New York Assembly To Move On Impeaching Cuomo

August 4, 2021 Democrats, Politics

The Wall Street Journal reports:

Democrats who control the New York state Assembly accelerated their impeachment investigation of Gov. Andrew Cuomo as former supporters called for his removal after a report detailed numerous instances of sexual harassment by the governor.

The Assembly’s judiciary committee, which is conducting the impeachment inquiry, plans to meet Monday and combine the report with evidence it has already collected, members said. The chamber’s Democratic lawmakers convened remotely Tuesday after the release of the 165-page report by state Attorney General Letitia James, Assembly members said.

Lawmakers said there was a consensus during a three-hour conversation that Mr. Cuomo was no longer fit to stay in office. Several legislators who had previously stopped short of calling for the governor to step down did so in public Tuesday, including Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie, a Democrat from the Bronx.

The New York Times reports:

For months, Mr. Heastie had refrained from joining other top New York Democrats in calling for Mr. Cuomo’s resignation, and he opened a shadow Assembly investigation separate from the state attorney general’s inquiry that some saw as a stalling tactic.

His about-face on Tuesday had the governor’s most outspoken critics and shrinking circle of supporters alike pondering the exact meanings of “quickly” and “expeditiously.”

Mr. Heastie’s initial reticence to break with the governor had frustrated some of Mr. Cuomo’s more voluble detractors. But his cautious, consensus-seeking approach may have won him credibility among his legislative colleagues for having waited to see the attorney general’s findings before calling for Mr. Cuomo’s head.

USA Today reports:



After a bombshell report said Gov. Andrew Cuomo harassed at least 11 women in violation of law, his next in line, Lt. Gov. Kathy Hochul, called Cuomo’s documented behavior “repulsive” and “unlawful.”

Hochul, a Buffalo Democrat, would assume governorship in the case of impeachment or resignation of Cuomo. She would also be the state’s first woman governor. In a statement after the release of the report by Attorney General Letitia James’s office on Tuesday, she applauded the women who came forward.

“I believe these brave women and admire their courage coming forward,” Hochul said. But she stopped short of calling for his resignation, saying the Assembly will determine the next steps. Hochul declined to comment further on the process, citing the fact that she stands next in the line of succession.

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