Democrats launch impeachment investigation against Gov. Andrew Cuomo

ALBANY, N.Y. —  New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s grip on power appeared increasingly threatened Thursday as a majority of state legislators called for his resignation, Democrats launched an impeachment investigation and police in the state capital said they stood ready to investigate a groping allegation.

The firestorm around the Democrat grew a day after the Times Union of Albany reported that an unidentified aide had alleged Cuomo reached under her shirt and fondled her at his official residence late last year.

The woman hasn’t filed a criminal complaint, but a lawyer for the governor said Thursday that the state had reported the allegation to the Albany Police Department after the woman involved declined to do so herself.

“In this case the person is represented by counsel, and when counsel confirmed the client did not want to make a report, the state notified the Police Department and gave them the attorney’s information,” said Beth Garvey, the governor’s acting counsel.

A police spokesperson, Steve Smith, didn’t immediately return a message from the Associated Press but told the New York Times that police had reached out to a representative for the woman.

The possible involvement of police came as more lawmakers called on Cuomo to resign over alleged misconduct with women and allegations that his administration concealed how many nursing home residents died of COVID-19.

At least 121 members of the state Assembly and Senate have said publicly they believe Cuomo should quit office now, according to a tally by the Associated Press. The count consists of 65 Democrats and 56 Republicans.

The top Democrat in the Assembly, Speaker Carl Heastie, on Thursday backed a plan for its judiciary committee to launch an impeachment investigation.

The committee can interview witnesses and subpoena documents, and its inquiry could be wide-ranging, including alleged sexual misconduct and nursing homes’ COVID-19 outbreaks. It won’t interfere with an inquiry of sexual harassment allegations being conducted by state Atty. Gen. Letitia James, according to Heastie and James.

“The Legislature needs to determine for itself what the facts are,” a Democratic member of the committee, Assemblyman Tom Abinanti, said. “For the people who want immediate impeachment, I think we say please be patient. The process is slow. This could be the next step.”

In New York, the Assembly is the legislative house that could move to impeach Cuomo, who faces multiple allegations that he made the workplace an uncomfortable place for young women with sexually suggestive remarks and behavior, including unwanted touching and a kiss. One aide alleged the governor’s aides publicly smeared her after she accused him of sexual harassment.

“All of us are extremely disappointed,” Assemblywoman Aileen Gunther, a Democrat representing Orange and Sullivan counties, said. “I think there’s no room in the world right now for that kind of behavior. He should have known better.”

Gunther on Thursday became the ninth Assembly Democrat saying they’d vote for impeachment, alongside at least 37 Republicans.

Cuomo’s support in the state Senate was especially thin. Roughly two-thirds of its members have called for his resignation, including Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins, a Democrat.

A group of 59 Democrats — 19 senators and 40 Assembly members — said in a letter Thursday that it was time for Cuomo to go.

“In light of the Governor’s admission of inappropriate behavior and the findings of altered data on nursing home COVID-19 deaths he has lost the confidence of the public and the state legislature, rendering him ineffective in this time of most urgent need,” the letter said. “It is time for Governor Cuomo to resign.”

Cuomo has repeatedly said he won’t resign and urged the public to await the outcome of the attorney general’s investigation.

Asked for comment Thursday, Cuomo’s office referred reporters to previous statements in which the governor denied inappropriately touching anyone but apologized for some comments he made to female staffers. He has said he was engaging in what he thought was playful banter and didn’t intend to make people uncomfortable.

In the newest allegation against Cuomo, the Times Union of Albany reported that the governor had summoned the aide to his Albany mansion, saying he needed help with his cellphone. After she arrived, Cuomo closed the door, reached under her shirt and fondled her, the newspaper reported.

The newspaper’s reporting was based on an unidentified source with knowledge of the woman’s accusation, who said she first told the story to someone on Cuomo’s staff in recent days. The newspaper hadn’t spoken to the woman and didn’t identify her.

“I have never done anything like this,” Cuomo said through a spokesperson Wednesday evening.

According to the Times Union article, one of the woman’s supervisors told an attorney in the governor’s office about her account Monday. The report to Albany police was made Wednesday after the newspaper had posted its story.

Federal investigators are also scrutinizing how the Cuomo administration has handled data about how many nursing home residents have died of COVID-19. The governor and his aides argued for months that it couldn’t release full figures on deaths because it had yet to verify the data.

The state Assembly has 150 members. It could convene an impeachment trial against Cuomo with a simple majority vote. The state Senate, which would join with members of the state’s top appeals court to hold an impeachment trial, has 63 members.