Cuomo biographer: ‘Predatory behavior’ has been ‘evident for years’

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) reporter and biographer Michael Shnayerson on Saturday alleged that Cuomo has has a history of “predatory behavior” that has been “evident for years.”

In a lengthy article published in Vanity Fair on Saturday afternoon, Shnayerson wrote that the most recent allegations of sexual misconduct and mistreatment of the press against Cuomo are consistent with the New York governor’s “checkered past.” 

Shnayerson laid out in the piece that Cuomo had a tense, at times abusive relationship with his ex-wife, strong-armed the press and managed his staff by pitting top aides against one another. 

Shnayerson alleged that Cuomo’s ex-wife, Kerry Kennedy — part of the prominent Kennedy political family — slept in a locked bathroom on more than one occasion, according to a source close to the family. The source also recounted “instance of physical abuse” by Cuomo against Kennedy. 

“I’ve been a human rights activist, and for women who have abusive husbands,” Kerry reportedly told her friend, “and here I am enduring this abuse.”

Cuomo is currently under investigation by the state’s attorney general, Letitia James (D), after multiple women, some former staff members, came forward accusing him of sexual harassment. 

Most recently, the Albany Times Union reported that an unnamed aide told a supervisor in the executive chamber that Cuomo had groped her late last year in the governor’s mansion. 

Before these allegations, the Cuomo administration and the governor were under fire for failing to report accurate numbers of deaths in nursing homes amid the COVID-19 pandemic. 

New York Democrats including Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand have called for Cuomo to resign over the sexual assault allegations.

In the Saturday article, Shnayerson also detailed poor treatment of journalists, including the governor’s own brother, CNN anchor Chris Cuomo. 

“One colleague recalled being shocked after an on-air story Christopher had done, when he took a cell phone call from his brother and started cringing under Andrew’s withering review,” Shnayerson said.

Shnayerson also incorporated some of his own experience reporting on the governor, stating that “he treated me—a member of the press—as someone to be sidelined or co-opted.”

The biographer also detailed an instance in which both he and the governor were releasing competing books about his life. Shnayerson said Cuomo was determined to beat him to the market and offered to sit for an interview if he released his book at a later date. 

However, the reporter never got this interview.

“The governor pulled a fast one. I never did get that interview; his book came out in October 2014, a full five months ahead of mine, he said. “It was a quintessential Cuomo move: underhanded, stealthy, self-serving, and hard-ass.”

A former Albany journalist on Friday became the seventh woman to come forward with allegations against Cuomo. Jessica Bakeman alleged in an article published in New York magazine that on numerous occasions, the governor harassed her, grabbing her arms, touching her waist and not letting go. 

“Journalists got stiff-amed, staffers and aides sometimes banished,” Shnayerson wrote.

Shnayerson stated that Cuomo, like his father, had a “harsh management style.” 

“Andrew was also known—just as his dad had been—to set his top aides against each other, a management style the younger Cuomo would deploy throughout his career,” the biographer wrote. “Andrew inspired both loyalty and fear.”

Several prominent New York Democrats have called on Cuomo to resign amid the barrage of allegations he faces, including Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Jamaal Bowman and Jerry Nadler. 

However, a defiant Cuomo has refused to resign, stating that he won’t bow down to “cancel culture.”

“Women have a right to come forward and be heard, and I encourage that fully. But I also want to be clear there is still a question of the truth. I did not do what has been alleged, period,” Cuomo said during a call with reporters Friday. 

State lawmakers have begun an impeachment probe against the governor. 

The Hill has reached out to Cuomo’s office for comment.