I'm joined here today by Anne Clark in June. Kim, the two lead attorneys who were designated a special deputies to the Attorney General's office to announce the findings of their investigation into allegations of sexual harassment made against Governor Andrew Cuomo. I'll make a brief statement and then turn it over to uh miss Clark and to mister Kim who will delve into the investigations findings The independent investigation has concluded that Governor Andrew Cuomo sexually harassed multiple women and in doing so, violated federal and state law specifically the investigation found that Governor Andrew Cuomo sexually harassed current and former New York State employees by engaging in unwelcome and non consensual touching and making numerous offensive comments of a suggestive and sexual nature that created a hostile work environment for women. The investigator independently corroborated and substantiated. These facts through interviews and evidence including contemporaries, notes, and communications. This evidence will be made available to the public along with the report This investigation was started after a number of women publicly alleged that they had been sexually harassed by Governor Cuomo and on March 1st of this year, the governor's office made a referral to my office pursuing to state executive law 63 eight regarding these allegations executive law section 6338 permits the New York Attorney General's Office with the approval of the governor or directed by the governor. to inquire into matters concerning the public peace. The public safety, and public justice This referral issued by the governor enabled my office to appoint independent outside to look into these allegations and on March, 8th 2021, Anne Clark, June Kim, they were officially deputized as special deputies a partner at Vlad Raskin and Clark PC where she focuses on employment law issues. on behalf of employees at the trial and appellate levels and during our more than 30 year career, miss Clark has represented clients in a variety of employment, sexual harassment, and other discrimination cases in the private sector in education and in government. She also has deep experience with retaliation whistleblower, breach of contract and compensation and benefit of cases. June, Kim is a partner at Cleary Gottlieb, Steen and Hamilton LLP and for more than two decades, he has worked at the highest levels of government and in private practice, for March. 2017 to January, 2018, he served as the acting United States attorney for the Southern District of New York as the most senior federal law enforcement officer in the district. He oversaw all Experience. credible and deeply respected professionals. together. they ensure that this investigation was both independent. and thorough. Over the course of the 5 month investigation, the investigators spoke to 100 179 individuals including complaints, current, and former members of the executive chamber State troopers, additional state employees, and otherswho interacted regularly with the governor. In addition, they reviewed more than 74 74 thousand pieces of evidence including do Emails. texts, audio files, and pictures. Governor Cuomo sexually harassed current and former state employees in violation of both federal and state laws. The independent investigation found that Governor Cuomo's sexually harassed multiple women many of whom were young women. by engaging in unwanted groping kisses, hugging, and by making inappropriate comments. further, the governor and his senior team took actions to retaliate against at least one former employee for coming forward. with her story. Her Governor Cuomo's administration fostered a toxic workplace that enabled harassment and created a hostile work environment. where staffers did not feel comfortable coming forward with complaints about sexual harassment due to a climate of fear. And given the power dynamics, The investigators found that Governor Cuomo's actions and those of the executive chamber violated multiple state and federal laws as well as the executive chamber's own written policies. This investigation has revealed conduct that cordes the very fabric and character of our state government and shines light on injustice that can be present at the highest levels of government. but none of this, none of this would have been illuminated if not for the heroic women who came forward and I am inspired by all the brave women who came forward. and I thank them for their bravery. and I thank the independent investigators, their professionalism despite the attacks, and for their determination. that brought us to the truth. through the report and their findings. Thank you, Attorney General James. Good morning. My name is June Kim. along with my colleague, Anne Clark. We have led the teams at our two We have let our teams at our two law firms in conducting the investigation into allegations of sexual harassment by Governor Cuomo We have now completed our investigation and have made our findings and reached our conclusions. They're set forth in a detailed report issued today. specifically, you find that the governor sexually harassed a number of current and former New York State employees He did so by among other things engaging in unwelcome and non consensual touching. And also repeatedly making comments of a sexualized or gender based nature. Our investigation revealed that these were not isolated incidents. They were part of a pattern The governor's pattern of sexually harassing behavior was not limited to members of his own staff but extended to other state employees including a state trooper who served on his protective detail. There are eleven complaints whose allegations are set forth in great detail in the report Nine of them are or were employed by the state of New York or a state affiliated entity met with him regularly as an executive assistant or as members of his staff or as a as a trooper on his protective detail while others only met him once. but all of them experienced harassing conduct from the governor. Some suffered through unwanted touching and grabbing of their most intimate body parts. suffered through repeated offensive, sexually suggestive or gender based cons. A number of them endured both None of them welcomed it. and all of them found it disturbing, humiliating, uncomfortable. and inappropriate. And now we find that that it was unlawful, sex based harassment. Our investigation has also found that the executive chamber responded to allegations of sexual harassment in ways that violated their own internal policies. and also constituted unlawful retaliation with respect to one of the complaints hand. while normalizing frequent flirtation and gender-based comments by the governor and the other. created the conditions that allowed the sexual harassment and retaliation to occur and to persist as attorney general has said, we reached these findings and conclusions after a thorough and independent investigation. we were allowed to and did follow the facts without fear, without favor. As you'll see in the report, our findings are supported by extensive evidence that includes interviews and testimony from 179 witnesses and review of tens of thousands of documents. I'll turn it over to my colleague, Anne Clark to walk through some of the specifics related to the sexual harassment. the policy violations, and the retaliation we find that the governor on many occasions engaged in sex based harassing conduct, and conversations The most serious with the was governor's unwelcome physical contact with women including touching intimate body parts. He engaged in this conduct with state employees including those who didn't work in the executive chamber as well as non employees one current employee who we identify as executive assistant. number one, endured, repeated physical violations. on November 16th 2020 in the executive mansion, the governor hugged executive assistant number one and reached under her blouse to grab her breast This was the the culmination of of a pattern of inappropriate sexual conduct including numerous close and intimate hugs where the governor held her so closely that her breast were pressed against his body and he sometimes run Hands up and down his back while he did so. there are also several occasions on which the governor grabbed her butt executive assistant number one had vowed that she was going to take these violations as she put it to the grave. She was terrified that if she spoke out, she would lose her job but she broke down in front of colleagues when she heard the governor on March. 3rd 2021 in his press conference claimed that he had never touched anyone inappropriately. She didn't and her coworkers who saw her breakdown as to what had happened and they were the ones that reported the conduct to attorneys and the executive chamber The governor also several times inappropriately touched a state trooper assigned to the unit to protect the governor in an elevator while standing behind the trooper. he ran his finger from her neck down her spine and said, hey, you another time she was standing holding the door open for the governor as he He took his open hand and ran it across her stomach from her belly button to where the hip where she keeps her gun She told us that she felt completely violated to have the governor touch her as she put it between her chest and her privates. The governor also inappropriately touched women who were attending work related events at which the governor made remarks at one event in September. 2019 while having his picture taken with an employee of a state entity. the governor grabbed young woman's butt. at another event in May of 2017, the governor pressed and ran his fingers across the chest of a woman while reading the name of her company who's logo was on her chest. The governor also engaged in a widespread pattern of subjecting women to unwanted hugs and kisses and touching them in ways that made them uncomfortable. conduct that is not just old fashioned affectionate behavior as he and some of his staff members would have it but unlawful sex based harassment. In addition to the physical contact. our investigation found that the governor regularly made comments to staff members and state employees that were offensive and gender based. For example, the governor crossed the line many times when speaking with Charlotte Bennett, a brief or an executive assistant uh particularly in spring of 2020 when she confided in the governor that she been sexually assaulted in college. He asked her for the details of her assault And what she thought about monogamy. He speculated on how her history as a sexual assault survivor might affect her romantic life. He's told her that she looked like Daisy Duke He suggested that she got a tattoo She was contemplating on her butt and asked her if she had any piercings anywhere other than her ears. Miss Bennett texted to a friend on the day where many of these comments were made that she was upset and confused and that she was shaken Another example is the governor's comments to the state trooper. The same trooper he touched on the stomach and back after the governor had become single, he asked the trooper how old she was when she responded that she was in her late 20s. He said, that's too old for him. He then asked her how much of an age difference he thought he could have between him and a girlfriend and have the public still accept it. She suggested it might be a good idea to stick with women at least as old as your daughters. She then tried to deflect the conversation by asking the governor what he was looking for in a girlfriend. He responded that he was looking for somebody who could handle pain Another time when the governor found out that the trooper was engaged, he asked her why she'd want to get married because among other things, your sex drive goes down as detailed in the report, employees recounted a of similarly offensive comments and conversations such as the governor repeatedly asking executive assistant number one whether she would cheat on her husband to her. If you were single, the things I would do to you. telling her that she looked great for her age which was early 30s and for a mother calling her and coworker, Alyssa Mcgrath, mingle mamas comparing Lindsay Boylan to a more attractive version of one of his ex girlfriends and actresses. Women also described to us having the governor seek them out stare intently at them, look them up and down or at their chest or butt. in some, the governor routinely interacted with women in ways that focused on their gender. sometimes in explicitly sexualized manner in ways that women found deeply humiliating and offensive both federal and state law prohibit gender based harassment in the workplace. In fact, the governor himself in August of 2019 uh passed a law to change eliminated in New York State. the requirement that harassing conduct needed to be severe or pervasive in New York Women need only show that she was treated less. Well, at least in part because of her gender. The governor's conduct detailed in the report clearly meets and far exceeds the standard We also find the executive chamber failed to follow its own harassment of policies and procedures. Ones that on paper are consistent with New York legal requirements. This was exemplified by the handling of Charlotte Bennett's complaint in June of 2020. Miss Bennett told the governor's chief of staff about recent conversations of a sexual nature that was so uncomfortable that she no longer wanted to interact with the governor. The chief of staff relayed miss Bennett's complaints to others in the governor's inner circle and transferred miss Bennet within days. 2. weeks later, the chief of staff and a special counsel spoke with miss Bennett who detailed interactions with the governor that went back to May of 2019 the chief of staff and special counsel both Phantoms Bennett to be credible. The chief of staff consulted with the special counsel and with Melissa Derosa, the secretary to the governor and they decided they did not need to report this to the governor's Office of employee relations goer or conduct any meaningful investigation. They simply Miss Bennett and instituted a policy of not having a junior staffer be alone with the governor and even that they said was to protect the governor That response we find was a violation of the executive Chamber's harassment policy which clearly requires that all possible harassment be reported to go and investigated Now, 6, months later in December of 2020, when Lindsay Boylan tweeted that she had been sexually harassed by the governor, the executive Chamber once again failed to report the issue to go Although mister Rosa, the special counsel and certain other advisers knew about the allegations that Charlotte Bennett had made that the special counsel had found credible. No one treated miss Boyd's allegations seriously other than as a threat to the governor rather than any effort to determine if the governor had engaged in a pattern of sexually harassing behavior. A team of senior staffers, former staffers, and outside confidants with no official title or mobilized to attack and try to neutralize miss Boylan by sharing disparaging information with the press within hours of miss Boyd's December 13th 2020 tweet alleging sexual harassment key members of the governor's inner circle had to pay confidential memos. ones that were stamped attorney-client privilege. They were primarily about an interaction between this Boylan and an assistant So, then, redacted the names of individuals other than miss Boylan and started sending memos to reporters There was also a proposed letter or op-ed drafted by the governor that went through several drafts. The letter attacked miss Boylan for alleged conduct at work for alleged conduct with men other than the governor as well as posturing various political conspiracies including the Miss Boylan was funded by far right Republicans and supporters of Donald Trump A letter was never published. It was sent or read to a variety of people outside the executive chamber either to get their advice or ask them to sign their names to it and shared ultimately with at least one member of the press. The governor was arguing for the release of that letter. He was finally convinced to abandon it by a number of people who thought the letter was a bad idea in part because what was in the letter couldn't be substantiated and because I thought that victim shaming would be bad as a strategy both federal and state law prohibited employer from taking any action. They would dissuade a reasonable employee or former employee for making or supporting a charge of discrimination. under that standard. The confidential release of the internal records to the press and the dissemination of the letter disparaging Miss constituted unlawful retaliation. I will now turn it back to mister Kim to say a few words about our findings with respect to the workplace culture within the Executive Chamber. Thank you, miss Clark. as set forth in our report, we find that the culture within the executive chamber contributed to the conditions that allowed the governor's sexually harassing conduct to occur and to persist the culture also informed the way in which the executive chamber responded to allegations of sexual harassment as miss Clark has described through violations of their own policies and through unlawful reta What was the culture? Words that witnesses have used repeatedly to describe it include toxic hostile, abusive others Use words like fear, intimidation, bullying, vindictive, as one senior Stafford stated bluntly as a sexual harassment, allegations became public in March of this year in text exchanges. uh with others with another in the executive in the administration. I quote, hopefully when this is all done, people will realize the culture even outside of the sexual harassment stuff is not something you can get away with. You can't and terrify people. 24/7. It was a culture where you could not say no to the governor and if you and if you upset him or his him or his senior staff, you'll be written off cast aside or worse but at the same time, the witnesses described a culture that normalized and overlooked everyday flirts physical and intimacy and inappropriate comments by the governor one senior staff who testified that it uh at a work event. She sat on the governor's lap Anothe staffer said she recalled uh kissing the governor on the lips The governor testified that those things may have happened with senior staffers one complainant described her interactions with the governor by saying they were quote strange and uncomfortable but it was like the twilight zone. The typical rules do not apply. You should just view it as a compliment. If the governor finds you aesthetically pleasing enough close quote, the coexistence and the executive chamber. Executive Chamber's culture of fear and flirtation, intimidation, and intimacy. abuse, and affection created a work environment, ripe for harassment as another complainant testified and I quote, what makes it so hard to describe every single inappropriate incident is the culture of the place On the one hand, He makes all this inappropriate and creepy behavior. normal and like you should not complain On the other hand, you see people getting punished and screamed at If you you do anything where you disagree with him or his top aides, I really just wanted to go to work. and be recognized for my work and nothing else close quote. Charlotte Bennett, the complainant. this clock mentioned who was transferred after she inappropriate comments by the governor to senior staff summarize her experience in a text message as follows. Quote, the the verbal abuse intimidation and living in constant fear We're all horribly toxic. dehumanizing, and traumatizing, and He came on to me. I was scared to imagine what would happen if I rejected him. So, I disappeared. Instead, My time in public service ended. because he was bored and lonely. It still breaks my heart. That's a quote from a text that miss Bennett wrote. the culture. This culture made it all the more difficult. if not impossible for complainant to report the harassment from which they were suffering particularly when the harasser was the governor of the state of New York. But one by one. one courageous woman after another step forward. they step forward to say enough is enough. at the hands of the governor. In our report, we've used their words and their words so long silenced, speak loudly for themselves. These brave women stepped forward to speak truth to power. And in doing so, they expressed faith in the belief that although the governor may be powerful, the truth is even more so This is what lies at the heart of our investigation and the findings in our report. We will now take questions and the questioning will be directed by Delaney Kepner. Say your name and your outlets from CBS. I wonder if you can tell me if the governor will be facing and I know this is a civil investigation but when you're making any referrals to prosecutors so that he could take state or federal charges Uh our work is concluded um and the document is now public. um and the matter is a civil in nature um and it's not um does not have any criminal consequences. It is my own understanding. Um I have one I will state that it's our understanding that for the young woman who's um breast was groped at the Albany Police Department already has a report about that. Um as for anything else as uh the attorney general stated uh all the information is fully documented in the report and any prosecutors or police departments can look at the evidence and determine if they want to take further action. I just have a blast. Um now that the support has concluded, will your office be sharing it with the Assemblies Committee that is investigated These are impeachable offenses and uh what's the coordination between the authors and the there is no coordination between the office of Attorney General and the Assembly. The document is now public and will be distributed to members of the assembly as well as the leadership He's um the governor. You introduce Bernadette Hogan from New York Post. Um can the governor be sued in any way? Is there a statute of limitations or are there any penalties specifically how to this report? is for sure. there's no penalty specifically tied to this report. Um the women can decide some of the women can decide themselves if they want to bring a civil action. Um the statute of limitations is generally 3 years under one federal statute in the state law and a little bit shorter and another federal statute although for hostile work environments as long as one act occurs within the statue of Haitians one can go back to cover the entire hostile work environment and in regards to the violation against defects, um policy what what kind of uh violations could be um that I can to give us a law That's why we find that certainly is taken into account in determining liability for sexual harassment. Can I ask you? Do you, do you think the governor has given the devastating nature of this report and I get what you're saying about? It's up to local prosecutors if they want to move forward on this. If you think that this would all be wrapped up well, if you would please A decision ultimately is up to the governor of the state of New York. The report speaks for itself and right now, I think we should all be focused on the courageous and bravery of the women who came forward and all of us should be focused on keeping women safe. Believe in women, um and allowing women to speak their truth and that's exactly what this document does. reset from Wn Bc. You mentioned in your opening remarks today. defending the credentials of your investigators. Today, we personally bothered by the governor's own remarks in the past week or so that you could just Google their backgrounds and draw your own conclusion that this is a politically motivated investigation. There were attempts to undermine and to politicize this investigation and there were attacks on me as well as members of the team which I find a and our focus should be on the bravery and the courage of these eleven women and of the others who came forward. These allegations were substantiated. They were corroborated and the team before you miss Clark and mister Kim are professionals who will widely respected not only in New York but all across this nation. and I support their work will defend their work and I believe these women that came from New York one, you mentioned that it corroborated a lot of people with the witness testimony was we spoke with her in the investigation when you interviewed Governor Cuomo, did he admit to or deny the majority of what was said here? There was a combination. There are some incidents that he admitted to but had had different interpretation of um and there are other things that he denied or said he didn't recall add a little bit more. New. Can you speak a little bit more about what that conversation that 11 hour conversation was like the other week? I can't recount all of it out of it. Um um as I said, there were certain things like he admitted that he asked miss Bennett whether she had been involved with older men Um he denied um touching the state trooper although he said he might have kissed her at an event um and there were certain things that he turned around said that for example, the executive assistant number one that he did hug her repeatedly claimed she was the one who initiated the hugs. So, it was a mixture of admitting to certain things but putting a different spin on them and denying others. you don't outline in the report So, what are the next steps here? You have this report obviously, a lot of the devastating information in it. A lot of people are going to ask, okay, so, what happens next and you're not referring it to a criminal charges. What are the next steps that you would like to see perhaps maybe uh the assembly tape or someone else take uh to to have some other kind of punishment or something else here? uh because right now it just seems like you have this report and it's out there and you're We were tasked with the responsibility of engaging in an investigation. um and we have concluded our investigation um and our work is done and so as a as a as it relates to next steps that's entirely up to the governor and or the assembly and the general public but the work of the office of the Attorney general special deputies has concluded. Do you think the governor should run for reelection? That's a political the work of the office of the general is done. We're going to take two more questions in here and then, we're going to go over Hi, Dana Ruben from the New York Times. Uh this little bit of a hypothetical that's an individual with a history of running a workplace like this. We're running for governor when you're that person fit to serve as the leader of New York City having a speculation. Dana um and the report speaks for itself. They substantiated and corroborated the allegations and have issued findings and affect the governor violated state and federal laws. This is the last time here We're going to go. Adam. Adam Reese. NBC news as a prosecutor and as an attorney general. Are you frustrated that you can't move? I am a criminally on these charges? Numerous charges that you and the investigators that said both state that violated state and federal law It's an issue of being frustrated. The issue we were tasked with the responsibility by the governor of the state of New York to issue a report and we have issued this report and all throughout the process. We put our heads down. We've done our work and at this point, the lab, we're going to allow the chips to fall where they may okay? We're going to go virtual now, Fabian Thank you everybody. Uh if you have a question, please click the raise hand button. If you have a question, please click the raise hand button. First, we're going to hear from John Campbell from Gwinnett. John, your mic is open. Hi, Attorney General. Uh a couple of questions and and I apologize. It's it's tough to hear some of the the questions so that some of these might be uh repeats here but uh the investigation into the governor's book. Book deal as well as the staff resources that we used on that. Does that remain ongoing? That's that's that's separate from this is it's still ongoing and also can't. can you make some sort of formal referral to prosecutor's offices based on uh on this report today or is that something that they would have to pick up the ball on on their own? Um the investigation with respect to the book and whether or not public resources were utilized is ongoing and it's separated and apart from this investigation and with regards to criminal jurisdiction, criminal jurisdiction usually is uh conveyed upon the office of attorney general. Usually we a request under the executive law and at this this point in time, our work is concluded um and we will not be engaging in any criminal investigation with respect to the conduct of the governor of the state of New York Our second question is from Josh Doy from Washington Post. Josh, your line is open. Josh, you have to unmute your line. Can you hear me now? I'm sorry. Yeah, we can hear you, Josh. I said, hi, Attorney General. I'm Josh There appeared to be uh about eleven uh allegations here. Eleven uh different victims. Did you find all eleven of the victims who came forward uh uh to be a credible and we're able to find contemporaries, uh notes or proof about uh all eleven of the uh of the victims We found all eleven women to be credible. Um there was corroborate to varying degrees. Um probably at the end of the most corroborated um Charlotte Bennett um talk to people and texted people. um contemporaries some of her texts were practically in real time regarding conversations with the governor. um as well. The reports that she made to the chief of staff and the special counsel, their contemporaries notes are quite consistent with what she's said to the press and what she told us. the state trooper. um the the touching incidents, um the the one where he touched her stomach was witnessed by another state trooper who confirmed it to us. Um the kiss of the governor kissed her once. that was confirmed to us by another state trooper and there were other incidents where she told people at the time other people that we spoke to um did tell people at the time and we confirmed with the people they spoke with or had written do either text messages or Emails in which they recounted things, contemporaries. So, when you see the report, um everything is is is documented. Things were very well corroborated. Next question is from Emma Kerry from Bloomberg News. Emma, your line is open. Hello. Thank you. Um I was wondering, you said that your work is done but there's still a criminal matter in place. What would you, what will happen from there? So, um I cannot speculate as to what will happen from external agencies and or external legislative bodies that is entirely up to them but as far as the office of Attorney General is uh is concerned our office and our investigation has concluded. We will be issuing report was long along with evidence. To the general public. Our next question is from Brian Toll from the New York Law Journal. Yes. Can you hear me okay? Yes. Um so II know that there's mention of a report to Albany Police Department regarding uh the groping incident. Can you specify if that was made by the executive chamber or has uh the victim herself stepped forward and given a report to the Albany Police Department. It's our understanding that the report was made by the executive Chamber Our last question is from Rebecca Lewis from City and State. Rebecca, your line is open. Hi, attorney General. Um I just wanted to ask, you know, with this report out now, you said that you're not going to speculate on whether the governor has been to serve or if he should run again. What do you want the public to take away from this report? that these eleven women were in a hostile and toxic work environment and that we should believe women and that what we have an obligation and a duty to do is to protect women in their workplace and what this investigation revealed was a disturbing pattern of conduct. by the governor of the great state of New York. and those who basically did not put in place any protocols or procedures to protect these young women who believed in public service. I believe women and I believe these eleven women I thank you all for being here this morning. Thank you.
