pictured in the selfie also told investigators that she immediately deleted the blurry selfies, because she was ’embarrassed’ and didn’t want Cuomo ‘to see how nervous she was’, the report claims.

Investigators tried to retrieve the deleted images, but were not able to. The woman said she didn’t report what happened because she was terrified of any potential repercussions.

‘The way he was so firm with (me) that I couldn’t show anyone else that photo, I was just terrified that if I shared what was going on that it would somehow get around’, she told investigators.

‘And if Stephanie Benton or Melissa (DeRosa) heard that, I was going to lose my job’, she added, referring to two of the governor’s top aides.

In an interview with investigators, Cuomo admitted that he and the staffer took a photo together, but said it was her idea, because ‘he does not like to take selfies’.

The assistant also alleges that Cuomo groped her breast in the executive mansion on November 16, 2020.

She says that as she was trying to leave the house the governor allegedly pulled her in for a close hug before slamming the door to his office shut.

‘You’re going to get us in trouble’, the woman reportedly told Cuomo, who replied, ‘I don’t care’, according to the report.

The governor then ‘slid his hand up her blouse, and grabbed her breast, cupping her breast over her bra’, the report alleges.

‘I mean it was – he was like cupping my breast’, the staffer described to investigators.

‘He cupped my breast. I have to tell you it was – at the moment I was in such shock.’

The report added that the assistant said: ‘I just remember looking down seeing his hand, seeing the top of my bra and I remember it was like a little even the cup – the kind of bra that I had to the point I could tell you doesn’t really fit me properly, it was a little loose, I just remember seeing exactly that.’

Despite the release of the report Cuomo has repeatedly maintained that he ‘never touched anyone inappropriately’.

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