Cuomo makes qualified apology, promises to empower state AG to oversee investigation

NEW YORK — Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Sunday issued a qualified apology for conduct leading to sexual harassment allegations and said he would empower state Attorney General Letitia James to oversee an investigation of the matter.

“I acknowledge some of the things I have said have been misinterpreted as an unwanted flirtation. To the extent anyone felt that way, I am truly sorry about that,” he said in a Sunday night statement.

While aiming to depict his recent conduct as part of his work style — stating, “sometimes I think I am being playful and make jokes that I think are funny” — he rejected the most damning allegations from former staffers Charlotte Bennett and Lindsey Boylan.

“I never inappropriately touched anybody and I never propositioned anybody and I never intended to make anyone feel uncomfortable, but these are allegations that New Yorkers deserve answers to,” he stated.

Earlier Sunday, his office said it would go through the formal process to let James hire an outside law firm to investigate the allegations, a move the attorney general accepted.

It capped a day of back-and-forth between the two offices over whether the investigator would have the power to issue subpoenas.

Beth Garvey, special counsel and senior adviser to Cuomo, initially said the governor was asking James and top state Judge Janet DiFiore to select a lawyer to undertake the probe.

The move came after Cuomo was blasted for selecting former federal judge Barbara Jones to conduct an investigation of his own conduct — Jones used to work for the Zuckerman Spaeder law firm alongside Steven Cohen, a prominent Cuomo insider.

James on Sunday afternoon rejected the revised proposal, saying Cuomo needed to use a special statute that would give her the power to hire someone with subpoena power. The code was last used in 2013, when Cuomo assembled a short-lived commission to investigate public corruption.

With outrage growing among New York Democrats, Cuomo caved by Sunday night. “The governor’s office wants a thorough and independent review that is above reproach and beyond political interference,” Garvey stated.

“We expect to receive a ... referral with subpoena power to investigate allegations of sexual harassment against the governor, in line with our demands and New York state law,” James said in a statement. “The referral would be made solely to the attorney general’s office.

“This is not a responsibility we take lightly. We will hire a law firm, deputize them as attorneys of our office, and oversee a rigorous and independent investigation,” she added.

Cuomo’s own evening remarks came after Bennett, a former health policy adviser and executive assistant to the governor, on Saturday became the second woman to accuse Cuomo of sexual harassment.

She told the New York Times the governor had asked her questions about her sex life including whether she had ever “been with an older man,” stating: “I understood that the governor wanted to sleep with me.”

Boylan wrote last week that the governor would often touch her inappropriately, make her uncomfortable at work and once kissed her on the lips without her consent. The accusations quickly sparked calls for an investigation, with some lawmakers saying Cuomo should leave office.

“I now understand that my interactions may have been insensitive or too personal and that some of my comments, given my position, made others feel in ways I never intended,” the governor stated Sunday.

Earlier in the day, a range of electeds backed calls for an independent probe.

“Sen. Schumer has long believed sexual harassment is never acceptable,” Allison Biasotti, a spokeswoman for Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), said in a statement. “[T]hese allegations should be independently and thoroughly investigated.”

“These allegations are serious and deeply concerning,” Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) said in a statement. “The matter should be referred to her office so she can conduct a transparent, independent and thorough investigation with subpoena power.”

A group of assemblywomen rejected Cuomo’s initial proposal for a probe without subpoena power as inadequate.

“There is a need for an independent investigation into the recent sexual harassment allegations with unfettered authority to issue subpoenas, to seek the production of documents and to bring whatever charges are warranted,” said 25 lawmakers including Assemblywomen Carmen De La Rosa (D-Manhattan), Yuh-Line Niou (D-Manhattan), Linda Rosenthal (D-Manhattan) and Phara Souffrant Forrest (D-Brooklyn).

Sunday’s moves came after the White House had chimed in.

“There should be an independent review looking into these allegations, and that’s certainly something he supports and we believe should move forward as quickly as possible,” White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said Sunday of President Biden’s stance.

Mayor Bill de Blasio on Sunday repeated his demands for the governor to lose the emergency powers that the state legislature granted him at the start of the pandemic.

The mayor also called for two separate probes — one of Cuomo’s controversial handling of nursing home deaths, the other of the sexual harassment allegations.

“Precedence shows that investigations of the governor must be completely independent of his office,” said de Blasio, who has feuded with Cuomo throughout his time in office.

“The investigation into nursing home deaths must be free to examine campaign contributions from the nursing home industry,” the mayor added. “And the investigation into sexual misconduct must be led by someone fully independent of the governor, not the former business partner of the governor’s top adviser.”