Cuomo accuser Ana Liss details unsolicited attention, sexually hostile work environment in two-hour interview with AG’s office

Ana Liss, the third former staffer to publicly accuse Democratic New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo of inappropriate conduct, met with investigators from the state attorney general’s office Thursday via Zoom, according to a statement Liss provided to CNN.

In the two-hour meeting, Liss said she answered questions about her time in the governor’s office between 2013 and 2015, detailing what she described as “instances of unsolicited attention paid to me by the Governor and the sexually hostile work environment perpetuated by him and senior staff.”

“During my time in the Executive Chamber, it was a toxic, verbally abusive, retaliatory workplace, especially for young women like myself,” Liss said.

The investigation into the multiple sexual harassment accusations facing the embattled governor has been ramping up in recent days. Charlotte Bennett and Lindsey Boylan, who have also accused Cuomo of sexual harassment, have both also had meetings with investigators this week, CNN has reported.

Liss said the investigation is not only focused on the governor’s alleged behavior but those in the executive chamber, adding, “Sexual harassment on the Governor’s behalf is a significant piece of the investigation, but he neither is nor was the only person in the administration responsible for offensive conduct ranging from scatological name-calling to outright objectification of women’s bodies.”

Cuomo has repeatedly denied the allegations of sexual harassment against him. CNN has reached out to Cuomo’s administration regarding the latest statement from Liss.

Liss told The Wall Street Journal earlier this month that the governor “asked her if she had a boyfriend, called her sweetheart, touched her on her lower back at a reception and once kissed her hand when she rose from her desk.”

Bennett, a 25-year-old former policy adviser to Cuomo, has alleged several uncomfortable encounters with the New York Democrat, including one incident in which he asked her questions about her sex life during a conversation in his state Capitol office and said he was open to relationships with women in their 20s. Boylan, a former aide to Cuomo, has alleged that he had tried to kiss her during a meeting in his New York City office in 2018.

The investigation into the sexual harassment allegations is being led by attorneys Joon Kim, a former prosecutor with the US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, and Anne Clark, an employment discrimination attorney. The duo was selected by New York Attorney General Letitia James to lead the probe.