New York Governor Andrew Cuomo has insisted he will not resign and branded politicians calling for him to quit as “reckless and dangerous” and engaging in “cancel culture”.
Many leading members of the Democratic Party are calling on Mr Cuomo to step aside amid allegations of sexual harassment.
After two accounts of sexual assault, four accounts of harassment, the Attorney General’s investigation finding the Governor’s admin hid nursing home data from the legislature & public, we agree with the 55+ members of the New York State legislature that the Governor must resign. pic.twitter.com/jV5dwtuVPr
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) March 12, 2021
“I did not do what has been alleged. Period,” he said, again calling on the public to let ongoing investigations into his conduct to play out. “Wait for the facts.”
“Politicians who don’t know a single fact but yet form a conclusion and an opinion are, in my opinion, reckless and dangerous,” he added.
With a sprawling coalition of congressional leaders joining dozens of state lawmakers in calling for the embattled governor to step down, the Democrat hit back.
“You need to know the facts before you make a decision,” he said. “People know the difference between playing politics, bowing to cancel culture and the truth.”
Mr Cuomo’s growing list of detractors now covers virtually every region in the state and the political power centres of New York City and Washington.
His allies insist he will not resign, but as allegations of sexual harassment grow, his political isolation has reached unprecedented levels.
“The victims of sexual assault concern me more than politics or other narrow considerations, and I believe Governor Cuomo must step aside,” said Rep Sean Patrick Maloney, a New York Democrat who leads his party’s House campaign arm.
Prominent progressive Rep Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a New York Democrat, said she believes the women who have accused the three-term Democratic governor of wrongdoing.
“After two accounts of sexual assault, four accounts of harassment, the Attorney General’s investigation finding the Governor’s admin hid nursing home data from the legislature and public, we agree with the 55+ members of the New York State legislature that the Governor must resign,” Ms Ocasio-Cortez tweeted.
r Cuomo has denied he ever touched anyone inappropriately and has said he is sorry if he ever made anyone uncomfortable.
He reiterated that Friday while insisting: “I never harassed anyone. I never assaulted anyone. I never abused anyone.”
But, he said, “what is being alleged simply did not happen”.
