The New York Attorney General released transcripts of the Cuomo investigation, revealing more details of what occurred in the Governor’s office. NBC New York’s Jonathan Dienst reports.
What to Know
- New York AG Letitia James has released the transcripts and exhibits associated with the independent investigation into sexual harassment allegations against now former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo.
- The documents include the deposition of Brittany Commisso whose allegations against Cuomo are believed to be the allegations against him in a misdemeanor complaint filed by the Albany County Sheriff’s Office.
- On Aug. 3, investigators appointed by New York Attorney General Letitia James released a report that concluded that Cuomo sexually harassed multiple women in violation of state and federal law.
New York AG Letitia James has released the transcripts and exhibits associated with the independent investigation into sexual harassment allegations against now former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo.
The documents include the deposition of Brittany Commisso whose allegations against Cuomo are believed to be the allegations against him in a misdemeanor complaint filed by the Albany County Sheriff’s Office.
The release of the transcripts and other information is on a rolling basis and comes following the Aug. 3 report concerning the multiple allegations of sexual harassment brought against Cuomo.
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CUOMO ALLEGATIONS
The bombshell report came after a nearly five month probe by independent investigators appointed by New York Attorney General Letitia James and led by Joon H. Kim and Anne L. Clark. You can read the full AG report released in August by clicking here.
Mere days after the report's release, and facing growing calls for him to step down as governor, Cuomo resigned, although he has continuously denied the accusations.
In the aftermath of the attorney general's probe, multiple district attorneys asked that the Office of the Attorney General refrain from publicly releasing transcripts and other evidence so that their offices could first investigate and determine whether to file criminal charges against Cuomo.
One criminal complaint against Cuomo was filed on Oct. 28 in Albany County and charged him with a misdemeanor sex-crime complaint for allegedly forcibly touching a woman last Dec. 7 in the governor's Executive Mansion in Albany.
After that, the Albany County District Attorney’s Office told James' office that it would begin releasing evidence to Cuomo to comply with New York state’s discovery laws. These laws stipulate that once someone is charged with a crime they must be provided transcripts and other evidence in their case.
"As these materials are now being released by the Albany County District Attorney’s office — and in an effort to provide full transparency to the people of New York — the OAG has informed local district attorneys that it will immediately begin releasing, on a rolling basis, all transcripts and corresponding exhibits compiled during the investigation, pending redactions to protect the privacy of individuals, as appropriate," the Attorney General's Office said.
Below are the newly released links to the transcripts and corresponding exhibits from the independent investigation and resulting report into sexual harassment allegations against Cuomo. More documents will be released on a rolling basis.
Subject of Investigation
- Former Governor Andrew Cuomo:
Complainants
- Charlotte Bennett
- Lindsay Boylan
- Brittany Commisso
- Kaitlin
- Virginia Limmiatis
- Ana Liss
- Alyssa McGrath
- State Entity Employee #1
- State Entity Employee #2
- Trooper # 1
Rich Azzopardi, spokesman for Cuomo, issued a statement following the release of the transcripts that read in part: “Finally — after three months for stalling — Tish James has been forced to release transcripts as more and more people are questioning her shoddy and politically motivated report. However, these transcripts include questionable redactions, and raise even more questions about key omissions made during this slanted process, which reeks of prosecutorial misconduct. This was clearly done to change the subject."
Cuomo's attorney, Rita Glavin, called James' release of the transcripts "slow-rolling" and a "selective disclosure."
"The Attorney General’s slow-rolling and selective disclosure to the world now of the 41 transcribed interviews (out of the 179 people interviewed and 74,000 documents collected) is obvious: The AG wants to prejudice people against the Governor while the criminal charge unilaterally initiated by Sheriff Apple is pending, and distract from the AG’s misleading and unreliable report," Glavin said in a statement. "The Attorney General deliberately harms a pending case by broadcasting to each witness what other witnesses have testified to, and spreading false and salacious hearsay and rumors. No legitimate law enforcement officer acts like this in a pending case. Disturbingly, this has never been about fairness or due process.”
Meanwhile, complainants McGrath and Limmiatis issued a joint statement thanking "the hard work of the AG's investigators and the courage of all the women who came forward to report their deeply humiliating experiences with Cuomo."
"Today, the AG released 11 transcripts along with a multitude of deposition exhibits related to the investigation into former Governor Cuomo," their joint statement reads. "The materials show the enormous amount of careful work, attention to detail, and amassing and examination of the evidence that supported the AG's report released over the summer, finding Cuomo's repeated, inappropriate behavior as unlawful and a plain violation of New York's discrimination laws. The periodic attempts by Cuomo's hired hands to try to cast doubt on those findings – and Cuomo’s own efforts to diminish these women’s experiences -- simply cannot withstand this onslaught of hard evidence."
