display
New York / Washington (dpa) - Due to allegations of harassment by several women against New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, leading representatives of his own party are now calling for the Democrat's resignation.
Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand, two of whom represent New York in the US Senate, joined demands from more than a dozen members of the state in the US House of Representatives on Friday evening (local time).
Cuomo still firmly refuses to resign.
"I was elected by the people in the state," said the 63-year-old.
«I was not elected by politicians.
I will not resign on allegations. "
More and more women - most of them former employees of the governor - are accusing Cuomo of sexual harassment.
The allegations are about physical and verbal harassment.
Cuomo has apologized for possible “misinterpretations” of his behavior.
On Friday he emphasized again: "I did not do what I was accused of, period."
Under mounting public pressure, New York Attorney General Letitia James opened an investigation.
Cuomo has pledged to work with the investigators.
display
Schumer - the top Democrat in the US Senate in Washington - and Gillibrand chose clear words in a joint statement: “Due to the multiple, credible allegations of sexual harassment and misconduct, it is clear that Governor Cuomo has the trust of his government partners and the people of New York has lost.
Governor Cuomo should resign. "
Schumer and Gillibrand praised the courage of the women who made the allegations public.
The "New York Times" reported on Friday that 14 of the 19 MPs from New York in the US House of Representatives have now called for Cuomo's resignation.
The Chamber's Judiciary Committee chairman Jerry Nadler said Cuomo had lost New Yorkers' trust and was forced to resign.
Prominent MP Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said Cuomo could no longer run New York effectively given the many credible allegations.
Dozens of Democrats in the New York State House of Representatives had already called for Cuomo's resignation on Thursday.
The chairman of the chamber, the Democrat Carl Heastie, announced that Cuomo was being investigated into possible impeachment proceedings.
He stressed that this investigation was independent of the investigation by New York Attorney General James.
The New York Times reported that if the governor were to be impeached, it would be the first of its kind in the state since 1913.
display
The case is also increasingly an issue for the government of the Democratic US President Joe Biden.
White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki did not respond directly to a question on Friday whether Cuomo should resign.
Instead, Psaki said that any woman who makes allegations of harassment should be heard and treated with respect.
The US President supported the investigation of New York Attorney General James.
Cuomo was meanwhile considered a beacon of hope for the Democratic Party.
In the corona pandemic, he presented himself as an alternative to the then Republican President Donald Trump.
However, he was then suspected of having concealed the true extent of the drama because of the numbers of deaths in nursing homes that were subsequently revised upwards.
As a result, Cumo was already under pressure before the harassment allegations were made public, which are now at least seven women against him.
One of those women is an ex-Cuomos economic advisor named Lindsey Boylan.
The now 36-year-old accused the governor, among other things, of kissing her on the lips without asking in his Manhattan office in 2018.
Boylan wrote on the online platform Medium: "Governor Andrew Cuomo has created a culture within his administration in which sexual harassment and harassment are so ubiquitous that it is not only tolerated but expected."
Critics silenced Cuomo through intimidation.
display
© dpa-infocom, dpa: 210313-99-803587 / 2
Message from Ocasio-Cortez
Message from Nadler
Communication Heastie