Disgraced former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said he was ‘traumatized’ when President Joe Biden and other prominent Democrats did not stand by him during his sexual harassment scandal.
Cuomo, 64, hinted a fresh run at governor in the coming years in an interview with the New York Post, where he blasted his old friends and seemingly makes a pass at his successor Kathy Hochul, also 64.
When asked who stuck by him through the hellfire that saw him resignation after 11 years as governor, he answered: ‘Nobody.’
The worst betrayal, he said, was Biden, 79.
‘It was tough. Traumatizing. Biden, a friend 20 years, not knowing details, immediately said about me: ‘He’s got to go.’ Biden had troubles years before and I stood by him. Gave him the benefit of the doubt. It was heartbreaking to see him trash me without reading one page, making one phone call.’
He also called out House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, former President Obama, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, and Senator Kirsten Gillibrand.
‘Pelosi, please. I know her 30 years. Her daughter worked for me. Obama? He’s been tough. When troubles come you like to think you’re different. You’re not. Enemies and haters accumulate. Schumer, Gillibrand, pals working in the state, friends I respected, fell like dominos.
‘Lose your power and heartless politicians read the tea leaves. You’re dead. Over. [Politicians] grab another piece of meat. The phrase ‘political friends’ is an oxymoron.’
Disgraced former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, 64, (pictured with his daughter Michaela in May) said he was ‘traumatized’ when President Joe Biden and other prominent Democrats did not stand by him during his sexual harassment scandal
Cuomo (pictured on the day he resigned) left from his position in August 2021 after 11 years as governor
The hardest betrayal for Cuomo, he said, was when Biden didn’t back. ‘It was tough. Traumatizing. Biden, a friend 20 years, not knowing details, immediately said about me: ‘He’s got to go”
The Italian-American also took a swipe at Hochul, calling the ‘well-meaning’ and ‘hardworking’ woman the ‘best alternative.’
In April, he slammed the current governor for ‘incompetence’ and ‘backdoor deals,’ citing the announcement of the $850million Buffalo Bills’ stadium deal that could directly benefit Hochul’s husband’s concession business.
Much of the taxpayer-funded money for the Bill stadium will come from New York State and Erie County, which will contribute $850 million and $250 million, respectively, with the deal including a 30-year commitment from the team to stay in Buffalo.
The Governor’s husband, Bill Hochul, is the senior vice president of a major food concessionaire at the Buffalo Bills’ Highmark Stadium.
Despite, not being ‘warm and fuzzy,’ Cuomo doubled down that his reign over the Empire State was profitable because he ‘pushed to get things done.’
‘I helped redo JFK and LaGuardia, Biden’s ‘Third World airport.’ I pushed the Second Avenue subway, which had been stalled 50 years. I helped bring in the Marriage Equality Act,’ he told the New York Post.
He also accused other prominent Democrats, like former President Barack Obama (pictured together in 2012), of abandoning him
Others, like House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (pictured together in 2019) was also called out. Cuomo said; ‘Pelosi, please. I know her 30 years. Her daughter worked for me’
![Senators Chuck Schumer and Kristen Gillibrand (pictured with Cuomo in 2020) also used to be close to Cuomo and he said they 'fell like dominos.' He said: ''Lose your power and heartless politicians read the tea leaves. You’re dead. Over. [Politicians] grab another piece of meat. The phrase "political friends" is an oxymoron'](https://i0.wp.com/i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2022/09/21/17/62660121-11235535-image-a-36_1663777605596.jpg?resize=634,467&is-pending-load=1#038;ssl=1)
![Senators Chuck Schumer and Kristen Gillibrand (pictured with Cuomo in 2020) also used to be close to Cuomo and he said they 'fell like dominos.' He said: ''Lose your power and heartless politicians read the tea leaves. You’re dead. Over. [Politicians] grab another piece of meat. The phrase "political friends" is an oxymoron'](https://i0.wp.com/i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2022/09/21/17/62660121-11235535-image-a-36_1663777605596.jpg?resize=634,467&ssl=1)
Senators Chuck Schumer and Kristen Gillibrand (pictured with Cuomo in 2020) also used to be close to Cuomo and he said they ‘fell like dominos.’ He said: ”Lose your power and heartless politicians read the tea leaves. You’re dead. Over. [Politicians] grab another piece of meat. The phrase ‘political friends’ is an oxymoron’
‘I focused on getting a job done – not socializing or going to parties. Aren’t leaders, legislators, regulators supposed to bring optimism, confidence? People are scared in mean angry times. The ones we elect must stand for something.
‘No excuses or hearing that we just can’t get things done. We’re elected to fight for people. And I was not willing to fail or give up,’ he told the Post.
He went on to claim that he was ‘working seven days a week’ and ‘missed a lot of life’ as governor. In retrospect, he said he ‘should’ve been there more’ for his family.
Cuomo fathered three daughters – Michaela, Cara, and Mariah – with his ex-wife Kerry Kennedy, who he got a divorce from in 2005.
The democrat is currently single and ‘available,’ he told the Post.
He also hinted at running again in few years because there are ‘no term limits, so I can make another go in four years.’
‘I’m someone who delivers. And who knows, could be there’s nobody to beat me. Also who knows – maybe by then I’ll be sweeter,’ he told the Post.
The sex pest also brought up his late father and also former New York Governor Mario Cuomo – who served from 1983 and 1994 – saying that watching his father lose his governorship started his ‘duality.’
‘I saw him hurt. His vulnerabilities exposed. They broke his heart,’ Cuomo told the New York Post. ‘The press next crucified me, his campaign manager kid. So I learned then not to expose a weakness or show your inner self. You know why? It gets used against you. A reaction becomes: ‘Now we know where to hurt you.”
The hardheaded politician would go on to work for the Clinton administration before becoming entrenched in New York’s political sphere.
![Cuomo (left, with Mario and Chris) said his 'duality' and 'tough[ness]' came after watching his father (middle) lose his governorship in 1994 and getting sauntered in the public as his father's campaign manager. He said: 'I learned then not to expose a weakness or show your inner self...It gets used against you. A reaction becomes: "Now we know where to hurt you"'](https://i0.wp.com/i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2022/09/21/17/62660151-11235535-image-a-37_1663777624715.jpg?resize=634,571&is-pending-load=1#038;ssl=1)
![Cuomo (left, with Mario and Chris) said his 'duality' and 'tough[ness]' came after watching his father (middle) lose his governorship in 1994 and getting sauntered in the public as his father's campaign manager. He said: 'I learned then not to expose a weakness or show your inner self...It gets used against you. A reaction becomes: "Now we know where to hurt you"'](https://i0.wp.com/i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2022/09/21/17/62660151-11235535-image-a-37_1663777624715.jpg?resize=634,571&ssl=1)
Cuomo (left, with Mario and Chris) said his ‘duality’ and ‘tough[ness]’ came after watching his father (middle) lose his governorship in 1994 and getting sauntered in the public as his father’s campaign manager. He said: ‘I learned then not to expose a weakness or show your inner self…It gets used against you. A reaction becomes: ‘Now we know where to hurt you”
The lawyer was praised throughout the beginning of the coronavirus outbreak for his policies and he even wrote a book – American Crisis: Leadership Lessons from the COVID-19 Pandemic – about it.
He was later ordered by the state’s Attorney General’s Office to turn over his estimated $5.1million proceeds from the self-congratulatory memoir, following a probe by a state ethics panel.
The profits from Cuomo’s book came into question in October 2021, when the Empire State’s Joint Commission on Public Ethics (JCOPE) announced that it was conducting an internal inquiry that was reassessing its initial approval of Cuomo’s 2020 book.
The ethics agency commission voted 12-1 in December 2021 to order the ousted governor to fork over his memoir’s profits to the state Attorney General’s office, after multiple investigations found Cuomo used state resources to produce and promote the tell-all book.
Cuomo’s ultimate fall from grace came after at least 11 women came forward and accused him of sexual harassment – which he continues to adamantly deny.
The former governor (pictured in October with his dog Captain) has also hinted that he plans to rerun for the position in four years and said said he got the work done, such as ‘redoing JFK and LaGuardia’ and pushing for the ‘Second Avenue subway, which had been stalled 50 years’
Cuomo has largely kept himself out of the public eye since his resignation, occasionally posting pictures with his family, including a photo of him and his daughter Michaela celebrating his 64th birthday in December
He also celebrated his mother’s 90th birthday in August
He resigned in August 2021 after months of pushback and eventually all criminal charges were dropped against him.
The charges against Cuomo were based on allegations by Brittany Commisso, who said Cuomo reached up her blouse and grabbed her breast in late 2020 while they were alone in his Executive Mansion office, where she´d been summoned to help with his cellphone.
He insisted he did no such thing, saying ‘it would be an act of insanity.’
Her testimony was among the most damning in a report released in August 2021 by Democratic state Attorney General Letitia James that concluded Cuomo sexually harassed 11 women.
Since his resignation, Cuomo has mostly kept himself out of the public eye, occasionally showing off pictures of him fishing with his dog Captain and celebrating his 64th birthday with his daughter Michaela.
Cuomo’s younger brother Chris was also fired from CNN after an investigation revealed that Chris was helping Andrew fight off sexual misconduct allegations.
The women who accused Gov Andrew Cuomo of harassment
Lindsay Boylan, 36
Former aide Lindsay Boylan, 36, was the first woman to accuse Cuomo of sexual harassment in a Medium post on February 24. She claimed that the governor asked her to play strip poker and kissed her on the lips without her permission when she worked for him in 2017.
Lindsay Boylan, 36
Charlotte Bennett, 25
Charlotte Bennett, 25, came forward a few days after Boylan and claimed that Cuomo sexually harassed her last June while she was working as a health policy adviser in his administration at the height of the COVID-19 crisis.
Bennett accused Cuomo of ‘grooming’ her and asking inappropriate questions about her sex life.
She also claimed that he told her he was open to dating women in their 20s.
BENNETT said the governor asked her about her love life – including whether she ever had sex with older men – and talked about his own, saying that age differences didn’t matter in relationships and he was open to dating women over 22.
During a meeting alone in his office, the governor said he was lonely and talked about wanting to hug someone, Bennett said.
She said she swiftly complained to Cuomo’s chief of staff and was transferred to another job.
She said she spoke to a lawyer for the governor, but didn´t insist on further action because she liked her new post and wanted to move on.
Charlotte Bennett, 25
Anna Ruch, 33
Anna Ruch was the third woman to accuse Cuomo of sexual harassment and the only one thus far who did not work with him in a professional capacity. She claimed that Cuomo put his hands on her face and asked if he could kiss her just moments after they met at a September 2019 wedding in Manhattan.
Anna Ruch, 33
Ana Liss, 35
Ana Liss, 35, a former aide, said Cuomo asked her whether she had a boyfriend, once kissed her hand at her desk and called her by patronizing names, including ‘blondie,’ ‘sweetheart’ and ‘honey.’
At a reception, the governor hugged her then put his arm around her lower back and waist as they posed for photo, Liss said.
She said she eventually asked for a job transfer. In an interview, Liss said she was ‘not claiming sexual harassment per se,’ but felt the administration ‘wasn’t a safe space for young women to work.’
Liss, who previously served as Cuomo’s policy and operations aide between 2013 and 2015, told the Wall Street Journal that during her time in his administration, the governor had subjected her to unsolicited advances, including touching her lower back, kissing her hand and quizzing her about her love life.
Ana Liss, 35
Karen Hinton, 62
The oldest allegations against Cuomo came from Karen Hinton, who served as a press aide for him when he led the US Department of Housing and Urban Development two decades ago and she was a consultant for the agency. Hinton told the Washington Post about a 2000 incident when she said Cuomo summoned her to his ‘dimly lit’ hotel room and embraced her after a work event. She said she tried to pull away from Cuomo when he pulled her back and held her before she managed to escape the room.
Karen Hinton, 62
Unnamed sixth accuser
The most damning allegations leveled against Cuomo to date came from a sixth accuser, whose name has not been released.
The accuser, who is a member of Cuomo’s staff, alleged that he closed a door, reached under her blouse and fondled her after summoning her to the governor’s mansion in Albany for help with his cellphone, according to the Times Union of Albany.
It first reported on her accusation last month; she then gave more detail in her first interview on the matter.
The woman spoke on the condition of anonymity to protect her privacy, although her identity is known within the governor´s circle, the Times Union reported.
The woman, an executive assistant, told the Times Union the governor gave her kisses on the cheek and inappropriately tight hugs for years and made remarks including, ‘If you were single, the things that I would do to you’ and ‘I’m single and ready to mingle.’
Then, one day in November, she was summoned to his Executive Mansion office to help him with a cellphone problem, she said.
He got up from his desk, started groping her and told her ‘I don’t care’ after she tried to deflect him by saying he was going to get them into trouble, and then he slammed the door, she said.
Then he reached under her blouse and clutched one of her breasts over her bra, she told the newspaper.
The woman told a colleague this winter about the alleged encounter, and the co-worker told a supervisor in early March, according to the newspaper.
Cuomo called the report ‘gut-wrenching’ in a March statement and said: ‘I have never done anything like this.’
Another female aide, who has remained anonymous, claimed he called her to his Executive Mansion last year, reached under her blouse and fondled her
Jessica Bakeman
Jessica Bakeman claimed in a first-person article for New York Magazine that she was sexually harassed by Cuomo on several occasions since the start of her journalism career in 2012.
Bakeman added her voice as the seventh accuser as she detailed inappropriate touching by the governor as he continued to deny all of the claims.
‘He took my hand, as if to shake it, then refused to let go,’ Bakeman wrote of an interaction with Cuomo as she said goodnight at a holiday party in 2014 when she was only 25 years old.
‘He put his other arm around my back, his hand on my waist, and held me firmly in place while indicating to a photographer he wanted us to pose for a picture.’
At the time Bakeman had been working for what is now Politico New York and claimed that red flags went up as her ‘job was to analyze and scrutinize him’.
‘I didn’t want a photo of him with his hands on my body and a smile on my face,’ she wrote.
Jessica Bakeman, a reporter who once covered the Cuomo administration, was the seventh woman to come forward with claims of harassment
‘But I made the reflexive assessment that most women and marginalized people know instinctively, the calculation about risk and power and self-preservation. I knew it would be far easier to smile for the brief moment it takes to snap a picture than to challenge one of the most powerful men in the country.’
In an earlier 2012 incident while she was working for USA Today, Bakeman also claims that Cuomo kept her pinned to his side as he told a story to her male colleagues.
‘He left it there, and kept me pinned next to him, for several minutes as he finished telling his story,’ she said. ‘I stood there, my cheeks hot, giggling nervously as my male colleagues did the same. We all knew it was wrong, but we did nothing.’
The reporter, who now works in Florida, claimed that Cuomo ‘never let me forget I was a woman’ as she also alleged that he made frequent attempts to humiliate her, including calling out her purple phone instead of answering her question during a press gaggle.
Alyssa McGrath, 33
McGrath, a current administrative assistant in Cuomo’s office, told The New York Times that he looked down her shirt, quizzed her about her marital status, and told her she was beautiful, using an Italian phrase she had to ask her parents to interpret.
McGrath didn’t say the governor made sexual contact with her but thought his behavior was sexual harassment.
She recalled Cuomo kissing her on the forehead and gripping her firmly around the sides while posing for a photo at a 2019 office Christmas party.
Alyssa McGrath (pictured) is one of two aides who have come forward to accuse the governor of harassment
Sherry Vill, 55
Sherry Vill, 55, accused Cuomo of sexual misconduct during a press conference with her attorney Gloria Allred on Monday.
She alleges Cuomo grabbed her face and kissed her ‘aggressively and in a sexual manner’ on both cheeks in May 2017 while he was touring her home in Greece, near Rochester, as he inspected local flood damage.
Vill, who said she felt uncomfortable at the time, shared an image her daughter took on the day that showed Cuomo holding her face as he kissed her cheek and her attorney held up multiple photos showing the Governor inside her home.
The same photos appear on Cuomo’s Flickr account, as well as multiple others that show him kissing and greeting residents as he toured the town.
None of the women in the other photos have accused the governor of inappropriate behavior or wrongdoing.
Sherry Vill, 55, accused Cuomo of sexual misconduct on Monday. Vill, who said she felt uncomfortable at the time, shared an image her daughter took on the day that showed Cuomo holding her face as he kissed her cheek