New York Governor's Ex-Aide Joins Another Staffer In Accusing Cuomo Of Sexual Harassment

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 28th February, 2021) A total of two women have now come forward with sexual harassment allegations against New York Governor Andrew Cuomo.

Charlotte Bennett, who worked as an executive assistant and health policy adviser in the Cuomo administration last year, told The New York Times on Saturday that the governor had asked her intimate personal questions, such as whether she "had ever been with an older man."

"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, 25, said.

Earlier this week, Cuomo's former aide Lindsey Boylan detailed several harassment incidents involving the governor. She said Cuomo kissed her in his Manhattan office and asked her to play strip poker during a plane ride.

Cuomo has denied Boylan's allegations and also said that he never made advances toward Bennett either.

"The last thing I would ever have wanted was to make her feel any of the things that are being reported," Cuomo said in response to Bennett's allegations.

"This situation cannot and should not be resolved in the press; I believe the best way to get to the truth is through a full and thorough outside review and I am directing all state employees to comply with that effort," the governor stressed.

Earlier, Cuomo's office announced that it was launching an "independent review" into the allegations made by Boylan. The review will be conducted by former Federal Judge Barbara Jones, according to Cuomo counsel Beth Garvey.

Earlier this month, US federal prosecutors launched an inquiry into the Cuomo administration's handling of the COVID-19 pandemic in state-run nursery homes.

Cuomo's order in late March required nursing homes to admit COVID-19 patients discharged from hospitals, while prohibiting nursing homes from testing patients before entry to determine if they remained contagious.

Last month, a report by the state attorney general put the nursing home COVID-19 death toll at 13,500 deaths, up from the official 8,500 toll. Subsequent media reports now place the actual toll at about 15,000.

Cuomo, a Democrat, has continued to reject the allegations.