Democratic parties are Donald Trump are having another chance

Just over a week after Ana Liss publicly accused the new York Governor Andrew Cuomo (D) of inappropriate behavior in the workplace in March 2021, she received a call from Senator Kirsten Gillibrand. New York Democratic Senator wanted to offer his support.

Liss was struggling with the amount of public attention she was receiving; She was the third woman to accuse Cuomo of sexual misconduct in the workplace. “That was very significant and significant to me,” Liss said about the call. “She alluded to her own negative experiences with Cuomo when they worked together in Hud [the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development] Many years ago. “

By August 2021, 12 women had presented their own stories about Cuomo. A investigation By the State Attorney General of New York concluded That Cuomo sexually harassed multiple employees and created a “hostile work environment for women.” Gillibrand, a woman’s main defender, called Cuomo to resign Four months before AG investigation corroborated harassment claims. She was a key voice that helped force a reluctant to give up.

Three years after Cuomo resigned as governor of New York, he is now the favorite in the Democratic primaries for the mayor of New York City. And Gillibrand has changed his tone: “This is a country that believes in the second opportunities. Therefore, it depends on New York voters to decide if you should have a second chance to serve,” recently He told NY1. (Gillibrand’s office did not answer the monitoring questions about his call to Liss).

Liss never waited for things to revert the course so dramatically. “I said that she would continue to be on the side of the women who fought in a toxic environment in the workplace cultivated by Andrew Cuomo,” Liss told News themezone. “I feel ashamed because I felt I was doing something important. I put a lot at stake.”

News themezone spoke with Liss and two other women who publicly accused Cuomo of sexual harassment, as well as lawyers representing four other accusers. The three women who spoke with News themezone said they are deeply disappointed by Cuomo’s return to politics and feel betrayed by the Democrats who once supported them publicly.

Kayla Bartkowski through Getty Images

Many of Cuomo’s accusers told News themezone that they are disconsolate that voters have apparently forgotten their stories or simply do not care. Most are still dealing with the consequences of publicly sharing their experiences, and some are still wrapped in expensive and emotionally drained litigation.

“It is disturbing beyond belief. It is incredibly bleak for me that he has returned at all,” Lindsey Boylan told News themezone, the first woman to accuse Cuomo of sexual harassment. “He is not ashamed. But, of course, we live in a moment and place where so few bad men in power are shame. Uncomiting seems to be their unique superpower.”

Some of the women compared Cuomo’s known bullying and taste for revenge to that of the current president. Karen Hinton, who accused Cuomo in 2021 Of making unwanted sexual advances towards her in 2000, he described the former governor as “Donald Trump himself of the Democratic Party.”

“I think Cuomo, in another timeline, is probably super jealous of Trump,” said Liss. “They use the same play book.”

Although Cuomo denies all the accusations against him, Initially he apologized that some of his comments to an employee were “misunderstood as an unwanted flirt.”

Rita Glavin, Cuomo’s lawyer, responded to News themezone’s request in a long email statement. “This is the United States, and any person defendant has the right to due process and the right to defend themselves, particularly against provenly false accusations,” he wrote.

“The attorney general has the direct responsibility of this disaster. He spent $ 8 million in a poor quality investigation and an inaccurate report to pave the way for his own political campaign for the governor,” Glavin continued. “The Assembly followed its example and spent $ 6 million in its own equally defective label report. These political reports now despised of $ 14 million generated civil lawsuits because the plaintiffs hoped to use the reports to force quick seven -digit agreements.”

Cuomo was the one who initially requested that the office of the state attorney general Letitia James investigated the accusations of sexual harassment against him. When the investigation confirmed 11 of those statements, Cuomo called him a “simulated report” and asked the State Supreme Court to investigate James, claiming that he manipulated the investigation to follow a career for the governor. (A general prosecutor told News themezone: “The former governor has the responsibility of his own actions, full stop. We are behind this investigation and his findings.”

A vindictive mayor?

Cuomo currently leads the other eight democratic candidates with 37% of the primary democratic voters who probably vote for him, according to Recent surveys. Member of the New York State Assembly Zohran Mamdani It is second with 18%, and the remaining candidates are in one digit. It is likely that Cuomo’s dominant lead will probably be due, at least in part, to name recognition.

But women who talked to News themezone are still afraid of what will come if Cuomo triumphs. The former governor is widely known for his Cutthroat tactics, including angry phone calls late at night to anyone who goes against him.

The best Cuomo assistant said his team operates with two speeds: “get along and kill” Connecticut post reported for the first time in 2011 and Politico corroborated again in 2021. Many of the women say that they are intimately familiar with the ability to have the legal system against their detractors, and are concerned about what Cuomo could do them if he becomes mayor.

“We live in a moment and place where so few bad men in power are shame. Disharge seems to be their unique superpower.”

– Lindsey Boylan, first woman to publicly accuse Cuomo of sexual harassment

Mariann Wang has seen how slow and expensive these citations can be for its customers. Wang represents Brittany Commisso, Virginia Limmiatis and Alyssa McGrath, all of whom they have said that Cuomo harassed them sexually when they worked in the governor’s mansion. “Our clients still feel the damage of the abuse of power and harassment of Cuomo, even when they try a return minimizing their misdeeds and punishing the women who presented themselves, using taxpayers’ money,” Wang told News themezone.

Liss told News themezone that his legal invoices were more than $ 30,000 and almost paralyzed his family; Another woman said she has spent about $ 2 million on two demands, none of which is part. (The second woman asked to remain in anonymity to be able to speak frankly about her personal finances). Cuomo is not in the hook of any of his invoices; On the other hand, New York taxpayers have fired the Almost $ 60 million in legal fees that have gone to their defense.

“I had never been in a legal case as a witness or anything before … I would never have known how these things work,” Boylan said. “But the invoices accumulate very quickly, particularly if it faces a defendant whose bills are being covered by another person.”

Glavin told News themezone that it was completely appropriate that the state covered the legal costs of Cuomo. “The state law dictates that the legal rates to defend a lawsuit filed in the context of an official’s state employment are covered by the State. A judge ruled that the law applies to these cases and requires that the State pay defense costs.”

Glavin added that the $ 60 million figure published by the Office of the Comptroller of the New York State is “misleading to the point of being deliberately misleading.” She said that some of the costs have nothing to do with the defense of Cuomo, including the $ 14 million in the Office of the New York Attorney General and the State Assembly spent in investigations on sexual harassment claims against the former governor.

Some demands against Cuomo have been filed on sexual harassment claims. One is a civil lawsuit filed by a state soldier who worked on Cuomo’s security details and said Cuomo harassed her sexually. The state soldier, whose identity has not been revealed in judicial documents, is demanding Cuomo and the State of New York in the current case.

The three women with whom News themezone spoke, and the three represented by Wang, have been cited by Cuomo in this case. This means that women can be deposed, which can be equivalent to many invoicing lawyer. Cuomo spokesman Rich Azzopardi said that Cuomo’s legal team quoted women because the state soldier cited the AG investigation, which names all women, in their original complaint. Two of the women who talked to News themezone, including Liss, were already deposed for the AG investigation, and argue that the testimony could have been used again in the case of state soldiers.

Via News

“A true tragedy in this case is how the state of New York has abandoned the victims,” ​​Valdi Licul, the state soldier’s lawyer, told News themezone.

“It has been found after discovering that these women were sexually harassed,” he said. “Instead of making the victims complete, the State has spent dozens of millions of dollars from taxpayers to defend against their statements. It is morally indefensible.”

Brittany Commissso sued Cuomo and some of his main advisors for sexual harassment in 2023 under the Law of Adult Survivors of the State of New York. Commissso accused Cuomo to put her at 2020 when he worked as an executive assistant. She filed a criminal complaint against Cuomo in 2021, but prosecutors dismissed the charges. He is currently demanding Cuomo and the state of New York under the State’s anti -discrimination law.

Another case focuses on former Cuomo Assistant Charlotte Bennett, who said that Cuomo harassed her sexually when she worked for him in 2020. Bennett filed the demand in 2023 against the state of New York, claiming that the State, as her employer, was responsible for the alleged sexual herb of Cuomo. The suit was established In April. Cuomo now says it is Planning to demand Bennett by defamation.

Bennett withdraw A separate federal demand against Cuomo in December, citing requests for invasive discovery aimed at “shame and humiliate it”, According to Bennett’s lawyer. The legal team of Cuomo used summons to request medical documents ranging from gynecological records to eye exams, including some that date back to when they were a minor.

“Throughout this extraordinarily painful case of two years, I have often believed that I would be better dead than to support more than its litigation abuse,” Bennett saying At that moment she dropped the demand.

Hinton, who accused Cuomo in 2021 To make an unwanted sexual ADVA, she worked for him for years, like her husband, Howard Glaser. In the 2014 Cuomo memories, he described Hinton as part of “My Extended Team, my second family.”

“The majority of people who know Andrew know that this is how he behaves when he does not agree with him. When you do not show him loyalty, when you do not lie for him, this is the way he treats people,” said Hinton, referring to the way she says that Cuomo has used the legal system against many of the women who present themselves.

The litigation has also had a chilling effect: women are afraid to speak with each other for fear of more legal repercussions of the Cuomo team.

Hinton is 66 years old and no longer worries that Cuomo chasing her now that he lives outside the State. “One of the reasons why we left New York was to get away from him,” he told News themezone. But she is worried about the other women, many of whom are young and still live in the area.

If Cuomo wins the Democratic primaries and becomes the mayor of New York City, Hinton is concerned that legal attacks do not stop. It will simply continue with more power and resources.

“This is what I fear, that if it becomes governor again or becomes mayor, a time will be taken after them,” he said. “And he is already doing it in many ways.”

An impressive return

Three years ago, I would have baffled many to know that Cuomo would soon return to a political ticket. In addition to the dozen accusations of inappropriate sexual behavior, Cuomo was the Subject of an investigation of the Congress In accusations that his administration had deliberately obscured the complete reach of the deaths of elderly in New York when he was governor during the Covid-19 pandemic. An investigation by the Office of the State Attorney General of New York found That Cuomo infused the dead number of patients with elderly homes during pandemic. This week, the Department of Justice open A criminal investigation of Cuomo for allegedly lying to Congress during Congress investigation.

If Cuomo had not resigned in 2021, he would probably have faced a political trial investigation.

Since then, investigations on accusations of inappropriate sexual behavior carried out by the New York State Assembly and the Department of Justice Most findings in the initial investigation of the New York Attorney General have corroborated. THE DOJ found That Cuomo “submitted employees to a sexually hostile work environment” and “retaliated employees who talked about harassment.” (Azzopardi, spokesman for Cuomo, referred to the report of the Department of Justice as a “glorified press release” and said that the department did not communicate with the former governor during the investigation).

Cuomo has tried to discredit these findings in several ways, even pointing out that he was never prosecuted for any crime. But sexual harassment is a civil violation, not a criminal crime. The state -level investigation found that it broke multiple state and federal civil laws.

It is difficult not to see all the evidence against Cuomo, and yet, many powerful Democrats have apparently decided to look the other way. Some do not care about Cuomo’s recent past, while others reportedly Know its notoriously vindictive side and does not want to make an enemy of it if you become mayor.

Kent Nishimura through Getty Images

New York Governor Kathy Hochul (D), who replaced Cuomo when she resigned, saying When Cuomo joined the Mareciga career: “I will work with whom the really intelligent voters in New York City decide that they want to be their mayor. That does not deposit me to decide.”

The representative of the Leader of the Chamber of Representatives, Hakeem Jeffries (D), who requested the resignation of Cuomo in 2021, said earlier this year that he would not support a candidate until after the elementary school on June 24. Former President Joe Biden, the representative of California, Nancy Pelosi, the leader of the Senate minority, Chuck Schumer (NY) and other prominent Democrats who were once vowels about Cuomo’s renounced, have been silently upon his return to New York politics.

Hochul, Jeffries and Schumer did not respond to News themezone’s request for comments.

“Honestly, it is shameful for them,” said Erica Vladimer, defender of the victims, to News themezone. Vladimer is a former Senate of the New York State Senate who co -founded the Sexual harassment group After her accused The then senator of the State Jeff Klein (D) to kiss her by force in 2018. A State Ethics Commission opened an investigation in 2019, but the investigation has been continuously delayed. Klein lost Your re -election the next fall.

“It simply shows that they never stopped with the survivors, who were trying to get at the center of attention at a time when standing with the survivors were fashionable,” he added. “Now, we really know what your positions are.”

Gillibrand has faced the greatest criticism of the media, given his years of defense fighting for survivors of sexual assault. When News themezone approached her in Capitol Hill, the senator replied: “I don’t want to expand it now, but I think it depends on voters, and we can have a longer conversation later.”

Hinton was not happy with Gillibrand’s comment that “this is a country that believes in second opportunities.”

“Everyone should be given a second chance once they have been responsible, but he has not been responsible,” he said. “He called all liars. How, in anyone’s mind, can you believe that 12 women decided to make their stories public, but they all lied?”

“Everyone should receive a second chance once they have been responsible, but it has not been responsible.”

– Karen Hinton, who accused Cuomo of making unwanted sexual advances towards her in 2000

When asked why he is being “so soft” in Cuomo, Gillibrand said that Cuomo accepted his punishment when he resigned. “I did my part to stand with the survivors and say that this behavior is unacceptable and that a resignation was needed at that time,” he said, added that many of these questions would be better directed towards Cuomo himself.

“Once again, asking all women to be the judge, jury and defender of every bad behavior of man is harmful,” he told Lehrer. “I would ask [that] You ask these questions to Governor Cuomo … You shouldn’t ask women. “

The forgotten consequences of speaking

When a woman accuses a powerful man of inappropriate sexual behavior, the media enter a kind of frenzy. The name of the woman is in all the headlines of National News, the Parlantes heads dissect their history, and the people on social networks, followers and trolls equally, weigh their credibility. Liss, who received that call from Gillibrand, was not ready for the avalanche of public attention she received when she spoke.

Liss sent questions from friends, co -workers and family. The people with whom he had not spoken in years approached her. It was an incredibly stressful moment for her and her family, she said. The transformation of his fingerprint, which is now his experience with Cuomo cries.

“I didn’t realize that this may be in my obituary someday, and that stinks,” he told News themezone.

Over time, colleagues began to treat her differently. “I could feel, among certain people, people were taking a different tone,” Liss said about his work in politics. “There was a feeling of ‘Well, Ana, you made your bed, and now you have to sleep in it,” he said. “As, ‘you know that this man is cruel and will not stop at anything to return to people. He is known for being vindictive, so why is it surprised that he goes after you?'”

Liss, who has two young children, says she finally paid her legal invoices after being dragged into the case of the state soldier by the legal team of Cuomo. He is terrified of talking to any of the other women because he fears that Cuomo the Choe again, and simply does not have the money for more legal expenses.

After everything that has happened, it is an intestine to think that New Yorkers have forgotten or simply do not care about their history. “We are willing to look the other way because there is a larger boogey monster, there are bigger evils in the world,” said Liss, referring to the Trump administration. “So we are willing to take, I suppose, the minor of two ills … I’m scared. I’m sad.”

“But looking back, I have thought a lot about this, would I have done it again?” She reflected. “I think I would have done it because it was right.”

The primary elections of the Democratic Mayor’s Office of New York City are held on June 24. The early vote begins on June 14. The general elections for the Mayor of New York City will be held on November 4, 2025.

Igor Bobic contributed Washington reports, DC

CORRECTION: An earlier version of this article indicated badly how many current demands are ongoing against Cuomo.