Current Cuomo aide alleges harassment

A current aide to New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) has accused him of harassment in an article published by The New York Times on Friday.

The aide, Alyssa McGrath, told the publication that Cuomo told her she was beautiful in Italian and asked about her not wearing a wedding ring and the status of her divorce. Additionally, McGrath said Cuomo looked down her shirt and commented on a necklace she was wearing.

She is the first current employee of the governor’s office to speak publicly about harassment allegations in Cuomo’s administration, and one of numerous women to come forward and accuse the governor of misconduct.

The latest allegations come roughly a week after reports that the Albany Police Department had received a referral from New York State Police regarding an allegation of groping. The Times Union had published an unnamed aide’s account accusing the governor of groping her in the Executive Mansion.

McGrath told the Times that the unnamed aide detailed the account of what happened after it was first published in the Times Union. 

“She froze when he started doing that stuff to her,” McGrath said, adding that Cuomo told the aide not to tell McGrath about the incident. 

Cuomo has denied all of the allegations against him. 

His attorney Rita Galvin told the Times that Cuomo “has greeted men and women with hugs and a kiss on the cheek, forehead, or hand. Yes, he has posed for photographs with his arm around them. Yes, he uses Italian phrases like ‘ciao bella.’ ”

The governor is under investigation for the allegations, as well as his handling of nursing home deaths in New York during the coronavirus pandemic.

Cuomo is facing calls to resign from the state’s entire congressional delegation and from state lawmakers. 

However, the governor has showed no sign that he will step down from his post. 

“People know the difference between playing politics, bowing to cancel culture and the truth,” Cuomo said in a press call last week. “Let the review proceed, I’m not going to resign, I was not elected by the politicians, I was elected by the people.”