Top Democratic female leaders silent on Cuomo’s sexual harassment allegations

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW:

• Female Democratic officials were largely mum on the issue about New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s alleged sexual harassment scandal against his former aide Lindsey Boylan.
• The Post reached out to Democrat leaders like New York Sen. Kristen Gillibrand, Vice President Kamala Harris, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and others but did not get a response.
• Cuomo’s camp has denied the allegation.

Top women Democrat officials were silent about the sexual harassment accusations made against New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) amid some of them have previously talked about it.

Former Cuomo top adviser Lindsey Boylan accused the governor of abruptly kissing her “on the lips” in 2018. She also said that Cuomo invited her on a “let’s play strip” poker game during an October 2017 flight on the governor’s official plane.

Among the elected officials who did not respond to requests from comments made by Boylan was New York Sen. Kristen Gillibrand.

Gillibrand’s seemingly “mum” demeanor on the controversy came amid being an advocate of a “zero-tolerance” policy that contributed to the 2017 voluntary ouster of former Minessota Democratic Sen. Al Franken, who was then accused of sexual assault.

The Post also reached out for comment about the issue to Vice President Kamala Harris, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA.), and feisty Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY.) but did not get a response. In 2017, Harris, as a senator back then, called on Franken’s resignation.

Fox News also reported that former New York senator and 2016 Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton did not give a response to a similar comment request.

Meanwhile, in a released statement, Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY.) said: “All survivors of harassment and assault deserve to be heard and…have their case thoroughly investigated.”

Boylan’s recent claims provided further details to the accusation she initially revealed last December. Cuomo simply renounced the allegations.

The governor has yet to respond to the recent claims. His press secretary Caitlin Girouard, though, issued a statement on Wednesday: “As we said before, Ms. Boylan’s claims of inappropriate behavior are quite simply false.”

Girouard likewise issued a joint statement from other current and former Cuomo officials who were also on the same flight with Boylan in October 2017.

“We were on each of these October flights and this conversation did not happen,” the statement wrote.

Source: New York Post