'I feel like I did the right thing,' Cuomo tells mag in first interview since resignation

In Andrew Cuomo’s first interview since announcing his resignation earlier this week, the New York governor said he didn’t want to “drag the state” through a months-long impeachment investigation — only to win.

“I feel like I did the right thing. I did the right thing for the state,” Cuomo told New York Magazine of his decision to resign. “I’m not gonna drag the state through the mud, through a three-month, four-month impeachment, and then win, and have made the State Legislature and the state government look like a ship of fools.”

He maintained he couldn’t put New York through that process when his life's work was “for the exact opposite.”

“I’m not doing that. I feel good. I’m not a martyr. It’s just, I saw the options, option A, option B,” he said.

Cuomo on Tuesday announced he would step down, effective Aug. 24, in response to growing pressure to resign or face impeachment amid the release of a report that found he sexually harassed nearly a dozen women. The New York State Assembly suspended its investigation into Cuomo on Friday.

“The purpose of the Assembly Judiciary Committee’s impeachment investigation was to determine whether Governor Cuomo should remain in office. The governor’s resignation answers that directive,” Speaker Carl Heastie (D-Bronx) said Friday.

Cuomo's immediate plans, like where he will now live, are uncertain. The governor’s only residence in recent years has been the Albany governor's mansion. Cuomo told the magazine he didn't know what he was going to do.

“I’m not disappearing. I have a voice, I have a perspective and that’s not gonna change,” Cuomo said. “And the details aren’t really that important to me to tell you the truth. You know? I’m a New Yorker, I’ve lived here, I’ve lived in Queens, I’ve lived in the city, I’ve lived upstate, I’ve lived everywhere, I came to Washington, so that’s … I don’t really care about that. I’ll figure that out. And I think I did the right thing.”