On Saturday, two more women came forward to accuse Governor Cuomo of sexually harassing behavior, including a former press officer who describes how he struggled to free himself from his repeated hugs, and a young assistant who now says he made her feel like he was. was ‘just a skirt’.
Former press officer Karen Hinton received a “very long, too long, too tight, too intimate” hug of Cuomo in a dimly lit Los Angeles hotel room in December 2000, she told the Washington Post.
Married Hinton withdrew, but “he pulls me back for another close hug,” she told the paper. “I thought at that point it could lead to a kiss, it could lead to other things, so I just pull back and leave.”
Cuomo headed the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development at the time.
A current Cuomo representative strongly denied Hinton’s allegation to the paper, claiming that “this has not happened.”
Hinton’s claims become all the more surprising given that her husband is lobbyist Howard Glaser, a longtime Cuomo ally and confidante who worked as his director of state operations and senior policy adviser until 2014.
The other new prosecutor, Ana Liss, a policy and operations adviser who worked for the governor from 2013 to 2015, said he had behaved inappropriately while working in Albany.
The governor called her “sweetheart” and asked if she had a boyfriend, Liss recalled in the Wall Street Journal.
Liss said Cuomo touched her on the lower back at an event, kissed her hand once, and asked her if she was dating.
“It’s actually not appropriate in any setting,” she told the newspaper. The Post was unable to reach Liss immediately.
Liss is the third former state employee and fourth woman overall to accuse the governor of varying degrees of sexual harassment. Hinton brings the total number of prosecutors to five.
The booming scandal has led to repeated calls for investigation, Cuomo’s resignation, and induced the state legislature to finally revoke the governor’s emergency, pandemic-related powers.
Last month, former assistant Lindsey Boylan explained how Cuomo allegedly kissed her on the lips without warning in the governor’s office in Manhattan.
Last week, Charlotte Bennett, 25, the second woman to come forward, revealed that Cuomo had asked her inappropriate personal questions, told her he was open to relationships with women in their 20s, and made her feel like he was “ going with me ”. bed wanted. “
Former Biden campaign clerk Anna Ruch, 33, also came forward and accused the governor of getting her an unwanted kiss on the check at a Big Apple wedding, saying the 2019 meeting had left her “confused, shocked and ashamed” .
Liss described a May 2014 meeting with the governor at the Albany executive mansion, where Cuomo approached Liss with the greeting, “Hey, sweetie!” she said.
Cuomo then hugged her, planted his lips on both cheeks, put his arm around her lower back and grabbed her waist, she said, as they turned to a photographer to take the picture.
Now 35, Liss said she now sees the interactions as having reduced her to “just a skirt.”
Boylan was quick to voice her support for Hinton and Liss in separate tweets.
Thank you Karen Hinton for bravely sharing your story of how our boss, one of the most powerful men in the country, used his power to abuse you. I send you love. I am with you. We’re on your side, ” she wrote
She called Liss “Brave”, adding, “It is extremely destructive that our boss, the governor of New York, has treated us this way.”
Meanwhile, a Cuomo spokesman claims the meeting with Hinton “did not take place”.
“Karen Hinton is a well-known opponent of the governor who is trying to take advantage of the moment to score cheap points with trumped-up charges from 21 years ago,” said Peter Ajemian.
“All women have the right to come forward and tell their story,” he said. But he condemned Hinton’s account as “reckless.”
Liss’s allegations reflect nothing more than ordinary behavior at public receptions, another Cuomo spokesman pointed out in a statement.
“Reporters and photographers have covered the governor for 14 years as he watched him kiss men and women and pose for photos,” said Rich Azzopardi.
“At the public reception of the open house there are hundreds of people and he poses for hundreds of photos. That’s what people do in politics. ”
Additional reporting by Bernadette Hogan and Carl Campanile