Government Andrew Cuomo aides receive subpoenas in sexual harassment investigation

Ana Liss, a former assistant to Mr. Cuomo who has accused the Democratic governor of misconduct, said she was asked about Ms. DeRosa’s behavior in the workplace during an interview with investigators.

Investigators asked how Ms. DeRosa interacted with her, said Ms. Liss, who worked in the State Capitol in 2014. “They were trying to find out if I was being targeted by Melissa,” Ms. Liss said.

She told investigators that she did not have much to do with Ms. DeRosa, who was Mr Cuomo’s director of communications at the time.

Paul Fishman, a lawyer representing Mr. Cuomo’s administration, said: “No one should be surprised that the AG’s office is requesting documents and questioning witnesses, including many who work for the governor. That happens in every study, and it is very premature to speculate what it means. Good, thorough and fair research takes time. “

A lawyer for Ms. DeRosa referred The Wall Street Journal to Mr. Fishman for comment.

Three former female assistants and two current female assistants have accused Mr. Cuomo of sexual harassment or inappropriate behavior in the workplace. The governor has denied touching anyone inappropriately and apologized if his behavior made someone uncomfortable.

The investigation of sexual harassment is overseen by New York Attorney General Letitia James. Her office has not charged Ms. DeRosa with any wrongdoing. A spokeswoman for Ms. James’s office declined to comment, citing an ongoing investigation.

Ms. DeRosa has been involved in state politics for nearly 20 years. She was Deputy Chief of Staff to then Attorney General Eric Schneiderman before joining Mr Cuomo’s staff in 2013. She held the top staff position with the state government in 2017, overseeing the governor’s executive chamber and other government agencies.

During the pandemic, she helped implement the state response, including actions involving nursing homes. The state’s nursing home policy and the delay in releasing a full number of nursing home deaths from Covid-19 are now the subject of a separate federal investigation.

State officials have said that nursing home policies were designed to maintain hospital capacity and were in line with federal guidelines at the time. They have said data was released when their accuracy was verified.

In a statement, Ms. DeRosa said she cared deeply about public service and didn’t get much sleep during the pandemic because she worked long hours.

“The last thing I would do in my day is to call relatives of deceased health workers and tell them I’m sorry for their pain, then close the door, lie on the floor and cry,” she said in response to questions for this article. “I am not the one-dimensional person portrayed in the press.”

Ms. DeRosa has regularly berated officials, lawmakers and journalists in defamatory phone calls and texts when they crossed the governor, according to people who received the messages.

Rich Azzopardi, a senior adviser to Mr. Cuomo, said, “Melissa is the exact same person behind the scenes when she is in front of the camera – tough, hardworking, brilliant, meticulously prepared and always fighting to improve the lives of New Yorkers.”

In December, Lindsey Boylan, a former administrative officer, became the first woman to accuse Mr. Cuomo of sexual harassment. At the time, Ms. DeRosa and other aides and allies of the Governor contacted former servants to talk to them about Ms. Boylan, according to people familiar with the case.

Ms Liss said she received a call from Mr Azzopardi in December asking if she had heard from Ms Boylan. Ms. Liss said she viewed the call as harassment and discussed the episode with Ms. James’s investigators.

Mr. Azzopardi said administration officials made a number of phone calls after Ms. Boylan made her allegations, but they were not intended to intimidate. Mr Cuomo has said that Ms Boylan’s allegations are untrue.

Ms. DeRosa was part of a close circle of aides who drafted a letter referring to Ms. Boylan’s personnel files and called people to ask questions about her, the people said, including some who spoke to Ms. DeRosa at the time.

The letter was never released publicly, but officials have provided the data to various media outlets, according to people familiar with the matter.

Responding to questions about the letter and the release of the personnel records, Beth Garvey, acting counsel for the governor said: “ With a few limited exceptions, it is generally within the discretion of any government agency to share redacted employment records, too. in instances where members of the media request such public information and when it is intended to correct inaccurate or misleading statements. “

Ms. Boylan has said that she has never seen these records, questioned their authenticity and called their release an attempt to infect her.

Ms. DeRosa was the top official in a Feb. 10 meeting with state lawmakers, in which she said their requests for data on nursing home deaths were sidelined because of a Justice Department investigation into the matter. Ms. DeRosa said the state feared that the release of the information would be politicized by President Donald Trump’s administration, a transcript said.

Following that meeting, federal prosecutors in Brooklyn asked the state for information on nursing home deaths as part of an investigation that also explores how the state granted immunity from lawsuits and criminal prosecution to hospitals and nursing homes on the front lines of the coronavirus. outbreak. The federal probe is also investigating how Ms. DeRosa and other governor’s advisers modified a July health department report on nursing home deaths, according to people familiar with the case.

Mr. Cuomo has said he is cooperating in both the federal and state investigations.

Elkan Abramowitz, an outside attorney hired by the state to represent the governor’s office in the federal investigation, said in a statement that the government has responded truthfully and accurately to requests from the Justice Department about nursing homes.

Write to Jimmy Vielkind at [email protected], Khadeeja Safdar at [email protected] and Deanna Paul at [email protected]