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Cuomo has been accused by at least seven women of serial sexual harassment, inappropriate touching, and fostering a hostile workplace in recent weeks, leading to severe backlash for the three-term governor.
During a new WNYC interview, former aide Karen Hinton, one of Cuomo’s accusers, offered new details about what led her to step forward and speak out against the governor.
“He approached me and embraced me too tightly, too long, and was aroused,” she said. “I felt extremely uncomfortable and actually shocked by it.”
Cuomo had previously denied Hinton’s allegations, calling her a political rival with gears to grind.
“As everybody who has been involved on any level in New York politics knows, she has been a longtime political adversary of mine, highly critical for many, many years and has made many, many accusations,” he said during a conference call earlier this month.
Another accuser, former aide Charlotte Bennett, also met with investigators involving in the State Attorney General's investigation this week to discuss the allegations of sexual harassment she has alleged against Cuomo.
Bennett’s lawyer Debra Katz said that her client met with the investigators via Zoom for more than four hours, where she detailed her claims and was able to provide more than 120 pages of records and other documentary evidence to corroborate her accusations against Cuomo.
“The investigators have been moving quickly, and with sensitivity, to get to the heart of these allegations,” Katz said in a statement.
“We remain confident that their investigation will substantiate Charlotte’s claims of sexual harassment against Gov. Cuomo, as well as the failure of his senior staff to meet their mandatory reporting requirements under the very laws he signed.”
Katz said that Bennett also provided investigators with detailed information about an allegedly sexually hostile work environment that Cuomo “fostered both in his Manhattan and Albany offices.”
“(He made) deliberate efforts to create rivalries and tension among female staffers on whom he bestowed attention,” she said. “One piece of new information that came to light today was the governor’s preoccupation with his hand size and what the large size of his hands indicated to Charlotte and other members of the staff.”
A third accuser, Lindsey Boylan, also met with investigators this week, according to her lawyer, Jill Basinger.
“Ms. Boylan was interviewed last weekend by investigators assigned by the Attorney General's office,” she said in a statement. “It is clear from the interview that the investigators are moving expeditiously and taking their work seriously. We are pleased with the scope of the investigation and the thoughtfulness and thoroughness of their questioning."
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