One of the women accusing Gov. Andrew Cuomo of workplace sexual harassment alleged that the governor groped her in the Executive Mansion last year, according to new details of her account published Wednesday by the The Times Union of Albany.
The aide, who has not been publicly identified told a source who detailed her account to the paper, that she was called to the governor’s private residence last year to assist with a technical issue when the governor closed the door, reached under her blouse and began touching her inappropriately, according to the Times Union.
The new details of the account come after the newspaper published an earlier report about the allegations on Tuesday. She is the sixth person so far alleging sexual harassment or inappropriate conduct by the governor as he separately wades through reports that his office masked the true COVID-19 death toll of nursing home residents last year.
Cuomo on Wednesday denied the woman’s account, while calling the details “gut-wrenching.”
“As I said yesterday, I have never done anything like this,” Cuomo said in a statement Wednesday. “The details of this report are gut-wrenching. I am not going to speak to the specifics of this or any other allegation given the ongoing review, but I am confident in the result of the attorney general’s report.”
On Wednesday, the newspaper said that a supervisor had noticed the aide became emotional while watching Cuomo address sexual harassment allegations publicly last week.
The aide then told the supervisor about inappropriate encounters with Cuomo that included flirting with her and touching her on other occasions, the Times Union said.
The aide never filed a formal complaint about what she said happened at the Executive Mansion. Other employees in the office alerted the governor’s counsel about the allegation earlier this week, the Times Union said.
The new allegation follows accusations made by two former aides, Lindsey Boylan and Charlotte Bennett, who said last month that Cuomo had sexually harassed them.
A growing number of Democrats have joined calls for the governor to be impeached or to step down. On Sunday, state Senate Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins called on Cuomo to resign.
Others have opted to withhold much judgment until the conclusion of the New York attorney general’s independent investigation into the matter.
Cuomo, rebuffing calls to step down, has apologized for workplace remarks while maintaining that he never touched anyone inappropriately.
