Nadler, NY Democrats call on Cuomo to resign

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.) and a number of Democrats from New York’s congressional delegation called on Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) to resign on Friday amid the growing claims of sexual harassment and misconduct against the governor. 

“Gov. Cuomo has lost the confidence of the people of New York,” Nadler said in a statement. “Gov. Cuomo must resign.”

“The repeated accusations against the governor, and the manner in which he has responded to them, have made it impossible for him to continue to govern at this point,” he said. 

Nadler joins a growing group of prominent New York Democrats calling for Cuomo’s resignation, the latest sign that the governor’s ability to weather the barrage of allegations is waning.

Progressive Democratic Reps. Jamaal Bowman (N.Y.) and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (N.Y.) also called for the governor’s resignation Friday. 

“As members of the New York delegation to the U.S. House of Representatives, we believe these women, we believe the reporting, we believe the Attorney General, and we believe the fifty-five members of the New York State legislature, including the State Senate Majority Leader, who have concluded that Governor Cuomo can no longer effectively lead in the face of so many challenges,” the two lawmakers said in a joint statement. 

New York Democratic Reps. Mondaire Jones, Carolyn Maloney, Yvette Clarke, Nydia Velázquez and Grace Meng have also called for Cuomo’s resignation.

Rep. Kathleen Rice (D-N.Y.) called for Cuomo to resign earlier this month. 

The resignation calls within New York have been growing amid news of the six sexual misconduct allegations and his administration’s underreporting of deaths linked to the state’s nursing homes during the pandemic. 

On Wednesday, an unnamed aide to the governor alleged that Cuomo groped her after she was summoned to the Executive Mansion during the pandemic last year. After the accusation emerged, Albany Police Department spokesperson Steven Smith told The New York Times that the department received a referral Wednesday night by New York State Police. 

Fifty-five New York state legislators signed a letter calling on Cuomo to resign amid the sexual harassment allegations. They also addressed the nursing home scandal in the letter. 

New York State Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie (D) then authorized the Assembly Judiciary Committee to begin an impeachment investigation into Cuomo on Thursday. 

Cuomo is already under investigation in the state for sexual harassment allegations. Letitia James (D), the state’s attorney general, announced on Monday the appointment of two veteran lawyers to lead the investigation.