NEW YORK (1010 WINS) — Gov. Andrew Cuomo made a “potentially illegal” phone call to the White House over a probe into his shutdown of an anti-corruption commission, according to a report.
Cuomo, who announced his resignation Tuesday under intense criticism, placed the call in 2014 to Valerie Jarrett, a senior adviser to then-President Barack Obama, to complain about then-Manhattan US Attorney Preet Bharara, the New Yorker reported Tuesday.
Bharara at the time had begun probing Cuomo’s premature folding of the Moreland Commission, which the governor had impaneled to investigate government corruption.
Cuomo was “ranting and raving” on the phone, an official told the New Yorker: “This guy’s out of control … He’s your guy,” Cuomo reportedly complained of Bharara.
Jarrett ended the call before the disgraced governor made any specific requests — thugh experts told the New Yorker that the call could be an “impeachable” offense, considered an effort to interfere with an investigation.
“It’s highly inappropriate and potentially illegal,” Jennifer Rodgers, a former prosecutor in Bharara’s office, told the magazine.
Cuomo is stepping down after facing mounting pressure stemming from Attorney General Letitia James’ release of a damning investigation into the governor’s alleged sexual harassment.
His resignation, effective in 14 days, comes as the state Legislature was wrapping up its impeachment probe into the governor. Lawmakers are now weighing whether or not to continue with the investigation, which could impact Cuomo’s political future. Should the governor be impeached and convicted, he could be barred from seeking statewide office again.
“If he, in fact, called a U.S. Attorney’s bosses and implied, ‘Stop this guy from looking into me,’ that could easily amount to an impeachable offense,” Jessica Levinson, the director of Loyola Law School’s Public Service Institute, told the magazine.