In the case of the trooper, Cuomo is accused of noticing the young woman at one of his official events in 2017 and then handpicking her for his security detail, even though she didn’t have the necessary experience for the position. After she was brought on, the lawsuit contends that she was repeatedly harassed and groped.
“He commented on her appearance (‘why don’t you wear a dress?’); wanted to kiss her (‘[c]to I kiss you?’); asked her to find him a girlfriend who could ‘handle pain;’ and steered their conversations towards sex (‘[w]hy would you want to get married? . . . your sex drive goes down’,” the suit states.
“As with his other victims, the Governor used his physical proximity to Trooper 1 to touch her inappropriately (“he runs his finger down the center of my back of my spine, basically from the top of my neck, basically midway down with his pointer finger and just said, ‘Hey, you’),” according to court papers.
Cuomo spokesperson Rich Azzopardi disputed the claims, saying the descriptions rely on James’ “proven fraud of a report” and that five district attorneys reviewed various allegations against the former Democratic governor “found no violations of law.”
“If kissing someone on the cheek, patting someone on the back or stomach or waving hello at a public event on New Year’s Eve is actionable then we are all in trouble,” Azzopardi said in a statement, adding Cuomo would fight the suit.
Cuomo’s attorney Rita Glavin has continued to deride James’ report, and Cuomo is threatening to seek to have James disbarred as he contemplates some type of public comeback.
At the state Democratic convention on Thursday, James ripped Cuomo’s continual denials and attacks against her.
“It has become clear that the former governor will never accept any version of these events other than his own,” James told the party faithful.