Andrew Cuomo, the disgraced Democrat governor of New York, released a statement this week about the credible allegations of sexual misconduct he’s facing.
In an obvious effort to put the scandal to bed (if you’ll pardon the expression) and not create any additional legal problems in the form of libel suits, Cuomo’s statement is one of those statements where he admits to everything without really admitting to everything and where he accepts responsibility without accepting responsibility.
In part, the weaselly worded statement says this:
I now understand that my interactions may have been insensitive or too personal and that some of my comments, given my position, made others feel in ways I never intended. I acknowledge some of the things I have said have been misinterpreted as an unwanted flirtation. To the extent anyone felt that way, I am truly sorry about that.
To be clear I never inappropriately touched anybody and I never propositioned anybody and I never intended to make anyone feel uncomfortable, but these are allegations that New Yorkers deserve answers to.
This exploding scandal has been a disaster for Cuomo. His accusers are both Democrats. On top of that, he wanted to choose his own “independent” investigator to look into the allegations — something so ludicrous he backed off within hours. Worse still, the harassment complaints are not just of the sexual kind. A number of Democrats have piled on, claiming Cuomo is a threatening bully, including a female reporter who claims she quit her job to avoid Cuomo’s unrelenting attacks and threats.
Playing in the background of all this is a nursing home scandal that has knocked the shine right off the fake media’s fake coronavirus hero.
We not only know Cuomo flooded New York nursing homes with people still infected with the coronavirus and did so when there was still plenty of room to put these people elsewhere (like the hospital ship President Trump sent to New York and the hospital Trump had the army build for New York — both of which remained empty), we also know he lied about the number of people killed by his policy.
Anyway, what I found most interesting about Cuomo’s statement is that he claims his alleged victims “misinterpreted” his behavior as “unwanted flirtation” and then claims he “never inappropriately touched anybody[.]”
So…
Is Lindsey Boylan, his former deputy secretary for economic development and special adviser, lying about receiving an “unwanted kiss” from Cuomo, or did she just “misinterpret” it?
Here’s how she describes it:
I tried to excuse his behavior. I told myself “it’s only words.” But that changed after a one-on-one briefing with the Governor to update him on economic and infrastructure projects. We were in his New York City office on Third Avenue. As I got up to leave and walk toward an open door, he stepped in front of me and kissed me on the lips. I was in shock, but I kept walking.
I left past the desk of Stephanie Benton. I was scared she had seen the kiss. The idea that someone might think I held my high-ranking position because of the Governor’s “crush” on me was more demeaning than the kiss itself.
I think it’s easy to understand how banter or playful conversation, an innocent remark or a fumbled attempt to see if a woman might be interested in you (Cuomo is single) may, indeed, be misinterpreted or even weaponized by someone operating in bad faith.
Because it’s easy to see yourself being snagged in that web, I’m willing to give even a Grandma Killer like Cuomo a fairly wide berth when it comes to words and banter. But kissing a woman! Are you kidding me? Kissing a woman in a place of business whom you haven’t even dated? No. If true, that’s gross and totally over the line.
But all Cuomo says is that he “never inappropriately touched anybody[.]” Does that include Boylan, or does he see the kiss as somewhat appropriate and, therefore, “misinterpreted”?
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