‘Not normal.’ Cuomo’s ex-assistant details groped allegations – Pasadena Star News

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By MARINA VILLENEUVE and KAREN MATTHEWS

ALBANY, NY (AP) – An aide who accused New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo of groping her said in her first TV interview that she was initially afraid to identify herself because she feared “facilitators Of the governor would destroy her if she spoke.

Brittany Commisso, executive assistant to Cuomo’s staff, detailed her interactions with the Democrat in a joint interview with CBS and The Times Union of Albany that aired Monday as a key legislative committee met to discuss possible hearings for dismissal.

Commisso has spoken out before, first in an anonymous interview with The Times Union last winter, and then as one of 11 women who said they were sexually harassed by Cuomo whose allegations were detailed in a state attorney general’s office report last week. She was also the first woman to file a criminal complaint against Cuomo, delivering a report to the county sheriff on Thursday.

But so far, audiences haven’t heard her tell her own story.

“I was afraid that if I had to come forward and reveal my name, that the governor and his facilitators, I like to call them, viciously attack me, dirty my name, as I had seen and heard them do before to people.” , said Commisso, now 32.

She said she wanted to protect her daughter as well, but now feels like speaking shows her “she has a voice”.

“I never want her to be afraid to speak,” Commisso said. “I never want her to be afraid of a person in power, a man or a woman.”

The interview aired as Cuomo faces another day under fire.

The Assembly Judiciary Committee met in executive session, behind closed doors, Monday to discuss how to conclude an ongoing investigation into Cuomo’s conduct with women, and other issues, including the using staff to help with its $ 5 million book contract and administration’s decision not to disclose to the public the full statistics on COVID-19 deaths in nursing homes.

After emerging, Committee Chairman Charles Lavine and Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie vowed to conclude their investigation and potentially vote on the articles of impeachment “in a few weeks,” but they also set a schedule that is likely to disappoint. the people who want Cuomo out. office now.

The judicial committee will continue to meet in private until at least August 23 to discuss the evidence. They plan to hold public hearings with expert testimony on sexual harassment and impeachment procedures. Any vote to start an impeachment trial would then trigger a 30-day period for Cuomo to respond.

In the meantime, the committee began to receive hundreds of thousands of pages of documents and other evidence gathered by investigators from the Attorney General.

Lavine said the committee wanted to make sure all articles of impeachment were “watertight.”

“I expect the governor and his lawyers will challenge everything,” he said.

Heastie, meanwhile, has sought to quell speculation that a delay could give Cuomo an opportunity to negotiate a more gracious exit from office, perhaps by offering not to run for re-election.

“I am not negotiating any agreement,” he said.

Many Democrats, including President Joe Biden, have urged Cuomo to step down. About two-thirds of members of the National Assembly said they supported an impeachment trial if he refused to resign, according to an Associated Press tally. Only a simple majority vote is needed to start an impeachment trial.

Cuomo will go into the fight without his former main assistant, Melissa DeRosa, who stepped down on Sunday night, saying the past two years have been “emotionally and mentally trying.”

The report released by state attorney general Letitia James said DeRosa played a leading role in trying to protect Cuomo from harassment allegations.

Among other things, he said she was involved in giving memos to reporters about Lindsey Boylan, the first woman to publicly accuse him of harassment. The files described Boylan’s exit from administration amid allegations she mistreated her own staff.

In his interview on CBS, Commisso said that the attention Cuomo was giving him was not a normal kindness, as the Governor characterized it.

“Maybe for him, he thought it was normal. But for me and the other women he did this to, it wasn’t normal. It was not well received and it was certainly not consensual, ”she said.

She said he first groped her on December 31, 2019, when the governor suggested the two take a selfie together.

“He was to my left. I was on the right. With my right hand, I took the selfie. I then felt while taking the selfie, his hand going down my back on my buttocks, and he started to rub it. Don’t drag it. Not, you know, brushing it quickly – rubbing my butt. “

Commisso, who started working in the governor’s office in 2017, said it made her so nervous that her hands started to shake, which even made it difficult for her to take the photo.

“I was embarrassed,” she says.

Commisso said Cuomo groped her a second time at the governor’s mansion in November 2020.

After closing the door, “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. declared. “I exactly remember looking down, seeing his hand, which is a big hand, saying to myself, ‘Oh, my God. It’s happening. ‘”

Cuomo has repeatedly denied that the episode took place.

In an interview with attorney general investigators, he said, “I should lose my mind to do such a thing” to a woman he barely knew, with several staff around.

The Associated Press generally does not identify alleged victims of sexual misconduct unless they choose to speak out publicly, as Commisso did.

Cuomo’s attorneys attacked the attorney general’s investigation as biased in favor of his accusers.

Advisors close to Cuomo don’t expect him to give up, though his circle of allies willing to speak out for him in public is shrinking. But even once-staunch Democratic allies say they don’t see him survive.

“Politically alone, it’s the Titanic. It’s just not going to float anymore,” said state Democratic Party Chairman Jay Jacobs.

Cuomo’s closest supporters may now be members of his family, including his brother and CNN presenter Chris Cuomo. Her brother-in-law, fashion designer Kenneth Cole, has taken to social media in recent days to defend Cuomo’s “exemplary service”.

“I pray for everyone involved,” Cuomo’s ex-wife Kerry Kennedy said in a statement to The Associated Press, declining to comment further.

At least five district attorneys have requested documents from the attorney general’s investigation to see if any of the allegations could lead to criminal charges. Albany County Sheriff Craig Apple said on Saturday Cuomo could face misdemeanor charges if investigators substantiate Commisso’s complaint.

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