-Dozens of prominent
New York Democrats, from Chuck Schumer
to Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, have called
on Governor Andrew Cuomo to resign after a flood
of sexual harassment allegations and the revelation
that his administration covered up the COVID death toll
in nursing homes. For more on this,
it's time for "A Closer Look." ♪♪ New York Governor Andrew Cuomo has had such a precipitous fall
from grace that, in the span
of just a few months, he's gone from winning an Emmy;
writing a best-selling book; and doing prop comedy
with giant medical swabs on CNN, like a dental hygienist
at a middle school assembly, to facing calls
for his resignation from dozens
of his fellow Democrats, including some of New York's
most prominent lawmakers. -The majority of House Democrats
from New York are calling for Cuomo's
resignation, including Representative
Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez. Chairman of the House Committee
on the Judiciary Jerry Nadler released a statement saying... -More than 50 state Democratic
lawmakers, legislators, signed onto a letter yesterday, also calling on Cuomo
to resign. -It's clear that Governor Cuomo has lost the confidence of his governing partners, as well as the people
of New York. -It is disgusting to me and he can no longer serve
as governor. -It's clear to me
that the governor can no longer be effective. -Governor Cuomo has lost
the confidence of his governing partners and of so many New Yorkers. So, for the good of the state,
he should resign. -First of all, you know
you're in a bad spot when even Chuck Schumer calls
on you to resign. That dude doesn't do
anything hastily. Before he makes any decision, he has to have at least
four brow furrows and inch his glasses
down to the tip of his nose. Chuck Schumer makes decisions
so slowly that, one time, he was ordering
at an Italian restaurant and the waiter
stood there so long, he died of exposure. [ As Schumer ]
Let's see.
Rigatoni? No. Ziti?
Too heavy. Do you have any --
Aah! Second, so many Democrats have
called on Cuomo to resign that, at this point it's easier
to ask who hasn't done so. Good news, Governor --
the Oswego County commissioner for Water and Sewer Service
is standing by us -- Wait. Nope, sorry.
He said you should resign. Somebody call the
Schenectady Parks Department! They'll never turn on us! And, just to give you
a visual representation of the dramatic collapse
of Cuomo's political standing, here he is in November, accepting an Emmy
for his COVID briefings; and here he is on Friday,
at the governor's mansion, wrapped in a blanket,
holding a bottle of something. [ As Cuomo ]
Nobody panic.
We're going to be fine. Now, get me
my thinking blanket. I need to make some calls. It's never good when your
governor starts dressing like Nicole Kidman's therapist
from some HBO murder show. Looks like someone's
deadbeat dad, who hangs around beach bonfires and tries to start sing-alongs
to "Brown Eyed Girl." I'm not saying his
administration is a shipwreck, but that's how guys dressed
when they tried to sneak
onto a Titanic lifeboat. [ Falsetto ]
Am I a man?
Oh, gracious, no. My name is
Mrs., uh, Bottle Blanket. And, yet, Cuomo has, so far,
resisted the pressure to resign, blaming it on council culture and insisting
that he's being targeted because he's not part
of the political establishment. -People know the difference between playing politics, bowing to cancel culture, and the truth. Let the review proceed. I'm not going to resign. I was not elected
by the politicians. I was elected by the people. Part of this is that I am not
part of the political club. -Alright, first of all,
can we now agree that the term cancel culture
is officially meaningless? He's using the same line
as the people who spent the last three weeks
getting mad about the Muppets, Mr. Potato Head,
and Looney Tunes. [ As Cuomo ]
This is just like
what happened to Dr. Seuss. The only difference is I do run the zoo. Second, how can you say you're
not part of the political club? You're the son
of a former governor, you were
in Bill Clinton's Cabinet, your last name is on a bridge. That's like Al Unser Jr. saying
he didn't come from car people. It really can't be understated, just how dramatic a downfall
this has been for Cuomo. It wasn't long ago, of course, that he was winning
national acclaim for his performances
of coronaviruses briefings, where he, among other things, displayed his mastery
of the calendar. -Today is Saturday. That is a fact. Today is Sunday. Today is Friday. Today is Saturday. Today's Monday. Today is Thursday. Today is Saturday. -I mean, it really
gives you an idea of just how surreal
and horrifying the early days
of the pandemic were, that we all found it soothing to watch a guy with all
the charm and charisma of an outer borough
mattress salesman tell us what day
of the week it was. If Andrew Cuomo's dad
hadn't been governor, there's a good chance
he'd be working at one of those used car
dealerships in Queens that does local ads
during Yankee broadcasts. [ As Cuomo ]
Come on down to Cuomo Kiev,
Kew Gardens. Cuomo cars, Cuomo savings. Isn't that right, former Yankees
third baseman Scott Brosius? Today is Monday. Now, that's a home run. Again, I get why we
found them reassuring. I did, too.
I did, too. It was a scary time
and there was a leadership void and he stepped into it.
There were times when I genuinely
did not know what day it was. It's not like I was
grabbing a newspaper on my daily commute
to the attic. The same controlling
authoritarian tendencies Cuomo has displayed
throughout his career also made him
a commanding presence when everyone
was desperate for one. And, as a result, he turned
himself into a TV star, he won an Emmy,
wrote a best-selling book, stirred speculation
that he might run for president or become Joe Biden's
attorney general, and earned a nickname that was
super cringey at the time and, in retrospect,
so much worse. -The governor of New York, Andrew Cuomo, he has been front and center, right? During this pandemic, holding coronavirus briefings
during the week, talking to, updating,
the country. Lately, he has been asked
by many, including his own brother,
CNN's Chris Cuomo, if he will run for president. -We are learning
that Governor Cuomo may be in the running for Joe Biden's
attorney general. -[ Laughing ]
-The Luv Guv, here on "GMA"
this Monday morning. -The Luv Guv? -Yeah, that's
Andrew Cuomo's nickname. You didn't know that?
-Now, you know, I've seen you referred to
a little bit recently as the Luv Guv. -The New York Post dubbed you
the new Luv Guv. -Ugh! No politician should ever
be called the Luv Guv. That sounds like the name
of an early 2000s bro comedy starring Owen Wilson
as a college dropout who accidentally
becomes governor. [ As Wilson ]
Oh, man, I got to clean my room before the legislature
comes over. [ Laughter ] And, now, all that acclaim
has vaporized nearly overnight, as the real Andrew Cuomo
has caught up to the character
Andrew Cuomo was playing on TV, or, as The New Republic
put it... And the newspaper character
is always so much worse
than the TV character. In the newspaper,
those "Fireside" cartoons are just a bunch
of dumb cavemen, but in the TV show,
they were played by Ryan Gosling
and Timothée Chalamet. The point is,
Cuomo's TV audience is now learning
about the real Andrew Cuomo, as he faces accusations
of bullying and abuse of power, creating a toxic workplace
environment, a COVID cover-up, and allegations
of sexual harassment from at least six women. -Over the last two weeks,
six women, including current and former
members of Cuomo's staff, have accused him
of sexual harassment and unwanted advances. -The allegations against Cuomo
range from allegations of inappropriate touching and inquiries about the sex
lives of his subordinates to allegations
of unwanted kissing and a request
to play strip poker during a trip
on a government plane. -Ugh! Why is strip poker
the spin the bottle of gross, older dudes? Also, what's the appeal? Like I don't have a good body, but the worst
it's going to look is naked and hunched over a card table. Plus, it's extra bad for me because my tell,
when I'm bluffing, is my penis gets smaller. That's what happened, everyone! I don't know what to tell you! I was bluffing!
[ Laughter ] Let's let it go
and deal the cards! Apparently, another one
of Cuomo's tactics was to ask female aides
for tech help. One former aide said Cuomo... And then... Nothing says "sexy" like, "I'm too old
to figure out my phone." What a horrible pickup line. That's like saying,
"Hey, babe, got a minute? My VCR keeps blinking 12:00." Also, I'm sorry, you couldn't
find your notes app? It's right there.
It's on the home screen. Looks like a notepad
that says "Notes." How many more clues do you need? [ As Cuomo ]
How do I access it?
Do I yell at it? Notes, open! Begin note. Today is Monday.
[ Laughter ] And, in addition to the sexual
harassment allegations, Cuomo's also dealing
with the fallout from his administration's
alleged cover-up of coronavirus deaths
in nursing homes. Cuomo and his administration
are facing investigations from the FBI and U.S. attorney and an impeachment inquiry
from the state legislature, after the state attorney general
found that his administration had severely undercounted
COVID deaths in nursing homes. -The New York Times
reporting tonight, top aides to New York's
Governor Andrew Cuomo rewrote a report
in summer of last year to hide the number
of nursing home deaths due to the coronavirus. In the wake of Cuomo ordering nursing homes
to take in all individuals, even with COVID, in March 2020, which, critics say,
led to loss of life, some of Cuomo's top aides
allegedly rewrote a June 2020 nursing home report to hide the high COVID
death toll in nursing homes, cutting it by nearly half. -That's right,
they just rewrote the report, they covered it up, they lied,
and, if they lied about the COVID death toll
in nursing homes, you have to ask yourself, "What
else are they lying about?" Wait a second.
Today isn't Saturday! It's Thursday!
And, look, again, I get why. To anyone who watched Cuomo
on TV during the pandemic, this might all be
a little bit shocking, but to people
who have chronicled his career in New York,
it's anything but. For one thing,
Cuomo has long been a nemesis to progressives in the state,
often siding with Republicans, and even helping them maintain
control of the state Senate. For years,
he threatened to destroy Democratic member
of the state assembly Ron Kim, for criticizing his handling
of nursing homes. And, last year, at the same time that he was winning plaudits
for his COVID briefings, he was also proposing
massive cuts to Medicaid, which included $400 million
in cuts to hospitals -- in the middle of a pandemic. That's like showing up
to a burning building with that month's water bill. [ As Cuomo ]
Oof! This is going to be
a hefty one. Cuomo also saw an exodus
of public health officials from his administration,
after he... ...according
to The New York Times, seizing control of the state's
vaccination program, sidelining experts,
and ignoring their advice. And Cuomo even went so far
as to make this stunning remark. -When I say, "experts,"
in air quotes, it sounds like I'm saying I don't really trust
the "experts." Because I don't. Because I don't. -That's some real sports radio
call-in energy. [ As Cuomo ]
Jets are going all the way
next year. Don't trust the experts.
I bet my house on it. Okay, it's in my wife's name. I live in it.
I live in it. Also, really, you think you know
better than the experts? Okay,
Mr. I Can't Find My Notes App. Cuomo's long been known
in New York as a micromanaging bully
who intimidates and coerces people
to get his way, which is why he has
so few friends left, now, as he faces a stampede
of intensifying scandals. And there have been,
in recent days, a series of damning exposes about the toxic culture
of intimidation and imperiousness
he has fostered around him. One of those articles, by New York Magazine's
Rebecca Traister, contains this deeply
revealing anecdote about a party at the governor's
mansion a few years ago... And, yeah, it is.
Can you imagine that happening in any other workplace,
a senior manager joking about not knowing anyone's name? Can you imagine if my team
threw up a photo of our band leader
and I didn't know his name? Ted Ardison? [ Laughter ]
Frud Armissing. The most embarrassing thing
I've ever done at a staff party is try to get
everyone's attention for an inspirational speech
by tapping a glass with a spoon, breaking the glass,
and cutting my finger, passing out
when I saw the blood, and only waking up when Wally threw an entire bucket
of water on me, which, to this day,
seems like overkill. Would you agree,
in hindsight, Wally, that a bucket
was too much water?! Okay, great.
Thank you, Wally. And there have even been
public instances of Cuomo brushing off questions
from journalists about the rampant culture
of sexual harassment in Albany, like this heated exchange
with reporters from 2017, in which he tried to turn
the question back on them. -You did have it going on within your own administration, allegedly, with Sam Hoyt. What could you do differently to, you know,
kind of pick up on that? -Well, look, you have it
going on in journalism. -Yeah, I know. So --
-What are you going
to do differently? -But the question's
about state government. It's not about journalism.
-I could tell you later, in great detail, about that...
-No. -if you're interested.
-It's about you and journalism and it's about you in journalism and it's about state government and it's about carpentry. -You can't just
deflect questions about sexual harassment
by listing off a bunch of random professions. [ As Cuomo ]
It's about carpentry. It's about trucking. It's about scuba diving, flamenco dancing, beekeeping. You guys ever wonder what they're wearing
under those suits? Dozens of the most prominent
Democrats in New York have called on Cuomo to resign. It's a stunning fall from grace. People familiar with the TV
version of Andrew Cuomo are now meeting
the real Andrew Cuomo. Who knows, at this point,
if we'll even make it to the end of the week,
given that... -Today's Monday. -This has been
"A Closer Look." ♪♪ God's Love We Deliver
cooks and brings over two million meals a year to men, women, and children
living with HIV/AIDS, cancer, and other
serious illnesses. They need your help,
now, more than ever. If you're watching this online,
you can hit the Donate button. Stay safe.
Wear a mask. Get vaccinated.
We love you.
Yay obscurity!
“I’m not part of political club”..well that sounds like a load of bollocks..
Also..I know that they’re NYCity people..but I’ve always wondered just who it is that actually votes for this jackass..same as a Nancy Pelosi..What fuckin’ morons are actually out there VOTING for these people?!?
"With all the charm and charisma of an outer-borough mattress salesman" is killing me