NEW YORK – New York Attorney General Letitia James released transcripts and exhibits Wednesday from her office’s investigation into sexual harassment allegations against former Gov. Andrew Cuomo.
The transcripts and exhibits include hundreds of pages of interviews and other evidence from the civil probe, which ultimately led to Cuomo’s resignation in August and a criminal charge against him in October.
Cuomo spokesperson Rich Azzopardi responded to the release Wednesday afternoon, and had plenty to say about it.
“Finally — after three months for stalling — Tish James has been forced to release transcripts as more and more people are questioning her shoddy and politically motivated report," said Azzopardi. "However, these transcripts include questionable redactions, and raise even more questions about key omissions made during this slanted process, which reeks of prosecutorial misconduct."
Azzopardi said the move was made to "change the subject" and then offered a list of 10 questions for the state attorney general.
He targets why in Lindsey Boylan’s testimony she wasn’t asked about Liz Fine, current counsel to the governor, who he says requested Boylan's termination for abusing staff, or why they didn’t question Boylan about texts to the executive chamber “specifically saying she would retaliate against the governor.”
He also targets James, asking what politicians she spoke to for the investigation and whether it was truly an “independent” investigation.
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The full statement can be found below.
Read the transcripts and exhibits here:
Subject of Investigation
• Former Governor Andrew Cuomo:
Complainants
• Charlotte Bennett
• Lindsay Boylan
• Brittany Commisso
• Kaitlin
• Virginia Limmiatis
• Ana Liss
• Alyssa McGrath
• State Entity Employee #1
• State Entity Employee #2
• Trooper # 1
James’ office initially refrained from publicly releasing the transcripts and other evidence, as multiple district attorneys have been investigating the allegations to decide whether to pursue criminal charges against Cuomo.
James’ office decided to release the transcripts and exhibits on a rolling basis starting Wednesday, now that a criminal complaint has been filed against Cuomo in Albany County and the Albany County DA’s Office is releasing the materials.
The newly released documents include aide Brittany Commisso’s deposition. Her allegation against Cuomo is believed to have led to the misdemeanor charge of forcible touching against the ex-governor.
Last week, Albany County DA David Soares asked a judge for more time to evaluate the evidence in the case, saying the criminal complaint filed last month by the local sheriff was “potentially defective.” The court granted a delay, pushing Cuomo’s arraignment off until Jan. 7, 2022.
Azzopardi had 10 total questions following the document release, which included in full:
"1. In the Governor’s testimony he said directly to Joon Kim that Ibrahim Khan — the AG’s chief of staff— had been coordinating with Trip Yang and Lindsey Boylan‘s campaign and that it suggested collusion between James and Boylan. Other than to hide this obvious conflict of interest, why was this information redacted?"
"2. In the Boylan testimony, why didn’t they ask her about the fact that Liz Fine, current counsel to the governor, requested Boylan‘s termination for abusing staff?"
"3. Why didn’t they question Boylan about her texts to executive chamber staff specifically saying she would retaliate against the governor because “life is long and so is my memory and so are my resources” and “the future is coming after (expletive.)”
"4. Brittany Commisso testified that the governor became more reserved after Boylan started tweeting attacks against him. Did James tell Sheriff Apple that the new date of her allegation, December 7, was after Boylan started tweeting and therefore inconsistent with Commisso’s testimony?"
"5. James said that she spoke to politicians in Albany for her investigation. Who are those politicians that James spoke to to inform her investigation and where are their transcripts?"
"6. James’ press release now says it was an “independent investigation." However, just four weeks ago James said that she personally conducted the investigation. Was she lying then or is she lying now?"
"7. Why didn’t investigators ask Charlotte Bennett about her activity at Hamilton College and her filing a false allegation?"
"8. Why did they omit the circumstances that caused the governor to talk to Bennett and provided the motivation for their conversation?"
"9. Why is James suddenly releasing the transcripts now after she said she had sent them to several district attorneys who are doing investigations?"
"10. Are the other district attorneys besides Albany not doing investigations?"
Cuomo attorney Rita Glavin chimed in, saying, "The Attorney General’s slow-rolling and selective disclosure to the world now of the 41 transcribed interviews (out of the 179 people interviewed and 74,000 documents collected) is obvious: The AG wants to prejudice people against the Governor while the criminal charge unilaterally initiated by Sheriff Apple is pending, and distract from the AG’s misleading and unreliable report."
"The Attorney General deliberately harms a pending case by broadcasting to each witness what other witnesses have testified to, and spreading false and salacious hearsay and rumors. No legitimate law enforcement officer acts like this in a pending case. Disturbingly, this has never been about fairness or due process," Glavin continued.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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