Andrew Cuomo resigns, accuses politics and Twitter.

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A week after the release of a damning report from the state attorney general detailing allegations of sexual harassment by 11 different women, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Tuesday announced he would step down in 14 days. Following Cuomo’s departure, current Lieutenant Governor Kathy Hochul will become the state’s first female governor.

Pressure had grown on Cuomo throughout the week after nearly all of the main Democrats, including President Joe Biden, called on him to step down, and the Judiciary Committee of the State Assembly of New York has prepared to move forward with impeachment. It had been reported on Monday that Cuomo was seeking to get out of impeachment by promising to drop a fourth gubernatorial candidacy, but Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie made it clear that I was not negotiating any deal.

Cuomo still faces the possibility of misdemeanor charges in Albany for allegedly groping executive assistant Brittany Commisso during a working visit to the governor’s mansion. Commisso was only listed as an executive assistant in the James report, but revealed her identity last week when she began cooperating with an investigation by the Albany County Sheriff’s Office.

On Monday, she told her story to CBS This Morning, detailing the alleged pattern of harassment and groping:

I got so nervous my hands were clearly shaking: Brittany Commisso told @CBSThisMorning and @timesunion that NY Governor Cuomo first groped her twice on New Years Eve in 2019 at the Governor’s Mansion.

He denies the allegations. https://t.co/IAtgh7aNLp pic.twitter.com/41Ktlhmq8B

– CBS This Morning (@CBSThisMorning) August 9, 2021

At his press conference Tuesday to announce his resignation, Cuomo defended his actions as innocent mistakes and appeared to blame the culture cancellation, claiming he was a victim of a political environment [that] it’s too hot and it’s too reactionary.

This situation and this moment is not about facts, is not about truth, is not about thoughtful analysis. It is not about improving the system. It’s about politics and our political system today is too often driven by extremes, Cuomo said. Recklessness has replaced reasonableness, volume has replaced solidity, Twitter has become the public place for political debate.

One of the biggest revelations from the attorney general’s report was that a state soldier assigned to the governor’s retail alleged the governor made inappropriate sexual comments and touched her too intimately.

I don’t remember doing it, Cuomo said during her resignation announcement, but if she said I did, I believe her. He then described the allegation in the context of how he says he deals with everyone, including male soldiers.

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When I walk past them, I often give them a grip on the arm, a pat on the face, a touch on the stomach, a pat on the back, he said. This is my way of saying, I see you, I appreciate you and I thank you. Cuomos I’m doing this to everyone, the defense was similar to what his private attorney, Rita Glavin, said ahead of the Governors’ press conference.

While conceding that he may have touched a woman at a public event on the buttocks and stomach, Glavin said the governor did not want to fiddle with her.

While the Governor may have touched his hindquarters as he wrapped his arms around the Supervisor and this woman at a public event, he certainly had no intention of doing so in a sexual manner. . He takes thousands of photos, Glavin said.

Glavin continued: She claims that while crossing the rope he touched the logo on her shirt, which was the logo of his energy company, as he greeted her. The governor had no intention of fiddling with her.

The New York Times reported that some of Cuomos’ accusers were already celebrating the news of his departure.

My clients feel both justified and relieved that Cuomo is no longer in a position of power over anyone, said Mariann Wang, attorney for accusers Alyssa McGrath and Virginia Limmiatis.

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