Interview transcripts offer window into Cuomo investigation

3 years ago 239

ALBANY, N.Y. – Former Gov. Andrew Cuomo appeared pugilistic and paranoid astatine times during an 11-hour deposition, made nationalist Wednesday, denying the intersexual harassment allegations that forced him from bureau portion ascribing governmental motives to the radical investigating his behavior.

His alleged victims, meanwhile, elaborate a “toxic” workplace successful the medication wherever they were subjected to crude remarks, creepy questions astir their enactment lives, hazing and bullying.

New York Attorney General Letitia James released hundreds of pages of transcripts Wednesday of interviews 2 autarkic investigators did earlier this twelvemonth with 10 of Cuomo's accusers, positive the politician himself.

The interviews, conducted by the erstwhile acting U.S. Attorney for Manhattan, Joon Kim, and the employment lawyer Anne Clark, focused mostly connected the superior allegations against Cuomo, including a assertion that helium groped an aide's bosom aft summoning her to his bureau successful 2020.

But they besides produced unusual moments and offered a model into Cuomo's confrontational style.

Here are notable moments from the galore hours of testimony:

___

SHOW SOME LEG

Several erstwhile employees testified successful item astir Cuomo and different men connected the unit speaking successful a demeaning and disparaging mode astir women.

Brittany Commisso, the adjutant who said Cuomo groped her astatine the enforcement mansion past year, said the politician would look her up and down and erstwhile asked whether she ever had enactment with anyone different than her husband.

“He would marque comments astir if I wore a peculiar thing, however bladed I looked,” Commisso said. “That I looked bully for my property and being a mother.”

“When I wore a dress, helium would remark astir however it’s astir clip that you showed immoderate leg.”

When she was promoted to beryllium an enforcement assistant, erstwhile adjutant Charlotte Bennett bought heels to deterioration due to the fact that colleagues made it wide that Cuomo expected it.

“It felt similar we had gone backmost a fewer decades successful immoderate ways,” Bennett said.

Cuomo said helium whitethorn person referred to women connected his unit arsenic “honey, “sweetheart” oregon “darling.”

“You know, 1 clip successful my life, ‘honey’ was a good happening to say, ‘darling’ was a good happening to say,” helium said. “It’s not anymore.”

Still, asked if helium had regrets astir thing he’s said to women successful the workplace, Cuomo said “no.”

___

CUOMO’S SIGNATURE

At 1 constituent during his testimony, Cuomo suggested he'd fixed his bureau manager the authorization to motion authorities into instrumentality connected his behalf.

Kim handed him a transcript of a 2019 signifier that the politician had purportedly signed saying helium had completed the state's annual, mandatory intersexual harassment training. Kim asked Cuomo whether the signature connected the signifier was truly his.

Cuomo said it mightiness person really been signed by his bureau director, Stephanie Benton.

Cuomo said Benton could motion “virtually astir immoderate papers that comes crossed my desk,” including enforcement orders and checks. Sometimes she utilized an autopen instrumentality that replicated Cuomo’s signature. Or, she conscionable scrawled his sanction herself.

“I’m not asking astir autosigning,” Kim clarified. “I’m asking astir physically signing a document. Has Stephanie Benton physically signed bills for you, legislation?”

“She whitethorn have,” Cuomo said.

Hours later, aft prompting from his lawyer, Cuomo clarified that Benton lone utilized the autopen instrumentality erstwhile signing legislation.

Cuomo acknowledged helium didn’t instrumentality required intersexual harassment grooming successful 2020 oregon 2021, saying helium was focused connected the COVID-19 pandemic.

That contradicted what Cuomo told reporters past May, erstwhile helium said he'd taken intersexual harassment grooming “this year.”

___

TESTY JABS

Cuomo took a confrontational code with Kim and Clark, telling them their probe was “biased” and “political."

Cuomo complained that helium had referred the probe to the lawyer wide connected the information she prime an “independent reviewer.” Kim's selection, the politician claimed, was “a perversion” of that information due to the fact that portion a national authoritative helium had investigated the administration. And Cuomo said Clark had a “bias” due to the fact that she works arsenic an employment lawyer.

Cuomo besides suggested Kim was a puppet doing the bidding of his predecessor successful the U.S. attorney’s office, Preet Bharara, and “his rabbi,” U.S. Sen. Chuck Schumer.

For the astir part, Kim didn't respond to the attacks. But astatine 1 constituent helium asked Cuomo if helium was looking for “negative information” astir lawyers progressive successful the investigation.

“Well, what are you disquieted about, Joon?” Cuomo said.

Occasionally, Cuomo appeared to springiness the interrogators a hard clip for sport.

At 1 point, helium was asked whether it was existent he'd told a pistillate successful his bureau she looked similar 1 of his ex-girlfriends. Cuomo countered by debating Kim, implicit 4 pages of testimony, astir the definitions of “date” and girlfriend."

“Do you recognize what a woman is?” Kim asked.

“Well, woman means antithetic things to antithetic people,” Cuomo said.

___

“TOXIC"

Describing the civilization successful Cuomo’s office, erstwhile adjutant Charlotte Bennett said unit called to conscionable with Cuomo came successful with dread and distress and would sometimes beryllium successful tears afterward.

“It was controlled mostly by his temper, and helium was surrounded by radical who enabled his behavior, similar surrounded by yes men — I’ll usage that word — of this is what helium wants, this is what helium gets, and that temper and that choler oregon that fearfulness of him abruptly becoming aggravated decidedly ruled the bureau and past trickled down,” Bennett said.

The politician allegedly pounded his fist into a doorway successful vexation and connected different juncture told a apical adjutant helium was fortunate helium didn’t propulsion him retired the window.

Cuomo and respective of his erstwhile employees each testified astir a nickname utilized astir the bureau for his apical aides: “the mean girls," a radical that included his hard-driving apical adviser, Melissa DeRosa.

Cuomo testified that helium was alert of the moniker, but dismissed it arsenic a “silly gossipy thing” that a erstwhile antheral staffer came up with.

Cuomo has besides argued that it’s sexist to represent palmy pistillate employees arsenic “catty.”

Bennett said the “mean girls” were portion of Cuomo’s efforts to instill part among his employees.

“Like his trial is mounting up idiosyncratic successful a presumption wherever they’re being abused by the radical astir him and not conscionable straight from him,” Bennett testified.

Read Entire Article