Subpoenas issued to 4 Cuomo accusers as NY attorney general’s probe moves forward, report says
NEW YORK – A quartet of Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s accusers have reportedly been subpoenaed to provide sworn testimony in the state Attorney General’s probe of their sexual harassment charges, with one expected to appear this month.
Former gubernatorial aide Charlotte Bennett, who accused Cuomo of sexual advances while the pair were alone inside his Albany office, is expected to testify under oath in the next two weeks, a spokeswoman for her lawyer confirmed Saturday.
“Looking forward to this,” read a Saturday morning tweet from Bennett.
Bennett has already engaged in more than four hours of preliminary questioning from investigators in the case, and identified more than two dozen possible eyewitnesses, according to Katz.
Three other accusers confirmed receipt of their subpoenas to the New York Times. An email for response from the governor’s office was not immediately returned Saturday.
The subpoenas signal a shift in the investigation as state Attorney General Letitia James delves into the allegations that Cuomo has repeatedly denied. A James spokesman said Saturday that the state’s top prosecutor would not comment on the probe at this point.
Cuomo, in addition to the James investigation, faces an impeachment inquiry after 10 women – including current and former staffers – made public accusations of his inappropriate comments and unwanted advances.
Bennett, 25, alleged that the 63-year-old governor made inappropriate inquiries about her sex life and asked whether she slept with older men.
“I understood that the governor wanted to sleep with me, and felt horribly uncomfortable and scared,” she told the Times about an incident from last June.
Cuomo earlier this week issued yet another denial of the sexual harassment charges, going so far as to redefine the term.
“Harassment is not making someone feel uncomfortable,” he said during an appearance in the Bronx. “That is not harassment. If I just made you feel uncomfortable, that is not harassment. That is you feeling uncomfortable.”