NEW YORK (WCBS 880/AP) – The New York State Assembly’s Judiciary Committee on Thursday sent a letter to Gov. Andrew Cuomo's lawyers, saying its impeachment investigation is “nearing completion” and giving the governor a week to submit evidence before it finishes the probe and considers potential articles of impeachment.
“We write to inform you that the Committee’s investigation is nearing completion and the Assembly will soon consider potential articles of impeachment against your client,” lawyers for the committee wrote to lawyers for the governor.
The committee said Cuomo has until 5 p.m. on Aug. 13 to “provide any additional evidence or written submissions that you would like the Committee to consider before its work concludes.”
In a statement released Thursday evening, Cuomo's senior adviser, Rich Azzopardi, said his office would cooperate with the Assembly's investigation.
"The Assembly has said it is doing a full and thorough review of the complaints and has offered the Governor and his team an opportunity to present facts and their perspective," Azzopardi said. "The Governor appreciates the opportunity. We will be cooperating."
Sources told the New York Post on Wednesday that the Assembly could draft articles of impeachment against Cuomo by the end of August. And the Associated Press reported that a majority of Assembly members support beginning impeachment proceedings against Cuomo if he doesn't resign over investigative findings that he sexually harassed at least 11 women.
The Associated Press reported Wednesday that a majority of Assembly members support beginning impeachment proceedings against Cuomo if he doesn't resign over investigative findings that he sexually harassed at least 11 women.
At least 86 of the body’s 150 members have said publicly or told The AP that they favored initiating the process of ousting the third-term Democratic governor if he doesn’t quit. It takes a simple majority to authorize an impeachment trial.
Assembly Democrats, who lead the chamber, debated virtually for hours Tuesday about whether to impeach the governor now, wait to see whether he resigns, or give the Judiciary Committee time to wrap up its wide-ranging investigation into topics from sexual misconduct to the Cuomo administration’s months-long obfuscation of the total number of nursing home residents who died from COVID-19.
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At least 40 Democrats back starting impeachment proceedings if Cuomo doesn't leave on his own.
The 150-member Assembly would need 76 votes to impeach Cuomo and send articles of impeachment to the Senate. The Assembly includes 106 Democrats, 43 Republicans and one Independent.
Assembly Republican Leader Will Barclay urged Speaker Carl Heastie, a Democrat, to convene an emergency special session to vote to impeach Cuomo.
Heastie said he wants to conclude the Assembly’s investigation as quickly as possible. Judiciary committee members Tom Abinanti and Phil Steck variously estimated the timeframe at weeks or a month.
Abinanti and Steck, both Democrats, said that some lawmakers want to vote for impeachment within days, but time is needed to build a strong case for a Senate trial.
If the Assembly votes to impeach, the state Senate could launch an impeachment trial in weeks, Deputy Majority Leader Mike Gianaris told The AP. He said the chamber has been preparing for months.
“We’ll be ready to go if and when the impeachment articles are sent over,” he said. “It could happen very quickly."
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The governor denied Tuesday that he ever inappropriately touched anyone and said that he never intended harm. But while political pressure is growing, so is the potential for criminal charges against Cuomo.
District attorneys in Manhattan, Westchester, Nassau and Oswego counties, as well as the state capital of Albany, said they asked for investigative materials from the inquiry, overseen by Democratic state Attorney General Letitia James. The inquiry found that Cuomo — a former state AG himself — violated civil laws against sexual harassment, and it left the door open for local prosecutors to bring cases.
One of the governor's closest allies, New York Democratic Party chairperson Jay Jacobs, declared Wednesday that Cuomo “has lost his ability to govern, both practically and morally.” Jacobs told Spectrum News he had tried privately to persuade Cuomo to resign but "wasn’t making headway.”
Many other leaders have called for Cuomo's resignation, from Mayor Bill de Blasio to the entire New York congressional delegation and President Joe Biden.
Cuomo showed no signs of heeding such messages. He said some episodes described in the report never happened, others were misconstrued or mischaracterized and the whole exercise was tainted.
Sources told the New York Post that Cuomo was in the Governor's Mansion in Albany on Wednesday huddled with close allies on a strategy.
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