NEW YORK | “I will not resign”: the powerful governor of the State of New York, accused of sexual harassment, on Wednesday ruled out throwing in the towel, at least until the investigation into these allegations is completed.
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“I was not elected by politicians, I was elected by the people of New York State, I will not resign,” Andrew Cuomo, one of America’s most influential governors, said during his first press conference since the scandal erupted last Wednesday.
The voice choked at times, the 63-year-old Democrat, who has led New York State since 2011, said “deeply apologize” for hurting some women.
“I had no idea at the time that I was making anyone uncomfortable. I never meant to offend anyone, hurt anyone, or hurt anyone. I feel horribly wrong that these people were injured, suffered from these interactions ”.
But faced with calls to resign which have grown in recent days, including in his Democratic camp, he also felt “never to have done anything in (his) career of which (he) is to be ashamed”.
He called on New Yorkers to “wait to form an opinion” the results of the investigation into these allegations which has just been launched by the attorney of the State of New York, at the uncontested independence.
“I’ve been in situations like this too often, where everyone has an opinion because they’ve read such and such a thing, and suddenly the facts point to a different situation,” added Mr. Cuomo, himself. former prosecutor.
No deadline has been announced for the end of the investigation. Some believe it could last for months.
“My usual way”
The governor has been implicated by three women since last Wednesday.
Former business advisor Lindsey Boylan, 36, first claimed he had unsolicited her kiss on the mouth and suggested she play strip poker with him, when she worked with him between 2015 and 2018.
On Saturday, another ex-collaborator, Charlotte Bennett, 25, said the governor had made advances to her that had made her “uncomfortable” in the spring of 2020.
And on Monday, 33-year-old Anna Ruch, who has never worked with him, claimed he had “shocked” her by wanting to kiss her against her will at a wedding in 2019.
A photo was released showing the governor framing Ms Ruch’s face with his hands.
“You will find hundreds of pictures of me kissing people – women, men, children. It’s my usual way of greeting people. And besides, that was my father’s way of greeting people, ”added the son of the late governor Mario Cuomo, who also spent three terms, before failing to be elected for a fourth in 1994.
The scandal raised by these accusations, which came when Mr. Cuomo was already suspected of having concealed the true death toll from the coronavirus in New York nursing homes, knocked the governor down from the pedestal where he had been placed at the start. of the pandemic.
With his daily, rational and reassuring press briefings, he had, while New York was hit hard by the pandemic in the spring of 2020, acquired the status of national star. To the point that some urged him to join the race for the White House.
Even if he manages to stay in power, many analysts now believe he will have a hard time running for a fourth term.
Proof that his star has faded, he should also soon be deprived of the special powers that the New York State Parliament had granted him at the start of the pandemic. Parliamentarians from both chambers announced an agreement to this effect on Tuesday.
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