BREAKING NEWS: NY Gov. Andrew Cuomo Resigns To Head Off Likely Impeachment
New York Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo announced his resignation Tuesday (Aug. 10) in an effort to head off a looming impeachment effort in the state Assembly after a state investigation found he sexually harassed 11 women and oversaw an unlawful attempt to exact retribution against one of his accusers.
“Wasting energy on distractions is the last thing that state government should be doing,” Cuomo said in a video address. “And I cannot be the cause of that.”
“Given the circumstances, the best way I can help now is to step aside and let government get back to governing,” he added.
The Washington Post reports that Cuomo said his resignation will be effective in 14 days. He will be replaced by Lt. Gov. Kathy Hochul (D), who will be New York’s first female governor and will serve out the rest of the term until the next election in November 2022.
Cuomo’s decision to step down represents a crushing defeat for the three-term Democratic governor, who had remained defiant through months of escalating scandal. He repeatedly denied improperly touching women — even as accusations mounted — and dismissed the harassment claims as a misinterpretation of his affectionate political style and attempts to build office camaraderie.
He announced his resignation shortly after his attorney Rita Glavin delivered a lengthy attack on a report commissioned by the state attorney general that was released last week.
“The report got key facts wrong, it omitted key evidence, and it failed to include witnesses who did not support the narrative that it was clear this investigation was going to weave from day one,” Glavin said in a virtual news conference.
“For the last eight days, it has been a pile on,” she added.
By the time Cuomo finally decided to leave office, he was politically isolated — having lost the support of President Biden, the state’s two Democratic senators, and most of the New York congressional delegation.
After Attorney General Letitia James released the results of her investigation on Aug. 3, Assembly Speaker Carl E. Heastie (D), a longtime ally, announced that the governor had “lost the confidence of the Assembly Democratic majority,” adding that he “can no longer remain in office.” State Senate Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins (D) also called for his resignation.
Impeachment proceedings were ongoing, with plans for a vote within weeks, and Cuomo advisers said privately this week that they expected that he would be booted from office. Assembly Judiciary Committee Chairman Charles D. Lavine said Monday that there could be a reason to continue the impeachment effort against Cuomo even if he resigns, noting that a vote at Senate trial could bar him from ever holding office again in New York.
Cuomo had been ensconced in the Albany governor’s mansion for days, refusing entreaties from allies to resign as he assessed how he could survive politically. His efforts to defend his conduct were deemed ineffective by even some of his staunchest allies.
He still faces criminal investigations into his conduct by prosecutors in several counties, including New York, as well as an ongoing federal investigation by the U.S. attorney in Brooklyn into the administration’s handling of nursing homes during the coronavirus pandemic. The New York attorney general is separately probing whether the administration misused public resources it provided Cuomo relatives and other well-connected New Yorkers with preferential coronavirus testing and aides helped him write a book last year that netted him more than $5 million.
This article first appeared in Washington Post