ALBANY, N.Y. — New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo has dug in for the fight of his political life despite the threat of potential criminal investigations and widespread calls for his impeachment over findings that he sexually harassed 11 women, including close aides.
Scores of Democrats, including President Joe Biden, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and some past Cuomo loyalists, have urged him to leave office or face an impeachment battle he probably cannot win.
About two-thirds of state Assembly members have already said they favor an impeachment trial if he refuses to resign. Nearly all 63 members of the state Senate have called for Cuomo to step down or be removed.
“My sense is from what I’m hearing is he’s still looking for ways to fight this and get his side of the story out,” state Democratic party Chairman Jay Jacobs said in an interview with The Associated Press. But Jacobs added: “I just think that he’s going to, at some point, see that the political support is just not anywhere near enough to even make an attempt worthwhile.”
The governor’s lawyers have promised what will likely be a drawn-out fight to stay in office.
“I am not aware of the governor having plans to resign,” Cuomo lawyer Rita Glavin told CNN on Saturday.
Cuomo — who for months said the public would be “shocked” once he shared his side of the story — has not spoken publicly since the release of a 168-page report written by two independent attorneys who were selected by the state attorney general to investigate.
A female executive assistant who accused Cuomo of groping her said Sunday that what the governor did to her was a crime. She was the first woman to file a criminal complaint against Cuomo.
In her first public interview in which she identified herself, Brittany Commisso told “CBS This Morning” and the Albany Times-Union that the governor “needs to be held accountable.”