Today, Explained - Oye Cuomo va

Episode Date: August 10, 2021

People said New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo would never resign. Then he did. New York magazine contributing writer David Freedlander explains. Transcript at vox.com/todayexplained. Support Today, Explained by making a financial contribution to Vox! bit.ly/givepodcasts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Get groceries delivered across the GTA from Real Canadian Superstore with PC Express. Shop online for super prices and super savings. Try it today and get up to $75 in PC Optimum Points. Visit Superstore.ca to get started. Andrew Mark Cuomo resigned today. In about two weeks, he'll no longer be the governor of New York. It's a pretty huge moment for the state, but also a not insignificant one for the country.

David Friedlander, contributing writer for New York Magazine. How did we get here? Today, I think the governor saw the writing on the wall and realized he couldn't go forward. Andrew Cuomo is the decade-long governor of New York State. He comes from the most famous political family in New York. The Cuomos are the sort of Kennedys of New York. He has ruled over Albany with an iron fist for the past 10 years or so. And finally, today, he resigned after numerous corroborated allegations of sexual harassment came out in a report by the state attorney general, Letitia James, a report that

Andrew Cuomo himself asked for. So he asks his attorney general to conduct a fair, impartial investigation into the allegations against himself. That's correct. And to be clear, you know, Tish James, the attorney general, was elected on her own, but was Andrew Cuomo's hand-picked attorney general. Also worth noting, another little wrinkle in the story is before he was governor, Andrew Cuomo was attorney general. Through his own powers of that office,

he helped run out both the governor and then the governor's replacement, Eliot Spitzer and David Patterson. So he is someone who would be very aware of the powers of the attorney general's office. What happens in the interim between him asking for this investigation and the final report? I think that he really tried to kind of like get back to the people's business. You would sort of see him, he would hold press conferences, although they were kind of press conferences without the press.

They were very controlled. The vaccine is the weapon that wins the war. Great. He made sure that he was not asked any kind of awkward questions. He had a very kind of circumscribed schedule, but he would be with supporters and talking about COVID recovery, economic recovery, how New York was coming back. You get knocked on your rear end. Do you just sit there or do you get up? If you're a real New

Yorker, you get up. And there wasn't a lot of chatter about what was going on with this investigation. The State Assembly, which is the sort of House of Representatives here in New York, they were also conducting their own investigation into both these sexual harassment allegations and into some other charges. Andrew Cuomo signed a multimillion dollar book deal to talk about his own sort of response to the COVID crisis here in New York. There's some questions about whether staff was used on that, also about how they handled COVID in nursing homes back at the height of the crisis last year. And so, you know, the business of state government kind of went on as everyone waited for this report to come out.

I think most people thought that this report would not amount to that much, that Cuomo had kind of weathered this crisis and that he was moving on, the state was moving on. And then the report comes out. And then the report comes out. Good morning. It was not a bombshell. It was a daisy cutter. The investigation found that Governor Andrew Cuomo sexually harassed current and former New York State employees by engaging in unwelcome and non-consensual touching and making numerous offensive comments of a suggestive and sexual nature that created a hostile work

environment for women. It was 168 pages. There were 11 women detailing numerous examples of sexual harassment, including some very disturbing details about a state trooper who was part of the governor's protective detail who said that she was sexually harassed by the governor. In an elevator while standing behind the trooper, he ran his finger from her neck down her spine and said, hey you. Another time, she was standing holding the door open for the governor. As he passed, he took his open hand and ran it across her stomach from her belly button to the hip where she keeps her gun. It included new details about an executive assistant

who was alone with the governor in the governor's mansions who said that the governor had groped her. It also detailed how the governor's office was orienting around retaliating against some of these accusers when the allegations first came out and seemed to be involved with protecting the governor in some of these interactions. Governor Cuomo's administration fostered a toxic workplace that enabled harassment and created a hostile work environment. How does the governor defend himself against these allegations in the report that he called for? Well, when the report came out, he said, well, you didn't hear my side of the story, really.

I want you to know directly from me that I never touched anyone inappropriately or made inappropriate sexual advances. And what he said was, I think it's something we're kind of used to hearing at this point, you know, which is that, oh, all of this was innocent. It was playful. This is how I talk to people. I do kiss people on the forehead. I do kiss people on the cheek. I do kiss people on the hand. I do embrace people. He put together some kind of slideshow featuring different shots of himself feeling up half the free world?

It was a bizarre video. I mean, it showed Andrew Cuomo hugging, kissing, getting kind of touchy-feely with people great and small. I mean, you know, he was sort of Bill Clinton, Al Gore to the kind of, you know, lowliest citizen of New York. Somebody who he was, you know, had just recovered from some hurricane in her neighborhood or something. And there he was embracing her kind of thing. It seemed like a governor who was really floundering, I think, at the time, to really show people that, like, oh, no, I wasn't sexually harassing them. This is just sort of how I am with people.

Beyond that, does he try to discredit the investigation? Well, sure. I mean, they've been doing that really for the weeks leading up to it, saying that Tish James, the attorney general, is politically motivated, that she wants his job, that all these other people are sort of in a conspiracy against him, that the assembly who is investigating him with these allegations or with other allegations, that they're politically motivated. For those who are using this moment to score political points or seek publicity or personal gain, I say they actually discredit the legitimate sexual harassment

victims that the law was designed to protect. They've always, from the sort of beginning, said that this was all politics and there's all these people that were out to get him. How does that argument land with the people of New York, with politicians in the state and beyond? I don't think it lands very well. And it also, you know, I mean, I think it's worth noting, like it wouldn't change anything, right? I mean, if you're, if you're sexually harassed, or in some cases worse, groped by the governor, whether you're his enemy or not doesn't really matter. The facts kind of remain the same. So I think it was sort of widely mocked and no one really saw how he could ever survive this, except for Andrew Cuomo, who, you know, has sort of survived everything. I mean, he sort of famously developed his reputation as a

kind of political shark who constantly outwits his enemies. And this is in the face of a mounting calls for his resignation, including one from President Biden. Are you now calling on him to resign? Yes. Well, look, I mean, going back six months ago, almost everybody in the New York political world, the Democratic Party political universe called for Andrew Cuomo's resignation. This is back in March. And he just ignored them. Almost the entire congressional delegation said he should resign. Most of the Democrats in the legislature said he should resign. Most of the Democrats in the legislature said he should resign. The really only people that didn't were a handful of local members of Congress who he's close to. Joe Biden hadn't said anything. The head of the state Democratic Party hadn't said anything. Over the

past couple of weeks, all of them all came out as soon as this report was released and said, Andrew Cuomo, it's time for you to go. The gig is up. But he just seemed content to ignore them. More with David in a minute. Support for Today Explained comes from Ramp. Thank you. Ramp. You can go to ramp.com slash explained, ramp.com slash explained, R-A-M-P dot com slash explained. Cards issued by Sutton Bank, member FDIC,

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So David, Andrew Cuomo announced this afternoon that he was resigning from office. Why did he change his mind? Well, I think there was just no other room to maneuver. I mean, this is a guy who's always kind of made his own weather here in New York politics. I think he was trying to buy time, looking for the sort of winds to change, so to speak, and hoping his luck would change. But the state assembly was moving forward with an impeachment inquiry, and they just sounded implacable. People want to see this happen very quickly. The majority conference wants to see this happen very quickly, but we need to, you know, recognize it's a legal process. There's thousands of pages of documents that need to be reviewed, and we want to make sure that we get this right. Unlike in the federal system, once a president's

speech, there's then trial in the Senate. Here, there's still the trial in the Senate, but the governor has to leave office. So the lieutenant governor would automatically become the governor while that trial went on. Plus, the governor would have to leave the governor's mansion. Andrew Cuomo recently split up from his longtime girlfriend, the food television personality, Sandra Lee. She sold the house they lived in in Westchester County. And so it was unclear where he would even be living while the Senate trial went on. Andrew Cuomo would be experiencing homelessness? I think he would have the resources probably to figure something out, but he would not be allowed to be in the governor's

mansion and he would not be the governor while the Senate trial went on. And I think just a sort of humiliation of that was something he wanted to avoid. What does he say in his announcement that he's resigning? He had his lawyer come out first, and she didn't take any questions. It was just done over the web. And she went through and refuted the allegations, said how they weren't true, said how they were misinterpreted. The governor had no opportunity to respond, and a press cycle ensued. And journalists were saying things that he had groped and that he had fondled 11 women.

And that wasn't true, and that wasn't in the report. And then he had a separate event, again, without press present, just streamed online, in which he much said the same thing. And then at the end of it, said that, sort of in the best interest of the state of New York, a state I've always served, that I've always cared about, I think this would be costly and distracting, and we don't have time or money for this, and so I'm going to resign. 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. And doing the right thing is doing the right thing for you.

So he's leaving office in 14 days, I believe. What are the next two weeks going to look like for him? Do we know? I think that's sort of, in order to give his lieutenant governor, Kathy Hochul, a bit of a transition. This all happened so quickly. I don't think anyone quite knows what he's going to do in those 14 days. I mean, presumably search for an apartment somewhere. And what do we know about his lieutenant governor, Kathy Hochul? Is she ready to lead one of the biggest states in the union? Well, I think like whatever we know about Kathy Hochul is probably equivalent to what Andrew Cuomo knows about Kathy Hochul. They have not spoken since February.

He wrote a long book about his COVID response and lessons learned from it. He did not mention his lieutenant governor once in the book. As he resigned. To my team, Melissa DeRosa Robert... And he thanked people in his administration. He did not thank her. She was very much a lieutenant governor, sort of on the outs,

traveling around the state to sort of small communities, meeting with, you know, small groups of voters, hitting small radio stations, small, small, small kind of thing. I love my position as lieutenant governor, and I don't harbor higher ambitions. Well, that was part two. Could it be you? I don't harbor— Why not?

I'll tell you why, Karen. I have been so blessed to have opportunities come my way that I generally don't seek out. She was a one-term congresswoman from western New York, from the Buffalo area. And, you know, obviously they were never close. I mean, I think she was just sort of chosen for some sort of gender and geographic diversity for the ticket. And now she's our next governor. And the first woman governor in the history of New York State. That's correct. First woman governor in the history of New York State. Yep.

Can Andrew Cuomo run for office again? Could he run against Kathy Hochul one day? Aha! Well, this is interesting. Yes, he can. Were he impeached, he would not be able to do that. This is a topic of much dispute in Neuropolitics right now. A lot of people you talk to think that, you know, he's gone. This is it. This is the end. He's enter next year when the election is with $20 million in his campaign account. He has by far the most famous last name in New York politics. You know, he could run for governor again. He could run for a training general. He could run for any number of things. So you're saying that the Cuomo name isn't totally tarnished in New York? They're still going to keep that bridge

he named after his father, and maybe Chris Cuomo gets to keep his show on CNN? This isn't the end of the Cuomo family? I love my brother. I love my family. I love my job. I can't speak to what's going on at CNN. But, you know, look, I think that that's something

that's contested, right? And I think we always sort of look at these things as, oh, that's the end of that guy, or they're leaving office in disgrace. And, you know, time passes, memories are short. People find that they kind of miss the guy who was there before. I mean, we'll have to see what happens, you know, over the next six months. You know, if there's sort of six months of chaos and inaction out of out of Kathy Hochul's administration, will people start yearning for Andrew Cuomo, who ran the state with an iron fist? I think there's a good chance they might. How much do he own today what he did? How much did he actually own his sexual harassment of women?

I mean, it's clearly the reason he's resigning. But did he truly admit fault and apologize to the victims of his sexual harassment? No, I'm going to go with a no on that. He did not do that. I said on national TV to a doctor wearing PPE and giving me a COVID nasal swab, you make that gown look good. I was joking. Obviously, otherwise I wouldn't have said it on national TV. He said that, you know, he comes from a different era, that these were misinterpreted. He never wanted anyone to feel bad or to feel, you know, ashamed or anything else.

And that he was just trying to be friendly, trying to be a good boss. My sense of humor can be insensitive and off-putting. I do hug and kiss people casually. But no, he did not admit to any wrongdoing, really. I mean, you know, he said he was sorry for the way these women felt, but he certainly said he didn't intend to demean or harass anyone. 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 all told, you covered Cuomo for a decade or more. You wouldn't count him out completely. I may be alone in this, but no. I mean, I just think Andrew Cuomo first ran for governor in 2002. He disgraced himself. He was thought to be dead and finished in New York politics. Four years later, he was the attorney general of the state of New York. Four years after that, he was governor. He has been a sort of singular figure in New York politics for the past 15 years. He has more money than anybody else in his campaign account by a lot.

He has the most famous name in New York politics by a lot. He still has reservoirs of goodwill in many communities throughout New York State. I have no crystal ball. I have no idea what's going to happen. But I think he's such a political animal, it's very hard to imagine him going quietly into the night. Okay. David, thank you so much for your time.

You bet. Thank you. David Friedlander, he writes for New York Magazine. You can find New York Magazine at nymag.com. I'm Sean Ramos-Virham. It's Today Explained, and you already found us. Thank you.