Andrew Cuomo, New York governor, who had been under mounting pressure to resign in recent days, over sexual harassment charges, finally call it quit after overwhelming evidences mounted against him by the New York Attorney General.
Cuomo, who repeatedly denied the allegations filed against him, of sexually harassing about 11 women, calling the allegation reports ‘false’, later apologized for offending the women and said, he takes “full responsibility” for his actions.
Moreover, despite calls from U.S. government officials which include President Joe Biden, two Democratic senators from New York and multiple state lawmakers asking governor Cuomo to resign, his decision to do so came after the resignation of Melissa DeRosa, a top aide in his cabinet, and the filing of a criminal complaint against him by a former executive assistant, Brittany Commisso.
In Commisso’s complaint, she said Cuomo touched her inappropriately twice, groping her behind and touching her breast; an incident she said happened last year while working at Andrew Cuomo’s executive mansion.
Cuomo however said, he decided to step aside because an impeachment fight would “consume government,” cost taxpayers millions of dollars and “brutalize people.” He is expected to hand over the state’s leadership to his lieutenant governor, Kathy Hochul, who is also a fellow Democrat.
He affirmed that, Hochul is ‘smart and competent’ for the governorship seat and that, ‘She can come up to speed quickly’ with governmental affairs. He promised a smooth transition of power to Hochul, a woman who has made history by becoming the first ever female governor of New York.
Cuomo, 63, after a long history in politics even than that of his father Mario Cuomo as agreed by political analysts, tarnished his image on the grounds of sexual harassment allegations.
And as if that what not enough, Andrew Cuomo, was also accused to have covered up the number of people who died of Covid 19 complications in a nursing home in the state because, he was said to have given wrong statistical reports about the number of people that had died so far.