Both of New York’s U.S. Senators, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, late Friday afternoon joined those calling on New York’s Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo to resign. The two Democrats urged Cuomo to leave office a couple of hours after Cuomo concluded a conference call with reporters in which the Business Journal participated. During the call, Cuomo blasted elected officials calling for him to resign as being irresponsible.
A growing number of politicians on both sides of the aisle have been demanding his resignation as a result of allegations of inappropriate behavior and sexual harassment made by several women.
Today Cuomo said they were off base because they were expressing opinions and taking positions without knowing the facts. He was adamant that he will not resign and was equally adamant in denying that anything improper occurred.
“To take it seriously means you need to know the facts before you come to a conclusion,” Cuomo said. “How do you come to a conclusion before you know the facts? I was attorney general. A lot of people allege a lot of things for a lot of reasons. You never heard me as attorney general go out and talk about an allegation until we were confident there was a basis and we had reviewed the facts.
“Any politician can take any position on any given day,” he continued. “That’s their right. Do I think it is responsible to take a position on a serious allegation before you know any facts? No. I do not think it’s responsible.”
Cuomo said he welcomed the investigations being conducted by Attorney General Letitia James and the State Assembly’s Judiciary Committee.
“No one wants them to happen more quickly and more thoroughly than I do,” Cuomo said of the investigations. “Let them do it. I’m not going to argue this issue in the press. That is not how it is done. That is not how it should be done. Serious allegations should be weighed seriously, right? That’s why they are called serious.”
Cuomo restated his apologies to anyone who felt uncomfortable as a result of anything he said or did, while also emphasizing that he believes he never did anything improper.
“I never harassed anyone. I never assaulted anyone. I never abused anyone,” Cuomo said when asked directly if he had some kind of a consensual romantic relationship with any of the women, without answering directly whether he believed there had been such relationships.
Cuomo said that while the scandal may continue to rage, he nevertheless has the responsibility to do his job as governor and will continue to do so, even as some of those calling on him to resign claim he will be unable to govern.
“We’re going to negotiate a budget. In the meantime I have to do millions of vaccines and this is not the first time we have had to walk and chew gum here,” Cuomo said.
Everyone except Cuomo thinks he should resign, like yesterday!