3rd Accusation of Assault Closes In on Governor of New York

Five days after three women condemned his behavior, Andrew Cuomo has given the attorney general the green light to investigate accusations against him.

In under a week, three women have reported three significant cases of sexual assault and inappropriate behavior from New York’s Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo. The third allegation about an “uncomfortable interaction” with the governor at a wedding consisted of an “unwanted advance,” as reported on Monday, just five days after the first accusation. The governor’s office gave the green light to the New York Attorney General Letitia James to investigate the accusations against him. Some of the accusations have been described by Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi as “credible.”

“Can I kiss you?” Cuomo asked Anna Ruch, 33, during a wedding dinner in New York in 2019 to which both were invited, according to The New York Times. The governor put his hand on the small of the woman’s back, which startled her, before grabbing both her cheeks. This was allegedly when he asked if he could kiss her, loud enough for Ruch’s friends, who were close by, to hear; they did and got her out of there. On Monday, the woman relayed what happened to the American press. “I was so confused and shocked and embarrassed,” she explained. Her version has been corroborated by her friend, including graphic testimony of the moment Cuomo, 63, grabbed her face.

Ruch’s testimony marks the third allegation against Cuomo in less than a week, after two former advisers announced they had also been victims of abuse in their workplace. The accounts of harassment quickly snowballed following an initial scandal in which it was found that Cuomo’s office did not disclose the number of COVID-19-related deaths among senior citizens, an allegation which is now under investigation by the FBI and the Justice Department. The progressive faction of Cuomo’s own party was up in arms over the charges. In an effort to stem the scandal, Cuomo himself admitted on Sunday that some of the things he has said in the past might have been misinterpreted as flirting. “To the extent anyone felt that way, I am truly sorry about that,” he stated apologetically in a press release.

However, the governor remained silent on Monday, exactly one year from the date the first case of COVID-19 was reported in New York. His management of the pandemic launched him to stardom during the first wave last spring, to the point where some thought the attention might push him to consider entering the national political arena. However, the proliferation of scandal, from nursing home deaths to the three alleged cases of assault, and the resignation of many experts in Cuomo’s administration due to the criteria that were applied for vaccination, have all quickly tarnished any short-term career goals.

The three cases follow a similar pattern: young women, at least 30 years his junior and to whom he claimed to be a mentor, something he explained in rejecting the initial accusations. Ruch is the only one who wasn’t working for either Cuomo or his administration. Charlotte Bennett, the second accuser, called the apologies “pathetic and inadequate.” “These are not the actions of someone who simply feels misunderstood; they are the actions of an individual who wields his power to avoid justice.”

James communicated on Monday that she had received the official notice from the governor’s office giving her team “the authority to advance an independent investigation into the accusations of sexual assault presented against Gov. Cuomo.” “This isn’t a responsibility we take lightly, as all sexual assault reports need to be taken seriously,” she noted. The investigation’s findings will be made public.

Echoing James, Pelosi expressed that “the women who have come forward with serious and credible charges against Gov. Cuomo deserve to be heard and to be treated with dignity. The independent investigation must have due process and respect for everyone involved,” she said, hours before learning of the third case. In addition, New York’s Democratic Mayor Bill de Blasio, Cuomo’s declared adversary, said the reports “sickened” him.

If the accusations are proved, “Cuomo’s behavior will have been perverse and terrifying,” declared de Blasio, who highlighted the pattern of behavior that the harassment concealed. “It sickened me, the thought of a powerful man trying to take advantage of his power, intimidate a young woman​.”