NEW YORK (WCBS 880) – Senior aides to Gov. Andrew Cuomo are reportedly doing a “parallel review” into a female aide’s recent allegation that the governor groped her at the Executive Mansion in Albany late last year.
The reported inquiry comes as state Attorney General Letitia James oversees an investigation into the governor’s conduct, including the groping accusation.
In a report published late Wednesday, a senior aide told the Albany Times Union, “We have our own inquiries ongoing.”
“We have an obligation to investigate any claim of sexual harassment,” the senior aide said, adding that after reporting the aide’s allegations to the attorney general, the office was “directed to continue our own inquiry.”
While the attorney general’s office didn’t respond to questions about the internal inquiry, the Times Union reports that a source said no one in the attorney general’s office had “directed” the governor’s office to do an inquiry.
Earlier this month, an unnamed female aide to the governor accused him of groping her under her shirt after summoning her to the governor’s mansion late last year.
An attorney for the woman told the Times Union that the parallel inquiry was “absurd.”
“It's not appropriate, and obviously we're concerned with the ramifications and the effect on witnesses and the quest for the truth,” the attorney told the paper, calling the inquiry a “shadow investigation.”
The woman hasn't filed a criminal complaint, but a lawyer for the governor said last week that the state had reported the allegation to the Albany Police Department after the woman involved declined to do so herself.
Cuomo has denied inappropriately touching anyone, but he has said he is sorry if he made anyone uncomfortable and didn’t intend to do so.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Related
