Cuomo’s accuser Brittany Commisso breaks silence to detail groped allegations, says governor is lying

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In a damning report released last week by New York State Attorney General Letitia James, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo is accused of sexually harassing 11 women. In an exclusive interview with “CBS This Morning” and The Times Union, one such woman, previously known only as Executive Assistant No.1, breaks her silence.

Brittany Commisso began working as an executive assistant in the governor’s office in 2017. Now she is speaking publicly for the first time since filing a criminal complaint against Cuomo last week, just days after the release of the Attorney General.

“For me it was a dream job. And it unfortunately turned into a nightmare,” she said.

Commisso was not the first woman to bring up allegations of sexual misconduct against Cuomo, but she appears first in the attorney general’s report. She believes this is due to the seriousness of her allegations.

“I think my story first appears because of the nature of the governor’s inappropriate conduct to me,” Commisso said. “I think he groped me, he touched me, not just once, but twice.”

Commisso, now 32, alleges the Governor first groped her on December 31, 2019. She said she was at the Governor’s Mansion that night to help Cuomo with his upcoming speech on the state of the state. According to Commisso, after finishing his speech project, Cuomo suggested that they take a selfie together.

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“He was on my left. I was on the right. With my right hand, I took the selfie,” she said. “I then felt as I took the selfie, his hand down my back to my butt, and he started to rub it. Don’t drag it. No, you know, brush it quickly – rub my butt. “

Commisso said it made her so nervous that her hands started to shake, which made it impossible for her to even take the photo.

“I was embarrassed,” she said. “Not only embarrassed by what was going on, I was embarrassed that a governor wanted a selfie and I couldn’t take it. I was so nervous. I remember looking at them, and when he said:” Can I see them? “I showed them to him. And he said, ‘Oh, they’re not – they’re not good.'”

Cuomo then, according to Commisso, suggested the two try again on the couch. A suggestion she said she accepted as she thought he wouldn’t be able to touch her behind if she was sitting.

“So we sat on the couch and in the picture, I have my arm wrapped around his shoulder, almost like we were taking a picture with a buddy. And I had a clear picture as I sat down,” said Commisso. “And this is the one that has been dimmed and has now been made public.”

A selfie taken by Brittany Commisso with New York Governor Andrew Cuomo. Brittany Commission

Cuomo has denied ever touching Commisso inappropriately, including when they took the selfie.

Commisso alleges that Cuomo groped her a second time at the governor’s mansion in November 2020. She claims that during that meeting Cuomo hugged her in a “sexually aggressive manner.”

“That’s when I said, you know, governor, you know, you are – my words were ‘you’re going to get us in trouble.’ And I thought that probably wasn’t the best thing to do. say, “Commisso said.

Commisso claims she was worried that a member of staff would come in and get the wrong idea, but after saying that Cuomo “shut the door so hard that I thought for sure that someone one downstairs must be thinking if he heard that, ‘what’s going on?’ “

It was then that Commisso claims the governor has groped her a second time.

“He came back to me and that’s when he put his hand on my blouse and cupped my chest over my bra,” she said. “I exactly remember looking down, seeing his hand, which is a big hand, saying to myself, ‘Oh, my God. It’s happening.'”

“It happened so fast that he didn’t say anything. When I stopped him, he just walked away and walked away.”

Commisso described Cuomo’s behavior that night as “almost like he was in a sexually aggressive state of mind. I really don’t know how to explain the moment. It was, was – I didn’t. not the words. I don’t ‘I don’t have the words. “

Cuomo also denied the accusation, saying, “” touching the breasts of a woman, whom I barely know, in the mansion with 10 employees around, with my family in the mansion, to say, ‘I don’t care who sees us. ‘ I would have to lose my mind to do such a thing. “

Commisso called the governor’s response “disgusting”.

“I know the truth. He knows the truth. I know what happened and so does he,” she said. “I don’t believe there were 10 staff on that day. I don’t believe his family was there that day. And if that’s what he has to say to feel better, I am very sorry for him. “

Commisso said she never planned to go public with her allegations, in part because she worried about what might happen to her daughter. But that all changed a few months later when she saw Cuomo deny the sexual harassment charges at a press conference in March 2021 and heard him say that he “had never touched anyone inappropriately.” .

“He almost has that smirk that he thinks he’s untouchable,” Commisso said. “I almost feel like he has this feeling of almost being a celebrity and that’s right – that was the tipping point. I broke. I said ‘He is lying’.”

“I felt like he was telling me personally that ‘I never touched anyone inappropriately,'” Commisso explained. “And, yes, you did.”

Commisso said after seeing her denial, she “collapsed” and said “a little” to two colleagues.

Commisso also apologized to Cuomo’s other accusers for not coming forward and telling his own story earlier.

“I hope the other women understand and that I saw them and that I support them. And I thank them, because without them I don’t know if I would have come forward.”

“I was afraid that if I had come forward and revealed my name, that the governor and his ‘facilitators’, I like to call them, viciously attack me, defame my name as I had seen them and heard people do it before, “she said.

Commisso also explained that she wanted to protect her daughter, saying, “I didn’t want her to have to do anything that arose out of it.”

“And, but also, after a few months and having dealt with it all, I want her to know that she has a voice,” Commisso said. “I never want her to be afraid to speak up. I never want her to be afraid of anyone in power, male or female.”

In addition to the two groping allegations, Commisso also claimed that the governor would inappropriately hug her and kiss her on the lips without her consent.

“These weren’t hugs he would give his mom or brother,” Commisso said. “They were hugs with the intention of gaining personal sexual satisfaction. Then they started to be hugs with kisses on the cheek. Then there was a hug at one point, and then when he went kissing me on the cheek, he quickly turned his head and kissed me on the lips. “

Commisso said she does not consider any of these behaviors to be normal or acceptable.

“Maybe for him, he thought it was normal. But for me and the other women he did that to, well, it was not normal,” she said. “It was not welcome. And it was certainly not consensual.”

Cuomo has denied kissing Commisso.

Commisso also denied the governor’s claim that he had only hugged her several times because she initiated contact and he didn’t want to make her uncomfortable.

“This is not true. I would never get up on my own and initiate a hug with the governor,” she insisted. When asked if Cuomo was lying, Commisso replied, “Yes. 100%.”

Commisso also dismissed the governor’s suggestion that his accusers were misinterpreting his actions.

“There is a difference between being a loving and warm person. Sexual harassment is completely different,” she said. “The governor knows that what he did to me and what he did to these 10 other women, whether it was comment or actual physical contact, was sexual harassment. He broke the laws he did. has itself created. “

Commisso said she filed a criminal complaint because “it was the right thing to do. The governor must be held accountable.”

“What he did was a crime,” she said. “He broke the law.

Albany County Sheriff Craig Apple said on Saturday his office would initiate a criminal investigation based on Commisso’s complaint. He said the governor could face a misdemeanor charge or “maybe a couple.”

Commisso ended the interview by begging the governor to heed his own words.

“There was a speech he gave less than a month ago, and in his speech he said, ‘If you give New Yorkers the truth and you give New Yorkers the facts , the good, the bad, the ugly, they will do the right thing. ‘ I would say, Governor, this is the truth. These are the facts. And it’s your turn to do the right thing. And that right thing is to resign and speak the truth.

Cuomo has denied all allegations of sexual harassment and has so far resisted calls for his resignation from fellow Democrats, including President Biden. He has until the end of this week to present evidence in his defense in a State Assembly impeachment inquiry.

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