Second former aide accuses NY Governor Cuomo of sexual harassment

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo has been accused of sexual harassment for a second time by another former aide of his administration, as per local media reports. 

Charlotte Bennett has accused the governor of asking her personal questions about her sex life, if she has had sex with older men and if she was monogamous in her relationships. 

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She worked as an executive assistant and health policy adviser in the Cuomo administration. However, Charlotte left the job in November. 

The 25-year-old who is a survivor of sexual assault, says the most unsettling incident happened on June 5. While alone with Cuomo in his State Capitol office, the governor asked her if she thought age mattered in romantic relationships and told her he was open to being in being in a relationship with women in their 20s.

These comments were clearly intercepted as hints to wanting a sexual relationship by Bennett. 

He also said he was feeling lonely during the pandemic and complained about not even being able to hug anyone. He then went ahead ask Bennett who she has hugged last. Trying to dodge the questions, she said something about hugging her parents but Cuomo asked her, “No, I mean like really hugged somebody?”

Talking about how all this made her feel, Charlotte said, “I understood that the governor wanted to sleep with me, and felt horribly uncomfortable and scared, and was wondering how I was going to get out of it and assumed it was the end of my job.”

Bennett had disclosed the entire conversation to Jill DesRosiers, Cuomo’s chief of staff. She was transferred to an office on the opposite side of the Capitol as a health policy adviser less than a week later. Bennett also gave a lengthy statement to a special counsel to the governor, Judith Mogul, toward the end of June.

She ultimately decided not to insist on an investigation because she was happy in her new job and no action was taken against Governor Cuomo. 

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Andrew Cuomo said in a statement to The Times on Saturday that he believed he had been acting as a mentor and had “never made advances toward Ms Bennett, nor did I ever intend to act in any way that was inappropriate.” He said he has requested an independent review of the matter and asked that people to await the findings “before making any judgments.”

This is the second sexual harassment charge against Governor Cuomo. Lindsey Boylan, another former aide of the administration has accused Cuomo of “going out of his way to touch me on my lower back, arms and legs.”

Charlotte has shared Lindsey Boylan’s tweet on Twitter.