The Daily - The Resignation of Andrew Cuomo

Episode Date: August 11, 2021

Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo of New York announced yesterday that he would resign from office, exactly one week after a searing report found that he sexually harassed 11 women.What convinced him to step aside, how did the scandal bring about such a rapid and astonishing reversal of fortune for one of the nation’s best-known leaders, and what happens next?Guest: Shane Goldmacher, a national political reporter for The New York Times.Sign up here to get The Daily in your inbox each morning. And for an exclusive look at how the biggest stories on our show come together, subscribe to our newsletter. Background reading: Last week, the release of a 165-page report by the New York State attorney general prompted multiple calls for Mr. Cuomo to resign, including from President Biden, a longtime ally of the governor.Lt. Gov. Kathy Hochul, a Democrat, will be sworn in to replace Mr. Cuomo, becoming the first woman in New York history to occupy the state’s top office.Read the transcript of Mr. Cuomo’s resignation speech, and follow the latest updates since his announcement.For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

Hey, it's Michael. For an upcoming episode, we're asking parents for all their COVID-related questions about their children, as infections surge and the school year is about to start. To send your question, please record yourself asking it in a voice memo. Be sure to tell us your name and where you're from, and email it to us at thedailyatnytimes.com. That's thedailyatnytimes.com. And thanks. From The New York Times, I'm Michael Bilbaro. This is The Daily. Today, the resignation of Andrew Cuomo as governor of New York. I spoke with my colleague, Shane Goldbacher, about what convinced him to step aside,

who replaces him, and what happens next. It's Wednesday, August 11th. Shane, the last time we talked to you, and it was not very long ago, was right after this very damning report came out from the Office of the New York Attorney General, laying out very credible allegations by 11 accusers claiming that New York Governor Andrew Cuomo had sexually harassed them. And in that conversation, you told us Andrew Cuomo would never leave office unless he was shoved out. And that seemed pretty far off. So what changed? Well, he was shoved.

And I think that he was shoved faster than I or he expected it to come. And from all different directions. It started on Sunday. He got a shove from inside his own administration. And we begin with breaking news in Albany where the governor's top aide, Secretary Melissa DeRosa, has resigned. From his senior most advisor, a woman named Melissa DeRosa, who has been his right hand for years. In a statement obtained by 13WHAM News, DeRosa says the past two years have

been emotionally and mentally trying. Her resignation comes as Governor Cuomo faces mounting calls for him to step down. It's really hard to overstate how important Melissa has been to the Cuomo administration. And you can see it in part by the fact that her name is littered across the Attorney General's report with more than 100 mentions of her involvement from what they called retaliation against one of the accusers to just generally serving as the epicenter of all things Cuomo. DeRosa has been blamed for normalizing workplace harassment and previously came under fire in February for the state's nursing home scandal. And so for her to step aside was a message that he was losing support

to remain in office from inside his own chamber. And then one of the women with the most serious accusation against the governor. The woman who filed a criminal complaint against New York Governor Andrew Cuomo has spoken publicly for the first time. Spoke publicly with her name attached to it. Brittany Camisso granted an exclusive interview to CBS This Morning and the Albany Times Union. And said in detail for the first time exactly what her experience was with Andrew Cuomo. He roped me. He touched me, not only once, but twice.

And so you had another name and face for his accusers. And she too said that he should resign. What he did to me was a crime. He broke the law. And then the next morning, there was another resignation. There's more fallout this morning. The scandal surrounding New York Governor Andrew Cuomo. Roberta Kaplan stepped down as chairwoman of Time's Up.

From Roberta Kaplan, another person who was named in the report. Roberta Kaplan serves as the chairwoman of Time's Up, the advocacy group for victims of sexual assault and sexual harassment. Her resignation follows revelations that she helped advise Governor Cuomo's office in an effort to discredit at least one of his accusers. And she was in the Cuomo report because the office had reached out to her at one point and consulted her on how to reply to the very first accuser of Andrew Cuomo, Lindsey Boylan. And Kaplan stepped down on Monday saying she couldn't

keep her posting and she faced pressure from internally over the fact that she had worked with the governor during this process. And so by midday on Monday, you had two women who had been accused of helping Andrew Cuomo stepping down from their powerful positions. And Andrew Cuomo himself firmly staying on as governor. Hmm. And what happens next? All right, good afternoon. And what happens next? All right, good afternoon.

Well, then on Monday afternoon, Carl Hasey, the leader of the state assembly, holds a news conference. As I stated last week, the governor has clearly lost the confidence of the majority members of the New York State Assembly. For the first time in more than 100 years, the assembly is undertaking an impeachment investigation of a sitting governor. an impeachment investigation of a sitting governor. And he outlines that they are pursuing on impeachment and even set some deadlines for the Cuomo team to submit their side of evidence, as well as dates of future hearings. And, you know, I believe that this is going to be dealt with in weeks and not months.

And Hasty gave a timeline. He said, we're talking weeks, not months. And so that time that Andrew Cuomo was looking to buy, it was shrinking. And each day he was seeing further and further erosion of support. But more important, I think, than even the dates that Carl Hastie talked about was something else he said about interacting with Andrew Cuomo. I am not negotiating any deals. Like I said, I read that in the newspaper. I'm not part of any discussions or plan to be part of any discussions about cutting deals. He said, I'm not negotiating any

deals. And for the people I've spoken to, this was an important moment inside the shrinking circle of Cuomo advisors. This is a governor who always is looking to strike deals. And suddenly, he's facing the possibility of impeachment and the leader of the Democrats saying there's no deals left to be struck here. Future generations will look to us and how we conducted ourselves in this moment. And then on Tuesday morning, the governor's office announced that his lawyer was going to give some remarks. the governor's office announced that his lawyer was going to give some remarks. But before she even began, there was video of the governor himself arriving in New York City by helicopter.

Hmm. And it immediately began spreading questions of what was he going to do and was he going to make his own appearance? Mm-hmm. And the questions of whether this was the moment he was going to step down began to fly. We'll be right back. So, Shane, set the scene for us on Tuesday morning,

this moment that you said everyone is speculating about. So just after 11 a.m., exactly a week after the attorney general's office put out their report, his lawyer begins to speak from the governor's midtown offices in Manhattan. My name is Rita Glavin, and I represent Governor Andrew Cuomo. And she offers a familiar defense that Andrew Cuomo is in fact a victim of a media frenzy. And I want to spend a few minutes today on behalf of the governor walking through that report and the issues that we have with the report. And one by one sort of ticks through the accusers and tries to poke holes both in their story

and how the Attorney General's office presented the information. The investigators acted as the prosecutors, the judge, and the jury of Governor Cuomo. Nobody vetted through the report. And I want to spend some time talking about it because he's been convicted in the media and the assembly. Most of the members have made up their mind without hearing the other side. And she speaks for more than 30 minutes and then she pauses. The governor deserves to be treated fairly.

And that did not happen here. Thank you for listening. Thank you for your time. And the live stream goes dark. And we wait for several minutes for Andrew Cuomo himself to come on to address the issue for the first time live since the report came out a week ago. Good morning. Let me begin by thanking Rita Glavin for that powerful presentation. He begins with some of the same defensive posture that his attorney had had. The report said I sexually harassed 11 women. That was the headline people heard and saw and reacted to. That he is a victim here of a politicized report that unfairly targeted him and didn't present his full side of the story.

The reaction was outrage. It should have been. And so he starts by recounting the fact that the report came out and the reaction was outrage. However, it was also false. The fact that the report came out and the reaction was outrage. However, it was also false. Then he says that the report, though, was false. The most serious allegations made against me had no credible factual basis in the report. It sounds like this is not an Andrew Cuomo about to resign, but an Andrew Cuomo digging in as we expected to and building his defensive case. But he offered what he called full responsibility for my actions. Full responsibility for my actions.

I thought a hug and putting my arm around a staff person while taking a picture was friendly, but she found it to be too forward. I kissed a woman on the cheek at a wedding, and I thought I was being nice, but she felt that I was too aggressive. I have slipped and called people honey, sweetheart, and darling. I meant it to be endearing, but women found it dated and offensive. But then afterwards, he talked about how he in fact didn't do what he's accused of doing, and that those who had experienced it differently had simply misinterpreted him. In my mind, it differently, had simply misinterpreted him. In my mind, I've never crossed the line with anyone. But I didn't realize the extent to which the line has been redrawn. And then, for the first time he addressed the allegations from the state trooper. The report did bring to light a matter that I was not aware of.

A female trooper related concern that she found disturbing, and so do I. And he acknowledged making some jokes that might have been taken wrong. This female trooper was getting married, and I made some jokes about the negative consequences of married life. I meant it to be humorous. She was offended and she was right. The trooper also said that in an elevator I touched her back and when I was walking past her in a doorway I touched her back. And when I was walking past her in a doorway, I touched her stomach. Now, I don't recall doing it, but if she said I did it, I believe her. At public events, troopers will often hold doors open or guard the doorways. When I walk past them, I often will give them a grip

of the arm, a pat on the face, a touch on the stomach, a slap on the back. It's my way of saying, I see you, I appreciate you, and I thank you. And he gave sort of an excuse for it, saying he did that with everyone, that he did that with both male troopers and with female troopers, and said that he had no sexual connotation to those kind of behaviors. Now, obviously in a highly political matter like this, there are many agendas and there are many motivations at play. And then he goes on to say that he's a victim of a politically motivated investigation.

This is about politics. With investigators who were out to get him from the start. You know me. I am a fighter. And my instinct is to fight through this controversy. And that his instinct is as a fighter and that he wants to fight these things. Because I truly believe it is politically motivated. I believe it is unfair and it is untruthful. And at this point, frankly, it's a little confusing. You have both a defiant governor digging in and somebody offering apologies for his behavior at the same time. As if he was digging in for a further fight or prepared to put down his political weapons for the first time and step down. And in the coming moments, that's in fact what he does.

And everything I have ever done has been motivated by that love. And I would never want to be unhelpful in any way. And I think that given the circumstances, the best way I can help now is if I step aside and let government get back to governing. And therefore, that's what I'll do because I work for you. have a governor who has made the governorship the center of his life for years and years, announcing he is in fact going to step down. Thank you for the honor of serving you. It has been the honor of my lifetime. God bless you. So what are you thinking as you're hearing Andrew Cuomo utter these bless you. So what are you thinking as you're hearing Andrew Cuomo utter these kind of improbable words for Andrew Cuomo? I am resigning the office of New York governor. I mean, I think that

improbable is exactly right. You have a governor who just weeks ago was still doing polling to see if he could run for a fourth term, hoping there were deals to be cut and issues to find leverage around. And suddenly he found himself without any deals to be made, without any leverage left, with his allies abandoning him, alone, and facing impeachment. Right.

And clearly he made a decision that he was not going to be leaving office through impeachment, through that stain on his legacy. He had a choice, be impeached or resign on his own. And lawmakers had made that perfectly clear in the last few days. So Shane, what happens now? And who is going to be running New York once Cuomo is gone? So Shane, what happens now? And who is going to be running New York once Cuomo is gone? So he set his resignation for 14 days from today. And at that time, Kathy Hochul, the current lieutenant governor, will become the first woman ever to serve as governor in New York history. And while you might think lieutenant governor might have been an ally

of Andrew Cuomo and perhaps involved in any of these scandals and allegations, the governor and lieutenant governor have had little interaction or relationship in recent months and even years. And so Hochul is going to come in really as her own candidate. And immediately there'll be questions over whether she will in fact run for a full term next year, which I think is widely expected, and if other Democrats will challenge her, including Tish James, the attorney general who oversaw the report that has caused Andrew Cuomo to resign the office. And what now happens to Andrew Cuomo himself? What do the next few weeks and months hold for

him? You had mentioned in our last conversation that he may face criminal prosecution. So what do we see as his future? Yeah, he currently faces multiple investigations from district attorneys. He also faces other investigations, including around the nursing homes and whether his administration engaged in a cover-up in not sharing deaths that occurred at them. He also leaves office with the most money of any politician in New York. He has more than $18 million in the bank that he still could use for future political endeavors.

And I already heard from people saying, you can't rule out that he would conceivably want to seek some office in the future. I don't want to let that $18 million number you just mentioned slip by without a little reflection, because we all know that in New York, even the most scandal-plagued figures tend to seek out second and third acts. Eliot Spitzer comes to mind. he was disgraced as governor in a sex scandal, resigned, and then ran for office again later.

Are you suggesting that given the campaign war chest Andrew Cuomo has, that he could and maybe would run for office sometime soon again? I think it's hard to imagine that Andrew Cuomo wouldn't be interested

in running for office in the future. But if he was trying to buy time to save his governorship now, I certainly think he would be in need of buying time to rehabilitate his image in the future. But I think that he has probably more immediate and urgent needs, which he needs to find somewhere to live. What do you mean? In recent years, he's lived exclusively in the governor's mansion in Albany.

And so in 14 days, he doesn't just have a job. He doesn't have a home either. Shane, how, in the end, should we regard Andrew Cuomo's legacy? There was a moment where his legacy, at the very beginning, and I covered him in that phase, was passing big, complicated things like gay marriage at a time when that was not happening in state legislatures. Then there was a time when his legacy seemed to be very bound up in his role as a leader on the pandemic that eventually faded away. There were real questions about whether he had been a good leader on the pandemic at all. And now that his governorship has ended as it has in a sexual harassment scandal,

what do we think, I know it's early, will be his ultimate legacy as a three-term governor of New York? I mean, I think in real time, the hardest thing to figure out is what somebody's forever legacy is going to be. But I think that when it comes to Andrew Cuomo, it's going to be hard not to think about the way he used power and abused power, whether it was twisting people's arms to pass bills or exerting himself over women who worked for him. Mm-hmm.

And I think all of that is going to be intertwined in how we consider Andrew Cuomo. Well, Shane, thank you very much. We appreciate it. Thank you. The Times reports that as of Tuesday afternoon, it was unclear whether the New York State Legislature would still move forward with an impeachment of Andrew Cuomo. If the process were to proceed, and Cuomo were both impeached and convicted, he would be barred from ever holding state office again.

We'll be right back. Here's what else you need to know today. U.S. Senate gave overwhelming and bipartisan approval to a $1 trillion infrastructure bill that would fix roads, bridges, and pipelines. The bill, a signature component of President Biden's agenda, must still receive the backing of the House of Representatives. The Senate's passage and what comes next will be the focus of tomorrow's episode of the show. Today's episode was produced by Soraya Shockley and Robert Jimison, with help from Jessica Chung and Lindsay Garrison. Garrison. It was edited by Paige Cowan, original music by Dan Powell and Marion Lozano, and engineered by Chris Wood. That's it for The Daily. I'm Michael Barbaro. See you tomorrow.