REPORT OF INVESTIGATION INTO ALLEGATIONS OF SEXUAL HARASSMENT BY GOVERNOR ANDREW M. CUOMO STATE OF NEW YORK OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL LETITIA JAMES Anne L. Clark Yannick Grant Vladeck, Raskin & Clark, P.C. Joon H. Kim Jennifer Kennedy Park Abena Mainoo Rahul Mukhi Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP August 3, 2021 i TABLE OF CONTENTS EXECUTIVE SUMMARY .......................................................................................................... 1 BACKGROUND OF THE INVESTIGATION........................................................................ 14 I. Legal Authority Under N.Y. Executive Law § 63(8) ............................................................ 14 II. Summary of the Investigative Procedure ............................................................................... 14 FACTUAL FINDINGS ............................................................................................................... 16 I. Findings Related to Allegations of Governor Cuomo’s Misconduct .................................... 16 A. Former and Current State Employees ................................................................................ 16 i. Executive Assistant #1............................................................................................... 16 ii. Trooper #1 ................................................................................................................. 33 iii. Charlotte Bennett ....................................................................................................... 44 iv. Lindsey Boylan .......................................................................................................... 65 v. Alyssa McGrath ......................................................................................................... 77 vi. Ana Liss ..................................................................................................................... 81 vii. Kaitlin ........................................................................................................................ 85 viii. State Entity Employee #1. ......................................................................................... 93 ix. State Entity Employee #2 .......................................................................................... 97 B. Other Complainants ........................................................................................................... 99 i. Virginia Limmiatis .................................................................................................... 99 ii. Anna Ruch ............................................................................................................... 102 II. The Governor’s and the Executive Chamber’s Response to Allegations ............................ 103 III. The Culture and Practices of the Executive Chamber Under Governor Cuomo ................ 117 A. Normalization of the Governor’s Sexual or Other Sex-/Gender-Based Conduct as a Preferred Alternative to Poor Treatment .......................................................................... 119 B. Focus on Secrecy, Loyalty, and Fear of Retaliation ........................................................ 125 C. Poor Enforcement of Sexual Harassment Training and Reporting Mechanism .............. 127 RELEVANT LAW .................................................................................................................... 130 I. Background .......................................................................................................................... 130 II. Gender-Based Harassment .................................................................................................. 130 A. Employer Liability ........................................................................................................... 134 B. Executive Chamber Policy ............................................................................................... 135 ii III. Retaliation ............................................................................................................................ 136 A. Elements of a Claim ......................................................................................................... 137 B. Employer’s Rationale and Pretext ................................................................................... 140 C. Executive Chamber Policy ............................................................................................... 140 D. Individual Liability .......................................................................................................... 141 THE INVESTIGATION’S CONCLUSIONS......................................................................... 142 I. The Governor Engaged in Conduct that Constituted Sexual Harassment Under Federal and State Law ......................................................................................................... 142 II. The Executive Chamber’s Failure to Report and Investigate Allegations of Sexual Harassment Violated Their Own Internal Policies .............................................................. 149 A. The Executive Chamber’s Handling of Charlotte Bennett’s Complaint ......................... 149 B. The Executive Chamber’s Handling of Other Complaints .............................................. 153 III. The Response to Lindsey Boylan’s Allegation of Sexual Harassment Constituted Unlawful Retaliation............................................................................................................ 155 IV. The Culture and Environment of the Executive Chamber Contributed to the Conditions that Led to Sexual Harassment and the Problematic Responses to Allegations of Harassment................................................................................................... 161 CONCLUSION ......................................................................................................................... 165 1 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY We, the investigators appointed to conduct an investigation into allegations of sexual harassment by Governor Andrew M. Cuomo, conclude that the Governor engaged in conduct constituting sexual harassment under federal and New York State law. Specifically, we find that the Governor sexually harassed a number of current and former New York State employees by, among other things, engaging in unwelcome and nonconsensual touching, as well as making numerous offensive comments of a suggestive and sexual nature that created a hostile work environment for women. Our investigation revealed that the Governor’s sexually harassing behavior was not limited to members of his own staff, but extended to other State employees, including a State Trooper on his protective detail and members of the public. We also conclude that the Executive Chamber’s culture—one filled with fear and intimidation, while at the same time normalizing the Governor’s frequent flirtations and gender-based comments—contributed to the conditions that allowed the sexual harassment to occur and persist. That culture also influenced the improper and inadequate ways in which the Executive Chamber has responded to allegations of harassment.1 The Governor’s Sexually Harassing Conduct The Governor’s sexually harassing conduct, established during our investigation and described in greater detail in the factual findings of this Report, includes the following: • Executive Assistant #1.2 Since approximately late 2019, the Governor engaged in a pattern of inappropriate conduct with an executive assistant (“Executive Assistant #1”), who is a woman. That pattern of conduct included: (1) close and intimate hugs; (2) kisses on the cheeks, forehead, and at least one kiss on the lips; (3) touching and grabbing of Executive Assistant #1’s butt during hugs and, on one occasion, while taking selfies with him; and (4) comments and jokes by the Governor about Executive Assistant #1’s personal life and relationships, including calling her and another assistant “mingle mamas,”3 inquiring multiple times about whether she had cheated or would cheat on her husband, and asking her to help find him a girlfriend. These offensive interactions, among others, culminated in an incident at the Executive Mansion in November 2020 when the Governor, during another close hug with 1 As set forth below in the Relevant Law section, discrimination in the workplace on the basis of sex or gender and retaliation for complaints about such discrimination violate Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Section 1983 (42 U.S.C. § 1983), and New York State Human Rights Law (N.Y. Exec. Law § 290, et seq.). 2 Many of the individuals we interviewed during our investigation expressed concern and fear over retaliation and requested that, to the extent possible, their identities not be disclosed. Thus, we have sought to anonymize individuals as much as possible, while ensuring the Report’s findings and the bases for our conclusions can be fully understood. We have not anonymized individuals whose identities are already publicly known, individuals whose conduct is implicated in the sexual harassment and retaliation allegations, or those who did not raise any concerns about retaliation. In certain instances, we have named individuals in one context but sought to anonymize them in others where, in our judgment, the specific identity was not necessary to understand the context. 3 Executive Assistant #1 Tr. 95:9–16; Alyssa McGrath Tr. 50:15–52:3. Where on-the-record testimony was taken of witnesses, we cite to the page and line numbers of the transcripts. This Report also includes information obtained from interviews conducted, as well as documents collected during the investigation, some of which are attached to an Appendix and cited to as Exhibits (“Ex.”). 2 Executive Assistant #1, reached under her blouse and grabbed her breast. For over three months, Executive Assistant #1 kept this groping incident to herself and planned to take it “to the grave,”4 but found herself becoming emotional (in a way that was visible to her colleagues in the Executive Chamber) while watching the Governor state, at a press conference on March 3, 2021, that he had never “touched anyone inappropriately.”5 She then confided in certain of her colleagues, who in turn reported her allegations to senior staff in the Executive Chamber. • Trooper #1. In early November 2017, the Governor briefly met a New York State Trooper (“Trooper #1”), a woman, at an event on the Robert F. Kennedy Bridge (the “RFK Bridge,” also known as the Triborough Bridge). After meeting Trooper #1, he spoke with a senior member of his protective detail (“Senior Investigator #1”) about seeking to have Trooper #1 join the Protective Services Unit (“PSU”), the unit of the New York State Police that is in charge of protecting the Governor and works in close vicinity of the Governor. Trooper #1 was then hired into the PSU, despite not meeting the requirement to have at least three years of State Police service to join the PSU. In an email to Trooper #1 shortly after the RFK Bridge event, Senior Investigator #1 noted, attaching a vacancy notice with a two-year service requirement (as opposed to three years), “Ha ha they changed the minimum from 3 years to 2. Just for you.”6 After Trooper #1 joined the PSU, the Governor sexually harassed her on a number of occasions, including by: (1) running his hand across her stomach, from her belly button to her right hip, while she held a door open for him at an event; (2) running his finger down her back, from the top of her neck down her spine to the middle of her back, saying “hey, you,”7 while she was standing in front of him in an elevator; (3) kissing her (and only her) on the cheek in front of another Trooper and asking to kiss her on another occasion, which she deflected; and (4) making sexually suggestive and gender-based comments, including (a) asking her to help him find a girlfriend and describing his criteria for a girlfriend as someone who “[c]an handle pain,”8 (b) asking her why she wanted to get married when marriage means “your sex drive goes down,”9 and (c) asking her why she did not wear a dress. Trooper #1 found these interactions with the Governor not only offensive and uncomfortable, but markedly different from the way the Governor interacted with members of the PSU who were men, and she conveyed these incidents contemporaneously to colleagues. Several other PSU Troopers corroborated Trooper #1’s allegations, including some 4 Executive Assistant #1 Tr. 182:23–24, 187:8–13. 5 New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo COVID-19 Press Conference Transcript March 3: Addresses Sexual Harassment Allegations, Rev (March 3, 2021), https://www.rev.com/blog/transcripts/new-york-gov-andrew-cuomocovid-19- press-conference-transcript-march-3-addresses-sexual-harassment-allegations. 6 Ex. 1 (November 17, 2017 email). 7 Trooper #1 Tr. 87:20–88:4. 8 Id. at 103:14–19. 9 Id. at 85:12–14. 3 who had personally witnessed some of the touching and comments as well as the gender-based difference in the way the Governor treated Troopers. • Charlotte Bennett. In a series of conversations in 2020 with an aide, Charlotte Bennett, the Governor made inappropriate comments, including, among many other things: (1) telling Ms. Bennett, in talking about potential girlfriends for him, that he would be willing to date someone who was as young as 22 years old (he knew Ms. Bennett was 25 at the time); (2) asking her whether she had been with older men; (3) saying to her during the pandemic that he was “lonely” and “wanted to be touched”;10 (4) asking whether Ms. Bennett was monogamous; (5) telling Ms. Bennett, after she told him that she was considering getting a tattoo for her birthday, that if she decided to get a tattoo, she should get it on her butt, where it could not be seen; (6) asking whether she had any piercings other than her ears; and (7) saying that he wanted to ride his motorcycle into the mountains with a woman. These comments by the Governor—as evidenced contemporaneously in numerous text exchanges Ms. Bennett had with others—followed and coincided with discussions she previously had with the Governor about her having been a survivor of sexual assault and made her extremely uncomfortable. They made her so uncomfortable that, following a series of exchanges with the Governor in June 2020, Ms. Bennett reported the interactions to the Governor’s Chief of Staff. While the Executive Chamber moved Ms. Bennett to a different position where she would not need to interact with the Governor in response to Ms. Bennett’s allegations, the Executive Chamber did not report the allegations at the time to the Governor’s Office of Employee Relations (“GOER”), the State agency tasked with conducting harassment investigations for State agencies, and did not otherwise conduct any formal investigation. Instead, the Executive Chamber’s senior staff sought to implement a practice whereby individual staff members who were women were not to be left alone with the Governor. • State Entity Employee #1. In September 2019, the Governor attended an event in New York City sponsored by a New York State-affiliated entity. Following a speech by the Governor, he posed for pictures with other attendees, including with an employee of that State-affiliated entity (“State Entity Employee #1”), who was a woman. While the picture was being taken, the Governor put his hand on State Entity Employee #1’s butt, tapped it twice, and then grabbed her butt. State Entity Employee #1 was “shocked”11 at the time, and discussed it with a number of friends, family, and co-workers. Following the advice of a friend, she also contemporaneously memorialized the Governor’s inappropriate touching.12 • Virginia Limmiatis. In May 2017, Virginia Limmiatis attended a conservation event in upstate New York on behalf of her employer (“Energy Company”) at which the Governor spoke. After the event, Ms. Limmiatis stood in a rope line to meet with the 10 Bennett Tr. 166:20–167:9; Ex. 2; Ex 3. 11 State Entity Employee #1 Tr. 44:3–17. 12 Ex. 4 (email dated the day after the incident with the Governor). 4 Governor, along with other attendees. She wore a shirt that had the name of the Energy Company written across the chest. When the Governor reached Ms. Limmiatis, he ran two fingers across her chest, pressing down on each of the letters as he did so and reading out the name of the Energy Company as he went. The Governor then leaned in, with his face close to Ms. Limmiatis’s cheek, and said, “I’m going to say I see a spider on your shoulder,”13 before brushing his hand in the area between her shoulder and breasts (and below her collarbone). Ms. Limmiatis was shocked, and immediately informed a number of other attendees of what had happened. Ms. Limmiatis came forward in this investigation after she heard the Governor state, during the March 3, 2021 press conference, that he had never touched anyone inappropriately.14 As Ms. Limmiatis testified to us, “He is lying again. He touched me inappropriately. I am compelled to come forward to tell the truth . . . . I didn’t know how to report what he did to me at the time and was burdened by shame, but not coming forward now would make me complicit in his lie, and I won’t do it.”15 • Lindsey Boylan. During the period in which Lindsey Boylan served as Chief of Staff to the CEO of the Empire State Development Corporation (“ESD”) and later as Deputy Secretary for Economic Development and Special Advisor to the Governor, the Governor, among other things, engaged in the following harassing conduct on the basis of her gender: (1) commented on her appearance and attractiveness, including comparing her to a former girlfriend and describing her as attractive; (2) paid attention to her in a way that led her supervisor at ESD to say that the Governor had a “crush”16 on her and to ask her whether she needed help in dealing with the Governor’s conduct; (3) physically touched her on various parts of her body, including her waist, legs, and back; (4) made inappropriate comments, including saying to her once on a plane, words to the effect of, “let’s play strip poker”;17 and (5) kissed her on the cheeks and, on one occasion, on the lips. Our investigation identified corroboration for Ms. Boylan’s allegations, including ones the Governor and the Executive Chamber denied. Following Ms. Boylan’s public allegation of sexual harassment against the Governor in December 2020 (at a time when she was running for public office), the Governor and the Executive Chamber actively engaged in an effort to discredit her, including by disseminating to the press confidential internal documents that painted her in a negative light and circulating among a group of current and former Executive Chamber employees (although not ultimately publishing) a proposed op-ed or letter disparaging Ms. Boylan that the Governor personally participated in drafting. 13 Limmiatis Tr. 32:11–16. 14 New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo COVID-19 Press Conference Transcript March 3: Addresses Sexual Harassment Allegations, Rev (Mar. 3, 2021), https://www.rev.com/blog/transcripts/new-york-gov-andrew-cuomocovid-19-press- conference-transcript-march-3-addresses-sexual-harassment-allegations. 15 Limmiatis Tr. 58:11–18. 16 Zemsky Tr. 28:12–20. 17 Boylan Tr. 126:9–10; Zemsky Tr. 33:14–37:14. 5 • Alyssa McGrath. In his interactions with another executive assistant, Alyssa McGrath, the Governor made inappropriate comments and engaged in harassing conduct, including: (1) regularly asking about her personal life, including her marital status and divorce; (2) asking whether Ms. McGrath would tell on Executive Assistant #1 if she were to cheat on her husband—and whether Ms. McGrath herself planned to “mingle” with men—on the two women’s upcoming trip to Florida, and then calling the two women “mingle mamas”;18 and (3) staring down her loose shirt and then commenting on her necklace (which was inside her shirt) when Ms. McGrath looked up. • Kaitlin. The Governor met Kaitlin (whose last name has not been publicly reported) at a fundraising event on December 12, 2016. He had pictures taken with her in a dance pose (as the photographs from the event show), which made Kaitlin uncomfortable.19 Nine days later, the Executive Chamber reached out to Kaitlin to hire her to work with the Governor. Kaitlin was hired and approved to receive a salary of $120,000 (which was so high that it was laughed at during Kaitlin’s interview for the position). During the year she worked at the Executive Chamber, the Governor: (1) instructed her to act like a “sponge” to soak up knowledge, then proceeded to call her by the name “sponge,” which she found to be embarrassing, condescending, and demeaning;20 (2) asked about how certain members of his senior staff, known as the “mean girls”21 were treating her; (3) commented on her appearance on a number of occasions, including saying that an outfit she wore made her look like a “lumberjack”22 and commenting on her not being “ready”23 for work if she was not wearing makeup or was not dressed nicely; and (4) on one occasion, asked her to look up car parts on eBay on his computer, which she had to bend over to do, while wearing a skirt and heels, as the Governor sat directly behind her in his office, which made her feel uncomfortable. Kaitlin’s colleagues at the State agency she moved to after she left the Executive Chamber witnessed and corroborated the impact that her experiences at the Executive Chamber had on her, including becoming visibly distressed whenever she had to return to the Executive Chamber’s offices for work. • Ana Liss. During the time that Ana Liss worked as an aide in the Executive Chamber from 2013 to 2015, the Governor: (1) addressed her almost exclusively as “sweetheart” or “darling”;24 (2) on occasion, kissed her on the cheeks and hand, touched and held her hands, and slid his hand around her lower waist; (3) commented 18 Alyssa McGrath Tr. 50:13–52:3. 19 Ex. 5 (photographs from event). 20 Kaitlin Tr. 77:14–17, 78:2–10. 21 Id. at 71:11–15. 22 Id. at 83:20–24. 23 Id. at 86:18–23. 24 Liss Tr. 92:4–9. 6 on how she looked “lovely”;25 and (4) asked whether she had a boyfriend. Ms. Liss noted that these interactions were, in her view, inappropriate. She did not complain about or raise these incidents while employed in the Executive Chamber because, she found, “[F]or whatever reason, in his office the rules were different. It was just, you should view it as a compliment if the Governor finds you aesthetically pleasing enough, if he finds you interesting enough to ask questions like that. And so even though it was strange and uncomfortable and technically not permissible in a typical workplace environment, I was in this mindset that it was the twilight zone and . . . the typical rules did not apply.”26 • State Entity Employee #2. On March 17, 2020, a then-Director at New York State’s Department of Health (“State Entity Employee #2”), who is also a doctor, participated in a press conference with the Governor, during which she performed a live COVID- 19 nasal swab test on the Governor. As they were preparing for the press conference (outside the presence of the press), the Governor requested that State Entity Employee #2 not put the swab up his nose “so deep that you hit my brain.”27 State Entity Employee #2 replied that she would be “gentle but accurate”28 in conducting the swab test, to which the Governor responded, “[G]entle but accurate, I’ve heard that before.”29 State Entity Employee #2 felt that the Governor intended to convey a “joke of an implied sexual nature.”30 Then, at the press conference, in front of the press and cameras, the Governor stated, “Nice to see you, Doctor—you make that gown look good.”31 State Entity Employee #2 found the Governor’s comments offensive and that they would not have been made to an accomplished physician who was a man. • Anna Ruch. On September 14, 2019, at the wedding party of one of the Governor’s senior aides, the Governor approached a guest, Anna Ruch, shook her hand, and then quickly moved his hands to her back, touching her bare skin where there was a cutout in her dress. Ms. Ruch, feeling uncomfortable, grabbed the Governor’s wrist and removed his hand from her back. At that point, the Governor remarked, “Wow, you’re aggressive,” after which the Governor cupped her face in his hands and said, “can I kiss you?” Without waiting for a response, and as Ms. Ruch tried to move and turn her face away, the Governor kissed her left cheek. Pictures taken by Ms. Ruch’s friend captured the Governor’s kiss and Ms. Ruch’s uncomfortable reaction.32 25 Liss Tr. 102:14–19. 26 Id. at 80:11–22. 27 State Entity Employee #2 Tr. 159:3–6. 28 Id. at 159:14–17. 29 Id. at 159:18–20. 30 Id. at 160: 23–161:2. 31 Andrew Cuomo New York May 17 COVID-19 Press Conference Transcript, Rev (May 17, 2020), https://www.rev.com/blog/transcripts/andrew-cuomo-new-york-may-17-covid-19-press-conference-transcript. 32 Ex. 6 (photographs). 7 Ms. Ruch immediately informed friends of what had happened and how upset she was at the Governor’s physical contact.33 The Governor’s Testimony In his testimony, the Governor denied inappropriately touching Executive Assistant #1, Trooper #1, State Entity Employee #1, or Ms. Limmiatis in the way they described, and he generally denied touching anyone inappropriately. The Governor did state that he often hugs and kisses people, mostly on the cheek and sometimes on the forehead. While he admitted that he “may”34 have kissed certain staff members on the lips, without remembering who (at least one other staff member admitted in testimony that the Governor had in fact kissed her on the lips),35 the Governor testified that he had not kissed Executive Assistant #1 or Ms. Boylan.36 With respect to Executive Assistant #1, the Governor testified that he did regularly hug her, but claimed that it was Executive Assistant #1 who was the “initiator of the hugs,” while he was “more in the reciprocal business.”37 He testified that he “would go along” with tight hugs that Executive Assistant #1 initiated because he did not “want to make any one feel awkward about anything.”38 With respect to his conversations with Ms. Bennett, the Governor testified that he had “tread[ed] very lightly, because with a victim of sexual assault—and she was clearly fragile and in a delicate place—[he] was very careful” in his conversations with her.39 He denied saying he would be willing to date “anyone over 22,”40 saying anything related to age differences in relationships, stating that he was “lonely” and wanted to be “touched,”41 talking about “monogamy,”42 discussing a potential tattoo on the butt,43 or discussing riding into the mountains in his motorcycle with a woman. He variously described those conversations as not having happened or having been misinterpreted by Ms. Bennett. The Governor asserted in his testimony that Ms. Bennett, because of her experience as a sexual assault survivor, “processed what she 33 Interviews of other women who have worked in the Executive Chamber revealed that a number of them had interactions with the Governor that they considered to be inappropriate or that made them uncomfortable. As those women did not wish to come forward publicly and did not experience the pattern that some of the employees described above endured, we have not specifically summarized each of these women’s experiences and instead have included representative conduct in the factual findings below. 34 Andrew Cuomo Tr. 218:19–222:3. 35 Annabel Walsh, a former staff member, testified that she recalled having kissed the Governor on the lips on occasion and that she did not find the kisses uncomfortable. Walsh Tr. 103:21–105:25. 36 Andrew Cuomo Tr. 222:4–223:15. 37 Id. at 381:7–382:10. 38 Id. at 383:17–19. 39 Id. at 271:13–17. 40 Id. at 297:8–15. 41 Id. at 303:4–304:24. 42 Id. at 308:16–22. 43 Id. at 314:3–315:24. 8 heard through her own filter,” and that “it was often not what was said and not what was meant.”44 The Governor did not dispute that he sometimes commented on staff members’ appearance and attire (although generally only to compliment), and stated that, being “old fashioned,” he sometimes used terms of endearment such as “honey,” “darling,” or “sweetheart.”45 He also did not dispute that he gave regular hugs and kisses on the cheek and forehead. But he did dispute the way in which those actions had been interpreted by the complainants. Moreover, in his testimony, the Governor suggested that the complainants were— and must be—motivated by politics, animosity, or some other reason. He also expressed his view that this investigation itself—and the investigators conducting the investigation—were politically motivated, an assertion that we saw in the documentary evidence and other witnesses’ testimony was part of the planned response to the investigation almost as soon as it commenced. Where the Governor made specific denials of conduct that the complainants recalled clearly, as discussed in greater detail below in the factual findings, we found his denials to lack credibility and to be inconsistent with the weight of the evidence obtained during our investigation. We also found the Governor’s denials and explanations around specific allegations to be contrived. For example, he testified that: Executive Assistant #1 was the one who initiated the hugs, not him; Ms. Bennett was the one who raised the topic of potential girlfriends, not him; and he called Executive Assistant #1 and Ms. McGrath “mingle mamas,” but he never talked to them about whether they cheated on their spouses.46 The Governor’s blanket denials and lack of recollection as to specific incidents stood in stark contrast to the strength, specificity, and corroboration of the complainants’ recollections, as well as the reports of many other individuals who offered observations and experiences of the Governor’s conduct. Impact of the Governor’s Conduct on the Complainants As for the impact of the Governor’s conduct on the complainants, each complainant found his conduct to be some combination of humiliating, uncomfortable, offensive, or inappropriate. Executive Assistant #1 described her response to the Governor’s intimate hugs as follows: “I felt that he was definitely taking advantage of me. The fact that he could tell I was nervous. He could tell that I wasn’t saying anything because he had gotten away with it before.”47 Ms. Bennett summarized her reaction to one of the inappropriate conversations the Governor had with her as follows: “I was scared and I was uncomfortable . . . . But I was really . . . focused almost just on the question he was asking me, because . . . otherwise I would have been like really freaking out.”48 In a text exchange with a close friend contemporaneously with one conversation with the Governor, Ms. Bennett texted, “Something just happened and I can’t even type it out . . . GOING TO BURST INTO TEARS . . . . Yes, [I’m] like shaking . . . I’m so 44 Id. at 255:23–256:2. 45 Id. at 242:22–243:3. 46 Id. at 371:14–372:8, 373:24–374:9. 47 Executive Assistant #1 Tr. 114:23–115:4. 48 Bennett Tr. 173:24–174:16. 9 upset and so confused.”49 For those who worked in State government, the Governor’s conduct adversely impacted their work environment and the professional and personal fulfillment they each sought from their jobs. As Trooper #1 put it, in describing her reaction to the Governor running his hand across her stomach, “I felt . . . completely violated because to me . . . that’s between my chest and my privates.”50 She continued, “But, you know, I’m here to do a job.”51 As Ms. Boylan described her interactions with the Governor, “[I]t was deeply humiliating on some level. . . . I was really senior and I had worked my whole life to get to a point where I would be taken seriously and I wasn’t being taken seriously and I worked so hard to be some little doll for the Governor of New York, and that was deeply humiliating.”52 The Culture of the Executive Chamber That Contributed to the Harassment The complainants also described how the culture within the Executive Chamber—rife with fear and intimidation and accompanied by a consistent overlooking of inappropriate flirtations and other sexually suggestive and gender-based comments by the Governor—enabled the above-described instances of harassment to occur and created a hostile work environment overall. As Ms. Bennett described the culture, “It was extremely toxic, extremely abusive. If you got yelled at in front of everyone, it wasn’t any special day . . . . It was controlled largely by his temper, and he was surrounded by people who enabled his behavior . . . .”53 As a result, when the Governor said inappropriate things, Ms. Bennett said, “I was uncomfortable, but I also was acutely aware that I did not want him to get mad.”54 Executive Assistant #1 felt similarly: “I think that he definitely knew what he was doing and it was almost as if he would do these things and know that he could get away with it because of the fear that he knew we had.”55 In describing the dichotomy between fear and flirtation, Ms. Boylan said, “That was his light—I would say that was his ‘if he-liked-you’ toxicity. For most people, when you’re around, you saw the ‘if-he-hated you’ toxicity.”56 Ms. McGrath summarized the impact of the culture within the Executive Chamber as follows: [W]hat 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 get punished and screamed at if you do anything where you disagree with him or his 49 Ex. 7 (June 5, 2020 text exchange between Ms. Bennett and a friend regarding a conversation with the Governor) . 50 Trooper #1 Tr. 92:7–12. 51 Id. at 94:9–15. 52 Boylan Tr. 91:12–23. 53 Bennett Tr. 82:7–16. 54 Id. at 173:24–174:4. 55 Executive Assistant #1 Tr. 79:20–80:5. 56 Boylan Tr. 80:7–10. 10 top aides. I really just wanted to go to work and be recognized for my work and nothing else.57 Even the State Troopers in the PSU developed an understanding that they could not upset the Governor without severe consequences. As Trooper #1 noted, she knew—as did many other Troopers we interviewed—of “horror stories about people getting kicked off the detail or transferred over like little things” that upset the Governor.58 As she put it, “Everyone knows he’s very vindictive.”59 The Executive Chamber’s Improper and Retaliatory Response to Allegations of Harassment The evidence obtained in our investigation revealed that the complainants’ fears of retaliation were justified. In response to Ms. Boylan’s allegation of sexual harassment, first made in a tweet on December 13, 2020, the Executive Chamber engaged in a series of responsive actions that were intended to discredit and disparage Ms. Boylan. Among other things, senior staff within the Executive Chamber—along with a group of outside advisors—engaged in a series of retaliatory actions, including: (1) disseminating to the press previously confidential and privileged files that related to complaints that had been made against Ms. Boylan prior to her departure from the Executive Chamber; and (2) preparing a proposed op-ed, originally drafted by the Governor, that contained personal and professional attacks on Ms. Boylan and then sharing (both written drafts and the substance) with a number of current and former Executive Chamber employees. Those involved have justified these actions as necessary to respond to what they viewed as misleading statements made by Ms. Boylan about the reasons for her departure, and an appropriate response to what they believed were improper political and retaliatory motives for her allegations. However, the confidential internal documents were released to reporters only after Ms. Boylan made allegations of sexual harassment against the Governor, and we do not find credible the claim that they were released only to rebut other statements Ms. Boylan had made days earlier about the manner in which she departed the Executive Chamber.60 As for the draft letter attacking Ms. Boylan, although it was never actually published (in part because, as the evidence revealed, many who reviewed it found that it constituted victim shaming that they found inadvisable), its substance was shared with a significant number of current and former Executive Chamber employees who were not otherwise aware of the information in it.61 As set 57 Alyssa McGrath Tr. 199:17–200:2. 58 Trooper #1 Tr. 93:24–94:3. 59 Id. at 139:8–10. 60 As discussed in greater detail below, those involved in the decision to disseminate the internal documents relating to Ms. Boylan have stated that they consulted with certain counsel (including the Director of GOER) on that decision, and the Executive Chamber has asserted privilege over the substance of certain of those communications. However, we understand from the testimony of the Director of GOER that he was never shown the documents themselves and simply provided generic disclosure advice. Volforte Tr. 134:2–24. None of the witnesses we interviewed recalled any discussions or considerations of whether disclosing the files might constitute retaliation. 61 Senior staff also pressured former employees to surreptitiously record telephone conversations with, respectively, Ms. Boylan and Kaitlin (who had tweeted in support of Ms. Boylan), potentially in the hopes of obtaining additional information to use against any women who might speak out. As the recordings were not helpful to the Executive Chamber (Melissa DeRosa, the Secretary to the Governor, admitted, “I did not think it went well,” DeRosa Tr. 11 forth in greater detail below, we conclude that the responses to Ms. Boylan’s public allegation of sexual harassment against the Governor constituted unlawful retaliation, in that it was conduct that would “dissuade a reasonable worker from making or supporting a charge of discrimination.”62 Similarly, when Ms. Bennett reported interactions with the Governor that had made her so uncomfortable that she said she no longer wanted to interact with him, the Executive Chamber’s senior staff did not report it to GOER—nor did they conduct any investigation, even though both the Governor’s Chief of Staff at the time, Jill DesRosiers, and Special Counsel at the time, Judy Mogul, found Ms. Bennett to be credible. Ms. DesRosiers and Ms. Mogul also found Ms. Bennett’s June 2020 allegations—including that the Governor seemed to be “grooming” her,63 asked her if she had been with an older man, asked about age differences in partners, asked her to find him a girlfriend, said that he would be fine with someone as young as 22, told her to get her tattoo on her butt where it could not be seen, said he was lonely and wanted to be touched, said he wanted to ride his motorcycle into the mountains with a woman, and called her Daisy Duke—to be sufficiently serious to implement an informal protocol to try to protect the Governor from being alone with young women on the Executive Chamber staff. Nonetheless, they decided that no report to GOER or investigation was warranted. They rationalized this decision by citing to Ms. Bennett’s statement that she did not “want to make waves” and the view that she had “acted before anything happened.”64 But the allegations involved sexually suggestive conversations, and any claim to not see that in the Governor’s comments we find to be not credible. In fact, Ms. Bennett plainly had felt so uncomfortable about it that she specifically reported it (despite all the attendant risks), and asked to be moved so that she would no longer have to interact with the Governor. Such circumstances warranted a report to GOER and an investigation, and Ms. Bennett’s desire not to make waves (driven, as she has testified and as shown by contemporaneous texts, by fear of the Governor and retaliation) is not determinative even under the Executive Chamber’s own policies. The New York State Employee Handbook (the “Employee Handbook”) clearly states: An employee with supervisory responsibility has a duty to report any discrimination that they observe or otherwise know about. A supervisor who has received a report of workplace discrimination has a duty to report it to GOER, or in accordance with the employing agency’s policy, even if the individual who complained requests that it not be reported.65 620:23–25), senior staff testified that they destroyed the recordings. The former employees who made the recordings produced copies of the recordings to us. 62 Hicks v. Baines, 593 F.3d 159, 169 (2d Cir. 2020). The New York State Employee Handbook, which applied to the Executive Chamber, correctly recited the legal standard for retaliation in prohibiting “any action, more than trivial, that would have the effect of dissuading a reasonable person from making or supporting an allegation of discrimination.” Ex. 8 at 39 (New York State Employee Handbook (May 2020)). 63 Ex. 2 (handwritten notes from Ms. Mogul from conversation with Ms. Bennett, noting “blatant example of grooming”). 64 Ex. 2. 65 Ex. 8 at 41–42 (Employee Handbook). 12 As discussed below, we find that the Executive Chamber failed to comply with its own internal policies in the way it handled Ms. Bennett’s complaint. Assessments of the Governor’s Conduct by Those Familiar with the Executive Chamber Although certain current and former members of the Executive Chamber did not take issue with the Chamber’s culture and expressed surprise at the harassment allegations that have emerged publicly, many recognized a particularly “toxic” and “emotionally abusive” environment within the Executive Chamber under Governor Cuomo’s administration. In fact, in discussions among themselves after certain of the sexual harassment allegations had become public, a number of current and former senior staff members recognized the impact that the culture had in enabling the alleged harassment. One former senior staff member expressed to us the shock and dismay she felt at the “abuse” individuals in the Executive Chamber endured, as well as deep discomfort with the example of leadership that was being set by the Governor’s inner circle of advisors. In a text exchange between another former senior staff member and a current senior staff member of the administration after Ms. Bennett’s allegations became public, a former staff member noted, “What’s crazy is if you or I did what is alleged we’d be fired on the spot no questions asked . . . and it would be the right thing too,” to which the current staff member answered, “that’s the damn truth.”66 The two continued the next day, after discussing Ms. Boylan’s allegations: “The admin knows its true!!” / “Yes they are already at true equals resign. Our side have lost their way.”67 And on February 28, 2021, after the Governor’s response to Ms. Bennett’s allegations saying that he was “trying to be a mentor to her,” the former senior staff member wrote: “I believe her 100% . . . [a]nd his stmt was gross. Trying to mentor . . . [y]ou creep.”68 That same former senior staff member noted on March 2, 2021, “Hopefully when this is all done people will realize the culture—even outside the sexual harassment stuff—is not something you can get away with . . . you can’t berate and terrify people 24/7.”69 On March 8, 2021, another senior staff member wrote to herself the following: I’m disgusted that Andrew Cuomo—a man who understands subtle power dynamics and power plays better than almost anyone in the planet—is giving this loopy excuse of not knowing he made women feel uncomfortable. Either he knew exactly what he was doing (likely) or he is so narcissistic that he thought all women wanted these kinds of questions (crazy excuse even to write it). . . . There are several orders of victims in this issue: first and foremost the women who experienced these things with him. Second though, and unrecognized are the staff. We are almost uniformly good people who killed ourselves . . . to accomplish his agenda—for his political 66 Ex. 9. 67 Ex. 10. 68 Ex. 11. 69 Ex. 12; see also Ex. 13. 13 glory, and for the feeling that he would make decisions with public service as his driving goal. I feel cheated out of that.70 * * * During the course of our investigation, we interviewed dozens of individuals, who were comprised of complainants, current and former members of the Executive Chamber, State Troopers, other State employees, and others who interacted regularly with the Governor. We have reviewed thousands of documents, including emails, texts, and pictures. We also took sworn testimony from the complainants, as well as the Governor, his senior staff and other key advisers, and other potentially relevant witnesses. Based on the investigation, and as set forth in greater detail below, we reach the conclusion that the Governor sexually harassed a number of State employees through unwelcome and unwanted touching, as well as by making numerous offensive and sexually suggestive comments. We also conclude that such behavior by the Governor was part of a pattern that extended to his interactions with women outside of State government, and was enabled and facilitated by a culture within the Executive Chamber of secrecy, loyalty to the Governor, and fear, as well as the normalization of inappropriate comments and interactions by the Governor. Finally, we conclude that the Executive Chamber’s response to a number of the sexual harassment allegations violated its internal policies and that its response to one complainant’s sexual harassment allegation constituted unlawful retaliation. 70 Ex. 14 (redacted diary entry of senior staff member). 14 BACKGROUND OF THE INVESTIGATION On March 1, 2021, the Office of the Governor of the State of New York (the “Executive Chamber”) made a referral pursuant to N.Y. Executive Law section 63(8) (“Section 63(8)”) for the New York State Attorney General (“NYAG”), Letitia James, to select independent lawyers to investigate “allegations of and circumstances surrounding sexual harassment claims made against the Governor” (the “Referral”).71 In this section, we set forth the legal authority under Section 63(8) for this investigation, as well as the steps we72 took to conduct a full, fair, and independent investigation. I. Legal Authority Under N.Y. Executive Law § 63(8) Section 63(8) permits the NYAG, with the approval of the Governor and when directed by the Governor, to “inquire into matters concerning the public peace, public safety and public justice.”73 Section 63(8) grants the NYAG, and any deputy or officer so designated by the NYAG, a broad scope of investigative powers. For example, a deputy or other officer designated by the NYAG may subpoena witnesses, compel their attendance, examine them under oath, and require any relevant books, records, or other materials to be turned over, if (1) the Governor empowered the NYAG to inquire into a matter of “public peace, public safety and public justice,” as interpreted in the usual and ordinary sense of those phrases,74 and (2) there is a “reasonable relation” between the subpoena and “the proper discharge of the executive function” by the Governor.75 II. Summary of the Investigative Procedure The NYAG appointed the investigative team on March 8, 2021, pursuant to the Referral. The NYAG deputized Joon H. Kim, Jennifer Kennedy Park, Abena Mainoo, and Rahul Mukhi of Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP (“Cleary Gottlieb”) and Anne L. Clark and Yannick Grant of Vladeck, Raskin & Clark, P.C. (“Vladeck”) as Special Deputies to the First Deputy Attorney General to conduct the investigation. A number of other attorneys from Cleary 71 Ex. 15 (March 1, 2021 referral letter). 72 For the avoidance of doubt, “we” and “us,” as used throughout this Report (unless otherwise specified) refers to the Special Deputies and Special Assistants to the First Deputy Attorney General, as appointed for the purposes of this Section 63(8) investigation by the NYAG. 73 N.Y. Exec. Law § 63(8). 74 Matter of Di Brizzi (Proskauer), 303 N.Y. 206, 214 (1951). 75 See Matter of Sigety v. Hynes, 38 N.Y.2d 260, 266 (1975). Investigations under Section 63(8) have included investigations into New York’s nursing home industry, see Sigety, 38 N.Y.2d at 263, New York’s industry for private proprietary homes for adults, see Matter of Friedman v. Hi-Li Manor Home for Adults, 42 N.Y.2d 408, 415– 16 (1977) (finding the Deputy Attorney-General had authority to issue subpoenas for the investigation and the subpoena was not overbroad), and “the relationship between organized crime and any unit of Government anywhere in the state,” Di Brizzi, 303 N.Y. at 221. 15 Gottlieb and Vladeck were appointed as Special Assistants to the First Deputy Attorney General to assist with the investigation.76 Over the course of our investigation, we issued over 70 subpoenas for documents and other information, and received over 74,000 documents. We also interviewed 179 individuals and took testimony under oath from 41 of them.77 These individuals included women who have made allegations of sexual harassment or other inappropriate conduct against the Governor, current and former members of the Executive Chamber, current and former members of the New York State Police (including PSU), Governor Cuomo, and other individuals who we believed could have relevant information. We received communications from the general public through a tip line consisting of an email address, voice mailbox, and text message line created for the investigation.78 In total, we received approximately 280 potential tips from members of the public. We reviewed and tracked each potentially relevant communication and took appropriate action, including following up on individuals who had provided potentially relevant information.79 On March 9, 2021, in conjunction with our fact-finding work, we provided notice to the Executive Chamber of its obligation to preserve all documents potentially relevant to the investigation.80 We also made efforts to protect the confidential and sensitive nature of our investigation and its independence during the investigation. Cleary Gottlieb and Vladeck established internal information barriers and other policies to limit access to substantive information regarding the investigation to members of the investigative team and necessary staff. Further, while Section 63(8) required us to periodically report to the Office of the NYAG,81 and we consulted on issues relating to the Office’s practices and procedures, we made all substantive decisions regarding how to conduct the investigation, as well as all decisions regarding the analysis and conclusions reached in this Report, independently. 76 Special Assistants to the First Deputy Attorney General who assisted in the investigation included Andrew Weaver, Avion Tai, Soo Jee Lee, Lorena Michelen, Ye Eun (Charlotte) Chun, Hyatt Mustefa, Lilianna Rembar (law clerk), and Nikkisha Z. Scott from Cleary Gottlieb and Ezra Cukor and Emily Miller from Vladeck. 77 For certain individuals, we both conducted an interview and took the testimony of the individual. 78 AG Independent Investigation, https://www.agindependentinvestigation.com/ (last accessed July 22, 2021). 79 Much of the information provided to us by members of the public was outside the scope of our investigation, and some of the information was referred as appropriate to the Office of the NYAG for further consideration. 80 Prior to that, the NYAG had also sent a preservation notice on March 1, 2021. 81 See N.Y. Exec. Law § 63(8) (“Each deputy or other officer appointed or designated to conduct such inquiry shall make a weekly report in detail to the attorney-general . . . .”). 16 FACTUAL FINDINGS As noted above, we interviewed, and reviewed the records related to, individuals who have made allegations, publicly or otherwise, of sex-based harassment or other related misconduct by Governor Cuomo, as well as potential witnesses to such allegations, including Governor Cuomo. I. Findings Related to Allegations of Governor Cuomo’s Misconduct A number of individuals have made allegations of improper conduct by Governor Cuomo, as detailed below. These individuals include several current or former members of the Executive Chamber, employees of other State agencies and State-affiliated entities, and members of the public. We summarize below our factual findings with respect to the complainants’ allegations. A. Former and Current State Employees i. Executive Assistant #1 Executive Assistant #1 works in the Executive Chamber and has provided administrative assistance to various members of the Executive Chamber.82 Executive Assistant #1’s responsibilities have included, among other things, assisting the Governor in managing incoming and outgoing telephone calls, taking dictation, drafting and editing documents, and performing other similar administrative tasks, including at the Executive Mansion on the weekend.83 Interactions with the Governor Over the course of Executive Assistant #1’s employment in the Executive Chamber, the Governor engaged in conduct that demonstrated an increasing familiarity and intimacy with Executive Assistant #1. The Governor’s behavior ranged from playful banter about Executive Assistant #1’s potential romantic relationships to looking through Executive Assistant #1’s social media posts and asking about the marital status and social and dating lives of Executive Assistant #1 and her friend, Alyssa McGrath, who also served as an executive assistant in the Executive Chamber.84 As described in greater detail below, over time, the Governor’s behavior toward Executive Assistant #1 escalated to more intimate physical contact, including regular hugs and kisses on the cheek (and at least one kiss on the lips), culminating in incidents where the Governor grabbed Executive Assistant #1’s butt while they took a selfie in the Executive Mansion, and where the Governor, during a hug, reached under Executive Assistant #1’s blouse and grabbed her breast. 82 Executive Assistant #1 Tr. 14:3–6, 19:9–25. 83 Id. at 21:6–22:25, 102:21–103:5. 84 In her testimony, Ms. McGrath corroborated much of Executive Assistant #1’s sworn testimony. Ms. McGrath’s own allegations regarding Governor Cuomo are detailed later in the Report. 17 Development of Relationship and Suggestive Comments. When Executive Assistant #1 first began to work in the Executive Chamber, one of the Governor’s long-term executive assistants commented to her, after looking Executive Assistant #1 “up and down,” that the Governor would “steal” Executive Assistant #1 from her assigned supervisor.85 Executive Assistant #1 interpreted this to mean that: “I was a young female, how she looked at me she must have thought I was attractive and the Governor was going to see me and think that I was attractive and want to pull me in to do work for him.”86 The first day Executive Assistant #1 met the Governor (and after Executive Assistant #1 had introduced herself to the Governor earlier), he walked by her desk on his way out of the office, turned around, and looked Executive Assistant #1 up and down before saying, “Nice to meet [you].”87 Executive Assistant #1 testified that she felt that the Governor would look her up and down on a regular basis.88 While Executive Assistant #1 had been formally assigned to assist other members of the Executive Chamber during her time as an executive assistant, she also began to assist the Governor more directly and at the Executive Mansion starting in or around November 2019.89 Executive Assistant #1 testified that the Governor commented on Executive Assistant #1’s appearance and clothing, including telling her she “looked good for [her] age and [for] being a mother” (she is in her early 30s), “it’s about time that you showed some leg” when she wore a dress, and “I don’t like your hair like that” when she wore her hair up.90 During his testimony, the Governor denied making such comments and that he would “never say” such comments.91 The Governor in turn testified that he found Executive Assistant #1 to be “very chatty,” “affectionate,” “friendly,” “flirtatious,” and “outgoing.”92 On one occasion, when Executive Assistant #1 was working at the Executive Mansion on a weekend, she commented that it was warm in the room.93 The Governor suggested in response that Executive Assistant #1 take off her zip-up hoodie, which she had been wearing on top of a light tank top.94 When Executive Assistant #1 replied that she could not take off her hoodie because it would be inappropriate, the Governor again asked that she take off the hoodie.95 A 85 Executive Assistant #1 Tr. 99:5–17. The long-term executive assistant did not specifically recall making such a comment, but stated that if she had, it would have been based on Executive Assistant #1’s competence. 86 Id. at 99:18–25. 87 Id. at 100:19–101:21. 88 Id. at 77:16–23. 89 Id. at 21:6–22:25, 76:23–24. 90 Id. at 74:14–76:15. 91 Andrew Cuomo Tr. 375:16–377:10. 92 Id. at 364:4–14. 93 Executive Assistant #1 Tr. 76:23–77:12. 94 Id. 95 Id. 18 colleague of Executive Assistant #1 was present and corroborated the incident. Governor Cuomo denied any recollection of this interaction.96 The Governor also regularly engaged in banter and friendly conversation with Executive Assistant #1 regarding her marital status, personal life, and relationships. On one occasion, while Executive Assistant #1 was assisting him in his office in the Executive Mansion, the Governor asked Executive Assistant #1 whether she had ever had a boyfriend while married.97 Executive Assistant #1 replied that she had not.98 The Governor then asked whether Executive Assistant #1 had kissed or “fooled around” with anyone other than her husband.99 Executive Assistant #1 continued to answer in the negative until the Governor moved on to another topic.100 In or around November 2020, while the two were in his office at the Capitol, the Governor again asked Executive Assistant #1, “[H]ave you ever had sex with anyone other than your husband?”101 Executive Assistant #1 responded she had not.102 On occasions when Executive Assistant #1 was working on a weekend for the Governor, he would also say things like, “I hope your husband isn’t mad that you’re here today,” or ask Executive Assistant #1 about the status of her marriage.103 The Governor’s comments became increasingly suggestive, including one in or around late 2019 or early 2020, when the Governor said to Executive Assistant #1 something to the effect of, “If you were single, the things I would do to you.”104 Later, in or around January or February 2020, he asked Executive Assistant #1 about the status of Ms. McGrath’s divorce proceedings.105 Executive Assistant #1 responded that she was trying to keep Ms. McGrath preoccupied, and showed the Governor a photograph of her and Ms. McGrath on Executive Assistant #1’s Instagram account “going out” in Saratoga Springs.106 In response, the Governor commented that he wished he could also “go out” and socialize with the two women, but that it would be difficult for him to do as a public figure.107 In his testimony, the Governor denied making this statement and said he may have instead said he would love to go to Saratoga Springs because it is beautiful.108 96 Andrew Cuomo Tr. 378:9–379:8. 97 Executive Assistant #1 Tr. 89:6–20. 98 Id. 99 Id. at 89:21–25. 100 Id. at 89:25–90:7. 101 Id. at 90:8–19. 102 Id. 103 Id. at 87:19–88:7. 104 Id. at 88:2–18. 105 Id. at 84:12–85:19. 106 Id. 107 Id. Ms. McGrath confirmed she had heard about this exchange from Executive Assistant #1. Alyssa McGrath Tr. 105:18–106:11. 108 Andrew Cuomo Tr. 396:10–21. 19 In early 2020, Executive Assistant #1 and Ms. McGrath were assisting the Governor in preparing “State of the State” books when the Governor engaged the two women in a conversation about a trip to Florida that the two women planned to take together in April.109 The Governor asked Ms. McGrath, who was separated from her husband at the time, whether she planned to go and “mingle” with men during the Florida trip.110 The Governor then asked Ms. McGrath whether she would “tell on” Executive Assistant #1 if Executive Assistant #1 cheated on her husband while in Florida.111 The Governor proceeded to refer to both women as “mingle mamas” for the remainder of the day.112 A March 2, 2020, text message from Ms. McGrath to Executive Assistant #1 also references “mingle mama.”113 The Governor admitted in his testimony that he had called Executive Assistant #1 and Ms. McGrath “mingle mamas,” but testified that it was in response to Executive Assistant #1 and Ms. McGrath stating that they were “single and ready to mingle.”114 On a handful of occasions after he had broken up with his long-term partner, the Governor told Executive Assistant #1 that he was single and lonely, and asked whether she knew anyone who could be his girlfriend, while commenting that he would have to date someone in her late 30s or early 40s due to concerns about how dating someone younger might look to the public.115 Executive Assistant #1 told him that she was sorry to hear that he was lonely, and “just [sat] there and listen[ed].”116 The Governor denied having had this conversation,117 although a number of people have informed us that the Governor talked to them about finding a girlfriend.118 With respect to these type of personal conversations, Governor Cuomo generally denied the most suggestive of the comments—such as wishing he could “go out” with Executive Assistant #1 and Ms. McGrath119 or telling Executive Assistant #1 that it was “about time” she showed off her legs120—and testified that it was Executive Assistant #1 who volunteered information about her social and marital life, and that he participated only to go along with her 109 Executive Assistant #1 Tr. 95:9–97:23. Executive Assistant #1 recalled the interaction occurring sometime around January 2020, id. at 96:2–11, while Ms. McGrath recalled the interaction occurring in late February. Alyssa McGrath Tr. 51:5–10. 110 Id. at 50:22–52:3. 111 Executive Assistant #1 Tr. 95:9–20; Alyssa McGrath Tr. 51:21–52:3. Ms. McGrath responded jokingly with something like, “What happens in Florida stays in Florida.” Id. at 51:21–52:3. 112 Id. at 52:1–3. 113 Ex. 16 (“What did he write lol mingle mama [emoji]”). 114 Andrew Cuomo Tr. 371:14–372:8. 115 Executive Assistant #1 Tr. 85:22–87:4. As noted earlier, Executive Assistant #1 is in her early thirties. See id. at 76:12–15. 116 Id. at 87:5–10. 117 Andrew Cuomo Tr. 374:10–375:15. 118 See, e.g., Bennett Tr. 167:24–168:25; Cohen Tr. 150:4–151:19; Trooper #1 Tr. 103:11–19. 119 Andrew Cuomo Tr. 396:13–21. 120 Id. at 377:4–10. 20 conversations.121 Executive Assistant #1 denied that this was the case, and specifically noted that she only spoke about her romantic relationships when the Governor asked, rather than volunteering such information. As noted elsewhere in the report, Ms. McGrath corroborated Executive Assistant #1’s recounting of these types of conversations generally, as do many others who have told us about questions from the Governor about personal lives and relationship statuses—and the specific conversations in which Ms. McGrath and Executive Assistant #1 were both participants or about which Executive Assistant #1 informed Ms. McGrath soon after the conversation. Physical Contact by Governor Cuomo. Executive Assistant #1 testified that the Governor touched her on several occasions. Some of the touching occurred as part of general interactions involving hugs, greetings, and taking photographs (although often more aggressive than commonplace physical contact), while other incidents involved intentional touching and grabbing of private parts, including the butt and the breast. At the annual Executive Chamber employee holiday party in 2018, for example, the Governor approached Ms. McGrath and Executive Assistant #1 and suggested that the three of them take a photograph.122 The Governor took a similar photograph with the two women at the annual holiday party in 2019 as well.123 At the 2019 holiday party, before taking the photograph, the Governor kissed Ms. McGrath on the forehead and kissed Executive Assistant #1 on the cheek, then posed for a photograph with his hands firmly around both women’s ribcages, just below their breasts.124 In or around the end of 2019, on the first day Executive Assistant #1 was working at the Executive Mansion alone with the Governor, Governor Cuomo gave Executive Assistant #1 a private tour of the Mansion.125 As the Governor and Executive Assistant #1 were looking at photographs during the tour at one point, Governor Cuomo “almost pushed his hand along [Executive Assistant #1’s] butt,” but in a way that was not clear whether he had intended to do so.126 121 See, e.g., id. at 394:13–396:9. 122 Alyssa McGrath Tr. 91:14–92:17; Ex. 17 (photograph of Executive Assistant #1 and Ms. McGrath with the Governor at 2018 holiday party); Ex. 18 (same); Ex. 19 (same). Ms. McGrath testified that she was surprised that the Governor had approached them, as there were many people at the party. Alyssa McGrath Tr. 94:3–9. Executive Assistant #1 was not assisting the Governor on a regular basis at the time of the photograph. Executive Assistant #1 Tr. 155:13–157:5. 123 Executive Assistant #1 Tr. 157:11–160:24. An Executive Chamber staff member noted that she believed Executive Assistant #1 and Ms. McGrath had wanted a picture with the Governor at the party and were proud of the ones that were taken. 124 Ex. 20 (photograph of Executive Assistant #1 and Ms. McGrath with the Governor at 2019 holiday party); Ex. 21 (same); Ex. 22 (photograph of Ms. McGrath and the Governor at 2019 holiday party); Ex. 23 (photograph of Executive Assistant #1 and Ms. McGrath with the Governor at 2019 holiday party). 125 Executive Assistant #1 Tr. 93:11–95:3. Executive Assistant #1 recalled that, during this tour, Governor Cuomo noted a photograph in the living room of an attractive woman wearing a tight red dress and said something like, “I remember her, she was a real . . . firecracker.” Id. at 93:23–14. 126 Id. at 94:15–95:3. 21 As Executive Assistant #1 continued to provide assistance to the Governor at the Executive Mansion throughout 2020, the Governor began to request a hug from Executive Assistant #1 “almost every time” before she left the Mansion.127 Over time, the hugs felt “closer and tighter,” to the point where: I knew I could feel him pushing my body against his and definitely making sure that he could feel my breasts up against his body. And was doing it in a way that I felt was obviously uncomfortable for me and he was maybe trying to get some sort of personal satisfaction from it.128 Executive Assistant #1 could feel the Governor’s hands running up and down her back during these hugs as well.129 During these close hugs, Executive Assistant #1 tried to lean her lower back away from the Governor’s pelvic area, because she “didn’t want any part of [her] body near his pelvic area” and “didn’t want anything to do with whatever he was trying to do at that moment.”130 And, when the Governor hugged her, he sometimes also kissed her.131 Most of the kisses were on her cheek—but, on at least one occasion in early 2020, the Governor quickly turned his head and kissed her on the lips.132 On another occasion, during another hug, the Governor began to rub his hands on Executive Assistant #1’s lower back and said something like, “Does that feel good?”133 Executive Assistant #1 recalled freezing in place and not knowing what to say in response.134 Governor Cuomo denied any recollection of kissing Executive Assistant #1 on the lips.135 He testified, “I feel confident saying I’ve never kissed [Executive Assistant #1] on the lips,” on the basis that he said he had had very limited interactions with her overall.136 Although the Governor testified that he did regularly hug Executive Assistant #1, he described her as “an affectionate person” and “a hugger” who was the “initiator of the hugs,” while he was “more in 127 Id. at 108:3–23. 128 Id. at 111:9–15. 129 Id. at 113:7–15. 130 Id. at 112:11–113:6. The close and intimate hugs are something that other individuals have told us the Governor has done. Karen Hinton, an associate of the Governor from the time that the Governor was Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, has spoken publicly and told us about an incident in December 2000 when the Governor embraced her in a hotel room in a way that felt overly close and intimate. 131 Id. at 108:18–23. 132 Id. at 108:18–110:15. 133 Id. at 114:7–20. Governor Cuomo denied any recollection of saying this. Andrew Cuomo Tr. 386:8–11. 134 Executive Assistant #1 Tr. 114:7–20. 135 Andrew Cuomo Tr. 384:25–385:12. 136 Id. at 222:4–24, 224:22–25. 22 the reciprocal business.”137 He testified that he “would go along” with tight hugs that Executive Assistant #1 initiated because he did not “want to make anyone feel awkward about anything.”138 Executive Assistant #1 testified that although she noticed that the Governor did not hug or kiss her while they were around other people or in the Capitol, she initially tried to justify his behavior as merely being friendly.139 She also stated that she was generally a friendly and outgoing person, and interacted that way with the Governor as well.140 When the Governor kissed her on the lips or hugged her closely and aggressively, however, Executive Assistant #1 found that unwelcome and would try to pull away in the manner described above.141 Executive Assistant #1 testified that she did not act more forcefully in response because she believed if she said anything in response to the Governor’s unwanted advances—or even slapped him—she would be escorted out by the State Police and likely fired from her job.142 The inappropriate interactions with the Governor left Executive Assistant #1 so nervous that she sometimes left with hives on her neck, a symptom she usually experiences when stressed or nervous.143 The Governor also recalled seeing Executive Assistant #1 with “blotches” on her neck, which he believed was caused by her nervousness at taking dictation from him.144 Executive Assistant #1 further testified that she felt the Governor understood that she was uncomfortable: “I felt that [the Governor] was definitely taking advantage of me. He was taking advantage. The fact that he could tell that I was nervous. He could tell that I wasn’t saying anything because he had gotten away with it before.”145 On December 31, 2019, Executive Assistant #1 was assisting the Governor in his office at the Executive Mansion when the Governor asked her to take a “selfie” photograph with him.146 Governor Cuomo stood next to Executive Assistant #1, on her left, as she took a selfie with her right hand.147 As Executive Assistant #1 held up the camera, the Governor moved his hand to grab her butt cheek and began to rub it.148 The rubbing lasted at least five seconds.149 137 Id. at 381:5–384:13. Governor Cuomo also testified that Executive Assistant #1 had told him that “she was Italian and Italians are very affectionate people.” Id. at 381:7–11. 138 Id. at 381:23–383:19. 139 Executive Assistant #1 Tr. 109:17–110:7. 140 Id. at 165:19–23 (“I also thought that is one of [the] reasons why the Governor would like me working for him. Because I wasn’t so stoic and stiff. That I would laugh. I would joke back.”). 141 Id. at 110:16–113:6. 142 Id. 143 Id. at 115:12. Executive Assistant #1 testified that, on one of these occasions, she ran into a member of the Executive Mansion’s staff after leaving the Governor’s office while feeling wide-eyed and while her hives were still present. Id. at 115:13–116:9. Executive Assistant #1 recalled that the staff member asked whether she was okay. Id. We were not able to corroborate this interaction from interviews of Executive Mansion staff. 144 Andrew Cuomo Tr. 400:14–402:3. 145 Executive Assistant #1 Tr. 114:23–115:4. 146 Id. at 119:4–120:18. 147 Id. at 120:24–121:15. 148 Id. at 119:4–120:18, 121:17–122:14. 149 Id. at 121:16–122:14. 23 Executive Assistant #1 was shaking so much during this interaction that her initial selfies with the Governor were very blurry.150 At the Governor’s suggestion, the two of them then sat down and took one more selfie, with the Governor’s hands around Executive Assistant #1’s waist.151 The Governor then told Executive Assistant #1 to send the photograph to Ms. McGrath, and directed Executive Assistant #1 not to share the photograph with anyone else.152 Immediately following this interaction, Executive Assistant #1 left the Executive Mansion and called Ms. McGrath.153 Executive Assistant #1 testified that she was uncomfortable and “wanted to tell [Ms. McGrath] so bad what happened,” but felt that she could not and was afraid to say anything specific.154 Instead, Executive Assistant #1 told Ms. McGrath that the Governor “was wild today,” and said that the Governor had asked her to not share the photograph other than with Ms. McGrath.155 Executive Assistant #1 testified that she was terrified she would lose her job if she shared what had happened and it reached the ears of the Governor’s senior staff.156 She stated: [T]he way he was so firm with [me] that I couldn’t show anyone else that photo, I was just terrified that if I shared what was going on that it would somehow get around. And if Stephanie Benton or Melissa [DeRosa] heard that, I was going to lose my job. Because I knew that I certainly was going to be the one to go.157 Ms. McGrath, who received the photograph from Executive Assistant #1, confirmed in her testimony and through contemporaneous text messages that she received the photograph and was informed by Executive Assistant #1 that she was not to share the photograph with anyone else.158 The Governor testified that he recalled taking a selfie with Executive Assistant #1, but said that 150 Id. at 119:4–120:18, 121:11–122:14. Executive Assistant #1 testified that she deleted the blurry photographs immediately because, when the Governor asked to see the photographs, she was embarrassed by how blurry they were and did not want him to see how nervous she was. Id. at 123:3–10. She cooperated with our efforts to attempt to recover the deleted photographs, but we were ultimately unable to retrieve them. 151 Id. at 119:4–120:18, 122:18–123:2. 152 Id. at 120:3–18. We obtained a copy of the selfie taken while Governor Cuomo and Executive Assistant #1 were sitting. Ex. 24. We also received the text exchange after the photo was sent. Ex. 25 (Ms. McGrath responding with, “Um where is my pic!! / I’m officially jealous!!!! / I need to be photoshopped in to the right of him [emoji]” / “Love this so much”). Executive Assistant #1 testified that she did not know why the Governor wanted her to send the photograph to Ms. McGrath, but guessed that the Governor “wanted to make [Ms. McGrath] jealous” or “wanted to see what her reaction was.” Executive Assistant #1 Tr. 123:20–124:4. 153 Executive Assistant #1 Tr. 127:2–128:18. 154 Id. at 127:2–128:18. 155 Id. Ms. McGrath recalled that Executive Assistant #1 said during the conversation that she was “extremely uncomfortable, extremely nervous,” and shaking, and that she had needed to take multiple pictures because they were blurry. Alyssa McGrath Tr. 128:2–20. 156 Executive Assistant #1 Tr. 128:8–18. 157 Id. 158 Alyssa McGrath Tr. 130:8–17. A text message from Executive Assistant #1 to Ms. McGrath on January 4, 2020, stating, “He brought up the selfie and definitely only supposed to stay between you and me” is attached as Ex. 26. 24 the selfie had been at her request, as he testified he does not like to take selfies.159 The Governor also testified that Executive Assistant #1 was the one who had wanted to send the photograph to Ms. McGrath to make her jealous.160 Notably, however, we learned during our interviews that Governor Cuomo had asked two other women in the Executive Chamber, on separate occasions, to take a selfie with him and then instructed each woman to send the selfie to a different woman in the Executive Chamber. The Governor denied that his hand had been on Executive Assistant #1’s butt during the selfie, and that he had asked Executive Assistant #1 to not share the selfie with anyone, contrary to the testimony of Executive Assistant #1 and contemporaneous text messages between her and Ms. McGrath.161 In late 2020, the Governor asked Executive Assistant #1 to compare heights with him and had her put her back against his front, rested his head on Executive Assistant #1’s head, and commented to everyone in the room that he was a head taller than Executive Assistant #1.162 Executive Assistant #1 testified that she felt uncomfortable during the interaction, in part because the Governor’s stomach was on her back and she did not “want any part of his pelvic area to be near me.”163 The Governor denied this interaction ever occurred.164 On November 16, 2020, Stephanie Benton, the Director of the Governor’s Offices, asked Executive Assistant #1 to assist the Governor at the Executive Mansion.165 The Blackberry PIN messages166 that the PSU uses to announce visitors to the Executive Mansion confirm that Executive Assistant #1 was called to the Executive Mansion and arrived there on November 16.167 As Executive Assistant #1 finished her assignment and prepared to leave the Governor’s personal office, on the second floor in the Mansion, and return to the Capitol, the Governor pulled Executive Assistant #1 in for a close hug.168 Executive Assistant #1 was conscious that the door to the Governor’s office (facing out into the hallway on the second floor) was open at the time.169 Executive Assistant #1 stepped 159 Andrew Cuomo Tr. 390:6–392:22. 160 Id. at 390:6–13, 392:23–393:8. 161 Id. at 392:10–18, 393:22–394:2. 162 Executive Assistant #1 Tr. 82:15–84:11. 163 Id. 164 Andrew Cuomo Tr. 378:4–8. 165 Executive Assistant #1 Tr. 139:13–140:12. Executive Assistant #1 did not remember the exact date of the incident, but recalled that it was around when she was tasked with photographing a document, and provided a copy of the photograph to us that was dated November 16, 2020. 166 BlackBerry PIN messages are messages that are sent from a Blackberry device to another Blackberry device using proprietary technology designed for Blackberry devices. Moore Tr. 89:9–23. While the Executive Chamber transitioned from Blackberry devices to iPhones in late 2019, Governor Cuomo and certain senior staff have retained their Blackberry devices. Id. at 84:23–85:10, 87:6–24. 167 See Ex. 27. 168 Executive Assistant #1 Tr. 141:7–146:15. The timing of specifically when the Governor closed the door relative to when he grabbed Executive Assistant #1’s breast (whether it was immediately before or after grabbing the breast) is a factual point on which Executive Assistant #1’s recollection has varied. Id. at 152:3–14, 215:22–216:10. 169 Id. at 142:16–143:5. 25 away from the Governor and said, “You’re going to get us in trouble,” to which the Governor replied, “I don’t care,” and slammed the door shut.170 Executive Assistant #1 testified that the Governor’s demeanor at the time “wasn’t like ‘ha ha,’ it was like, ‘I don’t care.’ . . . It was like in this—at that moment he was sexually driven. I could tell and the way he said it, I could tell.”171 The Governor then returned to Executive Assistant #1 and slid his hand up her blouse, and grabbed her breast, “cupp[ing her] breast” over her bra.172 Executive Assistant #1 testified: I mean it was—he was like cupping my breast. He cupped my breast. I have to tell you it was—at the moment I was in such shock that I could just tell you that I just remember looking down seeing his hand, seeing the top of my bra and I remember it was like a little even the cup—the kind of bra that I had to the point I could tell you doesn’t really fit me properly, it was a little loose, I just remember seeing exactly that.173 In response, Executive Assistant #1 pulled away from the Governor and said, “You’re crazy.”174 She testified: At that moment it was so quick and he didn’t say anything and I just remember thinking to myself, oh my God, and I remember stopping and him not saying anything and I remember I walked out and he didn’t say anything and I didn’t say anything. I remember walking down the stairs, escorting myself out the front door, going back to my car, taking a deep breath and saying to myself, okay, everything that just happened I have to now pretend like it didn’t just happen. Go back to the Capitol and sit at my desk and continue with my afternoon. And I remember thinking to myself who—I knew what just went on, I knew and he knew too that was wrong. And that I in no way, shape or form invited that nor did I ask for it. I didn’t want it. I feel like I was being taken advantage of . . . .175 170 Id. at 143:6–144:8. 171 Id. at 144:10–13. 172 Id. at 143:6–19, 149:11–150:5. 173 Id. at 149:19–150:4. 174 Id. at 143:18–144:13, 152:7–14. 175 Id. at 145:5–146:11. 26 After taking some time in her car to collect herself, Executive Assistant #1 returned to work at the Capitol.176 Governor Cuomo denied having ever touched Executive Assistant #1’s breasts.177 He testified: “To touch a woman’s breast who I hardly know, in the Mansion, with ten staff around, with my family in the Mansion, to say ‘I don’t care who sees us.’ . . . I would have to lose my mind to do such a thing.”178 Executive Assistant #1’s allegations are that the incident occurred in the smaller of the Governor’s private offices on the second floor, which connects to his larger office and bedroom and away from the Mansion’s first-floor common areas, and is separated from the second floor common area by doors;179 nor was there any evidence that there were “ten” Mansion staff in the vicinity of his second-floor office that day. Indeed, our understanding is that the total number of Mansion staff potentially on the premises at any given time would have included groundskeepers, chefs, and others who may not all be there at one time—nor would they be in the vicinity of his private second-floor office. Executive Assistant #1 explained that she had not responded more forcefully or told anyone about the incident because she, among other things, feared losing her job.180 She testified: If I push him or if I try like—people say after the fact now that has been said in the paper, people that know that, why didn’t you slap him. I’m [not] going to assault the [G]overnor. I would be taken away by the state police officers and I would be the one that would get in trouble and I would be the one to lose my job, not him. . . . I feel like I was being taken advantage of and at that moment that’s when I thought to myself okay, I can’t tell anyone. Who am I going to tell[?] My supervisor was Stephanie Benton, Stephanie Benton was the Governor’s right-hand person and if I told her I was going to be asked to go somewhere else or transferred to [another] agency. And the sad part of this whole thing, I actually like my job. I was proud to work, especially during this pandemic. I generally enjoy working with my colleagues . . . that was an opportunity of a lifetime for me.181 176 Id. at 144:14–145:17. 177 Andrew Cuomo Tr. 398:16–19. 178 Id. at 398:24–399:17. 179 Executive Assistant #1 Tr. 142:24–143:5. We have reviewed a floorplan of the Executive Mansion and confirmed visually, on a visit, that the private offices are in fact separated from the common areas by doors. 180 Id. at 144:21–145:4, 145:18–146:15. 181 Executive Assistant #1 Tr. 144:21–146:8. 27 The Governor, Ms. Benton, and Melissa DeRosa (Secretary to the Governor) also testified that Executive Assistant #1 told each of them that her job was her “dream job” and that she “get[s] up every morning loving to come to work.”182 Executive Assistant #1’s Hesitation to Report Governor Cuomo’s Conduct Executive Assistant #1 repeatedly testified that she felt she had to tolerate the Governor’s physical advances and suggestive comments because she feared the repercussions if she did not.183 She did not feel she could tell anyone, including her colleagues and her direct supervisors.184 In addition, the Governor had specifically told her—with respect to the selfie they took together—that she was not to share it or tell anyone about it other than Ms. McGrath.185 Executive Assistant #1 testified that she needed the income (including the overtime pay received from working on weekends), particularly as she was going through a divorce and was focused on not risking losing her job.186 Executive Assistant #1’s hesitance to report the Governor’s conduct was also informed by her observation of the Executive Chamber’s reactions to other women’s allegations against the Governor. In mid-to-late December 2020, Executive Assistant #1 personally witnessed what she felt were the Executive Chamber’s efforts to discredit the allegations of Ms. Boylan against the Governor, including by repeatedly describing Ms. Boylan as “crazy” and by trying to get Ms. Boylan’s personnel files to the press.187 Executive Assistant #1 recalled that Ms. DeRosa, Richard Azzopardi (the Senior Deputy Communications Director and Senior Advisor to the Governor at the time), and at times Linda Lacewell (the Superintendent of the Department of Financial Services) would be in Ms. DeRosa’s office during that period.188 They described Ms. Boylan as crazy and having a political agenda, and talk about shutting down Ms. Boylan’s allegations quickly.189 On or around December 13, 2020,190 while Executive Assistant #1 was assisting the Governor at the Capitol, she observed that Mr. Azzopardi was asked to retrieve a box from Beth Garvey, Senior Counsel and Senior Advisor to the Governor at the time, which Executive Assistant #1 helped carry from the Counsel’s Office to the Front Office in the 182 Andrew Cuomo Tr. 369:11–16; Benton Tr. 421:7–18; DeRosa Tr. 851:25–852:13. Governor Cuomo and Ms. Benton testified that Executive Assistant #1 told them—possibly around November 2020—that, following her separation from her husband, she was concerned about money and wanted to keep her job and be considered for overtime shifts. Benton Tr. 421:19–422:7; Andrew Cuomo Tr. 365:11–370:10. 183 See, e.g., Executive Assistant #1 Tr. 111:21–112:10, 144:21–146:15. 184 Id. 145:22–146:15. 185 Id. at 120:3–18. 186 Id. at 146:6–15, 190:8–23. 187 Id. at 128:19–133:15. 188 Id. at 129:13–19. 189 Id. 190 See infra Factual Findings, Section II.A (describing Executive Chamber’s efforts to respond to Ms. Boylan’s December 13, 2020 tweet alleging sexual harassment by the Governor). 28 Capitol.191 From the context of the discussions happening around that time, Executive Assistant #1 understood that the box contained documents relating to Ms. Boylan.192 Separately, in mid- or late December 2020, in the days immediately following Ms. Boylan’s tweets alleging sexual harassment against the Governor, Executive Assistant #1 spoke with the Governor on two occasions during which he apparently referenced his conduct toward her. In the first instance, Executive Assistant #1 was assisting the Governor with dictation in his office at the Capitol when he looked up at her and asked her not to “talk about anything to anyone else,” because “people talk around here” and he could “get in a lot of trouble.”193 Executive Assistant #1 testified that she understood the Governor’s comment as “feeling [her] out about what [she] might say or what [she] might not say” and took his statement as a threat, and she feared that she would get in trouble if she spoke up about his conduct.194 Executive Assistant #1 recalled responding to the Governor with something like, “I don’t say anything. I don’t say a word.”195 On a different occasion, on an early morning after sexual harassment allegations against the Governor had been made public, the Governor called the office’s main line and Executive Assistant #1 picked up.196 The Governor asked her how she felt he was being treated in the midst of these allegations.197 Executive Assistant #1 testified that she did not want to upset or disagree with the Governor, and so said she was sorry he was going through this and said she was sure it was hard.198 Executive Assistant #1 testified that the Governor thanked her and asked for her to get someone on the phone.199 However, things changed for Executive Assistant #1 as she read Ms. Bennett’s allegations in late February, and—ultimately—as she heard the Governor’s statement during his March 3 press conference that he had never touched anyone inappropriately. Following the publication in the New York Times on February 27, 2021 of Ms. Bennett’s allegations of misconduct by the Governor,200 Executive Assistant #1 testified: I was going to take this to the grave. There were conversations about Charlotte, that—could people believe her, did she have any ulterior 191 Executive Assistant #1 Tr. 129:22–130:19. 192 Id. at 120:22–130:7. Executive Assistant #1 also recalled assisting Mr. Azzopardi with finding Wite-Out. Id. at 130:8–19. A review of Ms. Boylan’s documents that were released to the press showed that the files had been redacted by hand. Executive Assistant #1 also recalled that Ms. DeRosa and others were on calls with Judy Mogul and Steve Cohen that day. Id. at 133:2–10. At one point, Executive Assistant #1 was asked to leave for the day. Id. at 131:8–20. 193 Id. at 134:22–136:11. 194 Id. at 134:22–136:6, 138:15–23. 195 Id. at 135:16–17. 196 Id. at 133:23–134:21. 197 Id. 198 Id. 199 Id. 200 See Jesse McKinley, Cuomo Is Accused of Sexual Harassment by a 2nd Former Aide, N.Y. Times (Feb. 27, 2021, last updated Mar. 16, 2021), https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/27/nyregion/cuomo-charlotte-bennett-sexual- harassment.html. 29 motive, and I couldn’t be part of those conversations anymore, because what she was saying was the truth. Those things actually did happen to me as well.201 She further testified: [A]ny time he touched me I felt like it was inappropriate. He was my boss, let alone the Governor of the State of New York, so I definitely felt he abused his power and definitely knew that he had this presence about him, very intimidating, no one ever told him that he was wrong nor were you told to do so. He definitely knew what he was doing was inappropriate. So any time that he would do something to me he knew that at the end of the day if I told anyone, nothing was going to happen to him. If anyone, it was going to happen to me.202 Executive Assistant #1 also testified: I remember being a young girl standing at the bus stop with my grandmother and looking at the Capitol and saying one day, Grandma, I’m going to work in there. That she would be proud of me. . . . And I really do enjoy my work. I do enjoy my job. I did and I have, and what’s happened to me is unfortunate and I don’t think fair to me. And I definitely knew that not only did he tell me not to say anything or share anything with anyone and it was definitely also known that if you say something[,] odds are you are going to be the one to go and I liked my job.203 On March 3, 2021, Executive Assistant #1 was at her desk in the Capitol when she—and other colleagues—watched on their computers the Governor give a press conference, from down the hall, during which he stated that he had never touched anyone inappropriately.204 Executive Assistant #1 found herself becoming emotional.205 Two other executive assistants (“Executive Assistants #2 and #3”) noticed Executive Assistant #1 become visibly emotional after watching the press conference.206 Executive Assistant #2 asked Executive Assistant #1 whether she was okay, and Executive Assistant #1 confided in her two colleagues about some of the inappropriate 201 Executive Assistant #1 Tr. 182:23–183:6. 202 Id. at 183:6–19. 203 Id. at 181:22–182:12. 204 Id. at 182:13–22; see also Cuomo: I Never Touched Anyone Inappropriately, NBC News NOW (Mar. 3, 2021), https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GYmmpg-3Xew. 205 Executive Assistant #1 Tr. 183:6–9, 184:18–20. 206 Id. at 183:6–9, 184:5–22. 30 contact the Governor had had with her.207 Both Executive Assistants #2 and #3 told us that, earlier on March 1, during a conversation about Ms. Bennett’s allegations, Executive Assistant #1 had told them some details about how the Governor had touched her and had had inappropriate conversations with her. Executive Assistant #3 informed us that Executive Assistant #1 was someone who was generally well liked and was someone who “loves her job and is good at it.” Both Executive Assistants #2 and #3 were upset at seeing Executive Assistant #1 in distress, and they both told her that they would support her. Other witnesses also described noticing a general change in Executive Assistant #1’s demeanor in March 2021. One witness in particular noted that Executive Assistant #1 had previously been bubbly and outgoing, but was now noticeably more reserved and somber. On Saturday, March 6, 2021, three days after the press conference during which the Governor denied touching anyone inappropriately and during which Executive Assistant #1 had a visible emotional reaction to the Governor’s remarks, Executive Assistant #1 was “on call” to provide assistance to the Governor at the Executive Mansion.208 That morning, Ms. Benton called Executive Assistant #1 and asked whether Executive Assistant #1 was “on duty” for the weekend shift, which Executive Assistant #1 confirmed.209 Executive Assistant #1 did not hear back from Ms. Benton, but learned later that evening (at a birthday party for Ms. McGrath) that one of the other executive assistants (Executive Assistant #3) had been called to the Executive Mansion instead of her.210 She also learned—and Executive Assistant #2 and #3 confirmed to us—that Ms. Benton specifically asked Executive Assistant #3 not to tell Executive Assistant #1 that Executive Assistant #3 had been called instead of her.211 Our review of BlackBerry PIN messages between the Governor and Ms. Benton also show that Ms. Benton informed the Governor on March 6 that Executive Assistant #1 was “on call” that day, and the Governor specifically instructed Ms. Benton to ask for Executive Assistant #3 to come to the Executive Mansion instead of Executive Assistant #1.212 In its production of these PIN messages, the Executive Chamber redacted portions of the exchange as reflecting communications to and from internal counsel, but noted that the subject of the communications was the sexual harassment allegations raised against the Governor at the time. Executive Assistant #3 also informed us that the work she did that day for the Governor involved the sexual harassment allegations that had been made against him. Specifically, she informed us that she was asked, among other things, to type up handwritten notes the Governor had drafted in response to Ms. Bennett and Karen Hinton’s allegations of sexual harassment against him. Both the Governor and Ms. Benton testified that Executive Assistant #3 was the best among the 207 Id. at 183:6–9, 184:18–186:24. 208 Id. at 187:3–7. 209 Id. at 104:20–105:22. 210 Id. 211 Id. at 104:20–105:22, 106:17–23. 212 See Ex. 28 (Blackberry PIN messages between Ms. Benton and “Mark.2,” i.e., the Governor—“[Executive Assistant #1] is on call today. Want her now?” / “[Executive Assistant #3’s] better?” / “I called [Executive Assistant #3]. She can do. I’m telling her to head there now.”). 31 Executive Assistants in terms of dictation and typing, and speculated that that could have been the reason for the switch.213 During the birthday party for Ms. McGrath later that evening, Executive Assistant #1 shared with Executive Assistant #2 that the Governor had grabbed Executive Assistant #1 and reached up her shirt. Executive Assistant #1 continued to be distraught throughout the party, and Executive Assistant #2 told her to come to her house that weekend. The following day, on Sunday, March 7, 2021, Executive Assistant #1, her boyfriend, and Executive Assistant #3 went to Executive Assistant #2’s house, where Executive Assistant #2’s boyfriend, who works for the Federal Bureau of Investigation, suggested that Executive Assistant #1 speak with his friend, a lawyer. The group gathered at Executive Assistant #2’s house and then went to the office of the lawyer, whom Executive Assistant #1 ultimately retained. Executive Assistants #2 and #3 also felt that, under the Employee Handbook, they were obligated to report what Executive Assistant #1 had told them within the Executive Chamber. On the morning of March 8, 2021, the two women called Ms. Mogul, who also dialed in Beth Garvey, at the time the Special Counsel and Senior Advisor to the Governor. On the call, Executive Assistants #2 and #3 explained that the Governor had touched Executive Assistant #1 many times, had kissed her forcibly, and had put his hand up her shirt. The two women also mistakenly reported that the Governor had pushed Executive Assistant #1 up against a wall, which Executive Assistant #1 had not said and which she denies.214 Executive Assistants #2 and #3 also told Ms. Mogul—prior to Ms. Garvey joining the call—that they believed Executive Assistant #1 and that they were very concerned.215 Ms. Mogul told the two women that she was sorry and that they “did the right thing” by reporting what they had heard. The call was brief, lasting only about three to four minutes.216 The next day, on March 9, the Times Union published an article describing the allegations of an anonymous current aide in the Executive Chamber, who was alleging that the Governor had groped her while at the Executive Mansion.217 Executive Assistant #1 testified that she had not communicated with the press in advance of the March 9 article about her allegations and that she had been shocked at the publication of the Times Union article.218 213 Andrew Cuomo Tr. 407:10–408:12; Benton Tr. 396:16–398:10. 214 Executive Assistant #1 Tr. 191:21–192:12; Mogul Tr. 381:7–14 (testifying that to her recollection Executive Assistant #1’s colleagues reported that the Governor “had forcefully thrown her up against the wall and put his hand under her shirt and felt her breast.”) 215 Mogul Tr. 381:15–24. 216 Id. at 384:7–10. 217 See Brendan J. Lyons, Female Aide said Cuomo aggressively groped her at Executive Mansion, Times Union (Mar. 10, 2021, updated Mar. 11, 2021), https://www.timesunion.com/news/article/Female-aide-said-Cuomo- aggressively-groped-her-at-16015863.php. 218 Executive Assistant #1 Tr. 193:12–194:2.