A defiant Cuomo stands increasingly alone

Embattled New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo is standing increasingly alone as he clings to power, turning himself into the victim Friday in the face of overwhelming Democratic calls for him to step aside instead of engaging in the kind of self-reflection this moment demands.

He’s defying calls from his state’s congressional delegation — including both US senators Friday evening — to step down while suggesting earlier in the day that “cancel culture” is to blame for his political troubles as he faces a growing number of allegations of sexual harassment.

“Politicians who don’t know a single fact but yet form a conclusion and an opinion are, in my opinion, reckless and dangerous,” Cuomo told reporters during a news conference Friday.

Cuomo’s decision to criticize Democratic lawmakers who are abandoning him — while adopting the political rhetoric of former President Donald Trump and some Republicans of “cancel culture” — amounted to a risky maneuver for the increasingly isolated Democratic governor.

His strategy for weeks now has amounted to dancing on the head of a pin. After several women described unsettling encounters with him — including flirtatious comments during meetings about official business; an unwanted kiss on the lips in the office; and a conversation where he allegedly asked a young aide inappropriate questions about her sexual partners and willingness to date older men — he has claimed he was misunderstood and innocent of misconduct, while simultaneously stating that the women’s accusations deserve to be heard. He said that some of his comments at work “may have been insensitive or too personal” and said he was “truly sorry” to those who “misinterpreted” his remarks as “an unwanted flirtation.”

But that explanation has worn thin with lawmakers. He now faces a wall of opposition against him in his own party, and his aggressive effort to blame others for his perilous position may only make that worse.

Cuomo’s position has grown more untenable by the day as new allegations continue to emerge, including a new account Friday from a former statehouse reporter who wrote in a piece for New York Magazine that the governor often touched her “on my arms, my shoulders, the small of my back, my waist” when she was a 25-year-old reporter covering him.

He is facing two concurrent investigations into allegations by women who worked in his administration — an independent probe by state Attorney General Letitia James and an impeachment investigation that was initiated by Democrats in the state Assembly this week. At the same time, the FBI and the US attorney’s office in Brooklyn are looking at the way in which the Cuomo administration reported Covid-19 deaths in long-term care facilities. A report by James in January showed those deaths may have been undercounted by as much as 50%. Cuomo has acknowledged there was a delay in reporting the data, but denied any wrongdoing by his administration.

Under those converging pressures, dozens of Democratic state lawmakers have called for him to resign in recent weeks, including the top Democrat in the state Senate, Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins. On Friday morning, more than a dozen House Democrats from New York’s congressional delegation said Cuomo should step down. Later in the day, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand contributed to the avalanche of bad news for the governor when they released a joint statement commending the “brave actions of the individuals who have come forward with serious allegations of abuse and misconduct.”

“Due to the multiple, credible sexual harassment and misconduct allegations, it is clear that Governor Cuomo has lost the confidence of his governing partners and the people of New York. Governor Cuomo should resign,” Schumer and Gillibrand said, noting that “confronting and overcoming the Covid crisis requires sure and steady leadership.”

The Biden White House has so far declined to call for the three-term Democratic heavyweight to step down. When asked whether President Joe Biden agreed with the calls from Democratic lawmakers for Cuomo to resign, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said earlier Friday — before the senators spoke out — that Biden believes that every woman who has come forward deserves to have her voice heard and that he supports the state attorney general’s independent investigation. An aide told CNN the White House had no new comment on the matter early Friday evening.

Earlier in the day, the New York governor had defended his leadership on the call with reporters, insisting that there was no one better positioned to lead New York through budget negotiations and the administration of Covid-19 vaccines.

He asked New Yorkers for their forbearance, stating that people should know the difference between the truth and bowing to “cancel culture.” To that end, he said the state must let the investigations play out. “What is being alleged simply did not happen and that’s why you have to wait to get the facts. I’m not going to do it in the press. It’s not the way it should be done — doesn’t respect anybody’s rights,” he said after reporters asked about some of the allegations.

“I never harassed anyone. I never assaulted anyone. I never abused anyone,” Cuomo said. “To the extent you get these people who say: ‘Well he took a picture with me and I was uncomfortable,’ I apologized for that.”

Several women have, in fact, described instances where Cuomo made them feel uncomfortable when he touched them while standing next to them for a photograph. In her new account in New York Magazine published Friday, Jessica Bakeman, now a reporter at WLRN in Miami, said she got caught in one of those incidents during a 2014 holiday party where Cuomo indicated that he wanted them to pose for a picture at a time when she was covering him. She said Cuomo took her hand, put his arm around her, with his hand on her waist and held her “firmly in place.”

Bakeman said she wanted to get away as the encounter stretched on and then felt humiliated when she said Cuomo turned to her in front of her colleagues and said, “I’m sorry. Am I making you uncomfortable? I thought we were going steady.”

“He wanted me to know that I was powerless, that I was small and weak, that I did not deserve what relative power I had: a platform to hold him accountable for his words and actions,” Bakeman wrote in her account. “He wanted me to know that he could take my dignity away at any moment with an inappropriate comment or a hand on my waist.”

CNN has reached out to the Cuomo administration for direct comment on her allegations.

“Women have a right to come forward and be heard,” Cuomo said to reporters Friday. “I did not do what has been alleged, period,” he said, generally denying new allegations against him.

The governor appears to have no patience, however, for what he perceives as a rush to judgment among his colleagues, both in the New York State Legislature and in Congress, and he admonished them during the news conference Friday.

“The people of New York should not have confidence in a politician who takes a position without knowing any facts or substance,” he said.

But for a politician who has been faulted by his peers for his forceful and sometimes bullying style in legislative negotiations, this moment hardly seemed like an opportune time for him to be lashing out at those who are questioning his judgment — or who are standing behind women who he says deserve to be heard.

The governor keeps pleading for patience and understanding, but many of his fellow Democratic elected officials seem to have determined that his time is up.