A woman accusing Gov. Andrew Cuomo of sexual harassment says he asked her to sing for him, according to her attorney.
Debra Katz, attorney for accuser Charlotte Bennett, said Cuomo called Bennett into his office in May 2019 for a private meeting, during which he handed her a copy of the lyrics to the Irish ballad “Danny Boy” and asked her to memorize the song. Later that day, Cuomo ordered Bennett to perform the song in front of Melissa DeRosa, secretary to the governor, and Stephanie Benton, the director of the governor’s offices, according to Katz.
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When Bennett said she didn’t want to sing “Danny Boy,” Cuomo began singing himself and asked her to join in, an incident that DeRosa dismissed as “hazing” as she watched “with a mix of horror and amusement,” Katz alleged, according to Bloomberg, which a representative for Katz confirmed in an email to the Washington Examiner.
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A representative for Cuomo did not immediately reply to the Washington Examiner‘s request for comment.
Bennett, a 25-year-old who served as an executive assistant and health policy adviser in the Cuomo administration, first stepped forward on Feb. 27 to accuse the governor of making sexual overtures toward her during her time working in his office, including asking her about her dating life and whether she viewed age gaps as important to relationships.
“I understood that the governor wanted to sleep with me and felt horribly uncomfortable and scared, and [I] was wondering how I was going to get out of it and assumed it was the end of my job,” Bennett said.
Cuomo, who apologized for making anyone uncomfortable but maintained he never engaged in impropriety, has been accused of impropriety by a total of 10 women. In addition to Bennett, Lindsay Boylan, Anna Ruch, Karen Hinton, Ana Liss, an unnamed sixth woman, Jessica Bakeman, Valerie Bauman, and Alyssa McGrath came forward with allegations against the governor in recent weeks. An unidentified accuser is set to detail additional claims in a press conference with lawyer Gloria Allred on Monday afternoon.
The allegations have resulted in two investigations: Attorney General Letitia James is questioning the accusers and Cuomo aides at the state level, and the New York Assembly is pursuing an “impeachment investigation” under the direction of Speaker Carl Heastie.
Despite pressure from within his party, the governor has resisted calls to resign because he claims he “did not do what has been alleged.”
“I’m not going to resign,” he said on March 12, adding he was not “elected by the politicians but by the people.”
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The governor is also under federal investigation for his handling of nursing homes during the COVID-19 pandemic after DeRosa acknowledged the governor’s office hid the state’s nursing home coronavirus death toll out of fear of political retribution.
Cuomo is eligible to run for a fourth term in 2022, which he said he intended to do in 2019.
