Cuomo and his aides are ready on the outcomes — and potential penalties — of investigations run by at the very least three totally different entit
Cuomo and his aides are ready on the outcomes — and potential penalties — of investigations run by at the very least three totally different entities with overlapping matters. The FBI and the U.S. Legal professional’s Workplace in Brooklyn are wanting into allegations Cuomo’s workplace lied in regards to the variety of Covid-19 deaths tied to nursing properties. James’s workplace is investigating sexual harassment allegations by a number of present and former Cuomo staffers and experiences of potential moral violations within the manufacturing of a e book Cuomo launched final yr in a profitable deal. And the Meeting impeachment committee is wanting into all of these matters, as well as the security of the Hudson River bridge Cuomo lately named after his father.
Lavine’s letter warning the governor’s workplace to again off got here in response to a particular tweet from Azzopardi, who prompt that James wished his boss’ job subsequent yr. Nevertheless it was hardly the primary time {that a} Cuomo administration official questioned the motives of James’ probe.
It truly started someday round April, after state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli, an elected official charged with overseeing the state’s funds, granted James the authority to conduct a prison investigation into the experiences Cuomo had recruited state staff to work on his e book.
The governor’s workplace cried political posturing. “That is Albany politics at its worst — each the comptroller and the legal professional basic have spoken to individuals about operating for governor and it’s unethical to wield prison referral authority to additional political self-interest,” Azzopardi stated in a response.
That messaging escalated this month when the top of the state’s transit union stated he would pull his help for the governor over the a number of investigations. Azzopardi responded: “We additionally perceive he’s a political supporter of Tish James and she or he says she might run towards the governor, and he needs extra advantages in his contract.”
Then a story emerged this week in Web page Six, the New York Submit’s gossip part, that Cuomo’s administration had been spreading rumors that former U.S. Legal professional Preet Bharara was drumming up help to run for governor subsequent yr.
The tie in? One of many prosecutors James appointed to guide her probe, Joon Kim, is a longtime pal and colleague of Bharara, who has an extended historical past with the Cuomo administration and investigated its shutdown of a fee charged with wanting into corruption in state authorities a number of years in the past.
“Sort of demented in the event you ask me,” Bharara stated throughout a Thursday episode of his authorized information podcast “Keep Tuned with Preet.” Bharara rejected the concept that he’ll problem Cuomo in a main subsequent yr and referred to as it a decoy tactic from an administration he is aware of properly. Whereas the phrases aren’t coming from the governor’s mouth, they’ve his voice, he added.
“For what it’s value, based mostly on my expertise over quite a few years within the state of New York and as U.S. legal professional, there isn’t a approach on earth that individuals round Andrew Cuomo — spokespeople, allies, these talking on the file, off the file — are making any of those statements, together with the lies about me, with out the direct approval and or path of Andrew Cuomo himself,” Bharara stated. “Which you could take to the financial institution.”
The governor’s workplace pointed to the Fishman letter however declined extra remark for this story.
The suggestion by Cuomo’s aides that James is eyeing the governor’s job, and that her inquiry is compromised because of this, resonates with a number of the governor’s allies as a result of it’s not inconceivable. A New York AG — joked to face for “aspiring governor” — is sort of anticipated to think about the title improve. Cuomo himself was legal professional basic earlier than changing into governor, as was Eliot Spitzer, who resigned after a prostitution scandal.
James, when requested about her aspirations, has stated that “politics stops on the door” of her workplace, declining to chart her political future. When requested about a few of Azzopardi’s feedback throughout a uncommon off-topic information convention in Might, she referred to as them “private assaults on me and my workplace.” Her workplace declined to remark for this story.
It’s possible Cuomo, who endorsed James in 2018, can be challenged by any variety of distinguished Democrats if he does run for a fourth time period. Whereas he had deliberate to take action previously and has begun the fundraising course of, Cuomo has not stated since his newest scandals broke whether or not he will certainly achieve this.
Cuomo, who grew to become a nationwide star early within the pandemic along with his dramatic and emotional every day TV briefings, has misplaced a lot of his luster due to the accusations round nursing dwelling deaths, sexual harassment and his e book deal. He maintains middling approval rankings in New York, and simply one-third of voters say he ought to run for re-election. In a Might ballot, James did higher than Cuomo in a hypothetical gubernatorial matchup towards an unnamed Republican opponent.
James’s title is casually and frequently floated as a possible candidate by her buddies and admirers — particularly these on the left who criticized Cuomo lengthy earlier than any of this yr’s scandals. “Our subsequent Governor (*she hasn’t agreed to it but*) has been kicking ass & taking names for NYers,” state Sen. Jessica Ramos, a Queens Democrat, tweeted earlier this month alongside a number of images of herself with James.
The Cuomo administration’s robust messaging marks one other stage of its climb out of the foxhole the governor and his workers had burrowed in because the sexual harassment allegations emerged one after one other in February and March, compounded by tales a couple of poisonous work hierarchy.
Cuomo emerged first with an apology to anybody he’d made “uncomfortable.” High aide Melissa DeRosa — a key determine within the nursing dwelling debacle and the alleged tradition of intimidation within the administration — didn’t reappear at any Cuomo occasions for weeks. Requests for touch upon any variety of tales went unanswered by the communications workplace.
However a restoration technique started to play out because the governor pursued a business-as-normal sequence of vaccination occasions within the weeks that adopted, whereas including to his apology with statements that included a blanket denial he did something incorrect and an assertion that making somebody “really feel uncomfortable” isn’t sexual harassment.
His workers additionally started to renew their attribute on-line punches. Twitter feeds that for a quick whereas solely featured Cuomo’s vaccination occasions and feel-good images of puppies as soon as once more blasted the integrity of stories retailers that ran vital protection, and provided not-subtle critiques of their portrayals over the previous a number of months.
On July 8, DeRosa tweeted a photograph from the film “The Satan Wears Prada” with the caption “Miranda Priestly was NOT the villain in The Satan Wears Prada. Nate Cooper was. Miranda was a powerful, demanding government,” referring to Meryl Streep’s character as a never-satisfied style editor based mostly on Conde Nast’s Anna Wintour. “I’m going to go away this proper right here,” she wrote.
She adopted that up with a tweet quoting former assistant U.S. Legal professional Dan Goldman’s story about how his former boss Bharara used to require black sneakers in court docket. The informal tone was in distinction to the backlash she skilled after a March exposé reported that senior degree workers in Cuomo’s workplace compelled feminine aides to put on stilettos, she stated, insinuating that it was a subject James’s staff had introduced up throughout interviews over previous months.
“There was a lot ink used & tax payer $$ spent asking if ppl had been instructed to put on excessive heels working for the chamber,” she wrote. “Who reimburses NY for time on these inane questions? I put on no matter I would like & by no means instructed anybody else to. Possibly I ought to have spent extra time on shoe coloration *shrug emoji*”
That tweet has since been deleted.
DeRosa declined to reply questions in regards to the tweets. However an administration supply aware of DeRosa’s considering stated the deleted tweet represents DeRosa’s “outrage” about how she and different senior girls within the governor’s workplace have been portrayed in some information experiences, which she views as “sexism and a double customary.”
The complaints from DeRosa and different Cuomo aides are solely a fraction of what they should say in regards to the James inquiry as soon as it concludes, the particular person stated, talking on situation of anonymity to be able to candidly talk about the investigation.
“Right here you’ve gotten individuals objectifying Melissa, speaking about her sneakers and legs within the press and an imaginary excessive heel costume code for chamber staff after which somebody so flip on Twitter says ‘Preet mandated everybody put on black sneakers in a court docket room,’” the particular person stated by textual content message. “THAT is an precise male-dictated costume code however everybody thinks it’s humorous and cute. She’s going to have so much to say when that is over.”