By Fatma Khaled
Staff Writer
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Brittany Commisso, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo's former executive assistant, said his alleged sexual harassment towards her "was a crime."
Commisso publicly spoke out for the first time since she accused New York's top official of sexually harassing her.
"The governor needs to be held accountable," she told CBS This Morning in an interview scheduled to air on Monday.
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Commisso later added: "What he did to me was a crime. He broke the law."
New York Attorney General Letitia James' office recently released a detailed investigative report that alleged Cuomo had sexually harassed 11 women, including Commisso, violating state and federal law.
Commisso, who was previously known only as "Executive Assistant #1," claimed in the report that Cuomo sexually harassed her in 2019 and 2020 during multiple incidents and described explicit details about the sexual harassment she experienced.
The entire 168-page report can be read here. It includes interviews with 179 witnesses and a review of tens of thousands of documents. It details sexual harassment of his own staff in addition to other state employees—which includes a state trooper—as well as members of the public.
Commisso filed a criminal complaint against Cuomo, according to CBS News, with the Albany County Sheriff's Office. The complaint came just days after the attorney general office released the findings of a months-long investigation.
Albany County Sheriff Craig Apple indicated that it's possible the governor could be arrested if the allegations are substantiated.
Meanwhile, Cuomo has denied any wrongdoing, insisting that the report and allegations were motivated by politics. "I never touched anyone inappropriately or made inappropriate sexual advances," he said Tuesday in a taped defense.
On Saturday, a crowd of 20 women rallied in front of Cuomo's New York City office on Saturday in his support, the New York Post reported. Those backers carried signs defending the New York governor, with some of them reading "Governor Andrew Cuomo Getting in Done for New York" and "AG has an Agenda," the latter referring to the New York attorney general.
Federal and state Democratic leaders, including President Joe Biden, have said the governor should resign. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, New York State Democratic Committee Chair Jay Jacobs, Democratic New York City mayoral candidate Eric Adams, and New York Representatives Hakeem Jeffries and Gregory Meeks also called for the governor to step down.
"The governor must make the determination if he's going to resign," Adams told CNN on Thursday. "I hope he will, but he has to make that final determination."
Newsweek contacted Cuomo's office for comments on Commisso's statements, but didn't receive a response by the time of publication.
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