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New York Governor Andrew Cuomo now faces impending impeachment, if he does not resign first, after Tuesday’s damning findings by New York State Attorney General Letitia James that Cuomo sexually harassed and, or, assaulted at least 11 women.
But Governor Cuomo’s descending fall from grace may entail more than just resignation—or, impeachment from office.
It is now becoming clear that Cuomo may also be subjected to criminal charges as district attorneys in Albany, Manhattan, Nassau County and Westchester have all signaled they are looking into perhaps prosecuting the governor. These prosecutors have requested the evidence materials that were amassed by Attorney General James, and the other prosecutors, who investigated Governor Cuomo’s alleged abuse of women and the reportedly toxic workplace culture he purportedly encouraged.
Albany District Attorney David Soares released a statement saying: “Along with the public, today we have been made aware of the final independent report from AG Letitia James’ office regarding Governor Cuomo’s conduct as they relate to violations of civil harassment statutes. We will be formally requesting investigative materials obtained by the AG’s Office, and we welcome any victim to contact our office with additional information. As this matter is developing and we are reviewing the document released by the Attorney General today, we will refrain from any additional public comment at this time regarding the status of the ongoing criminal investigation by our office.”
In Manhattan, Danny Frost, the communications director in District Attorney Cyrus Vance’s office tweeted that, “When our office learned yesterday that the @NewYorkStateAG investigation of the Governor’s conduct was complete, our office contacted the A.G.’s office to begin requesting investigative materials in their possession pertaining to incidents that occurred in Manhattan.”
Wednesday, Nassau County District Attorney Joyce A. Smith released a statement saying: “We are reviewing the deeply disturbing findings of the Attorney General’s report regarding the Governor’s alleged conduct. We have requested the Attorney General’s records related to any incidents that occurred in Nassau County and will thoroughly and expeditiously investigate any potential crimes.”
And according to NBC, Westchester District Attorney Miriam Rocah told Attorney General James that she had reviewed the evidence materials–and believed some of the alleged conduct occurred in her jurisdiction. In a letter to James, Rocah reportedly said: “I believe it is appropriate for my Office to conduct a further inquiry to determine if any of the reported conduct that is alleged to have occurred in Westchester County is criminal in nature.”
In a Wednesday tweet, Rocah further stated: “As some of the Governor’s conduct occurred in Westchester County, we have formally requested investigative materials obtained by the AG’s Office. As this is an ongoing investigation, we will not comment further at this time.”
These developments make it clear that the political crisis Governor Cuomo is now mired in may well get worse if he is actually criminally prosecuted by one or more of these New York prosecutors who are now becoming engaged in their own individual investigations of Governor Andrew Cuomo.
