Cuomo attorney calls for NY AG to recuse her office from decisions involving Aug. 3 report

NEW YORK CITY (WHEC) — Former governor Andrew Cuomo’s attorney is calling for New York State Attorney General Letitia James to recuse her office from any further decisions involving the Aug. 3 report that details sexual harassment and misconduct allegations against Cuomo from 11 different women.

Rita Glavin sent the AG’ Office a letter, as well as made calls in a press conference Thursday, the same day the Assembly Judiciary Committee members are reviewing the report by Davis Polk & Wardwell, which was tasked by the Assembly to investigate the former governor for sexual harassment and other alleged violations while he was in office as part of an impeachment probe.

Glavin said that it’s a conflict of interest now that James is running for governor of New York. She reiterated claims that the report is misleading, flawed, and unreliable because of material omissions and errors, and accused James of using the report to bolster her own campaign.

The attorney also called for James to release all evidence to Cuomo’s office, saying the redacted transcript, which only includes 41 interviews out of the 179 that were conducted, is biased. Glavin wrote a letter to the Assembly Judiciary Committee asking that the evidence be turned over.

Glavin also recently called for an investigation into the Albany County Sheriff, suggesting he may have leaked information to the media about the ongoing sexual harassment investigation.

She also addressed some of the other allegations against the former governor that were investigated as part of the impeachment probe, saying that the governor’s staff worked on his book, “American Crisis: Leadership Lessons From the COVID-19 Pandemic", voluntarily, and on their own time.

Earlier this week, the State Joint Commission on Public Ethics voted to rescind its prior approval of the $5.1 million book deal.

A spokesperson for the former governor sent the following statement after the press conference:

Additionally we urge the Attorney General’s Office to answer these critically important questions about the release of the transcripts.

1. In the Governor’s testimony he said directly to Joon Kim that Ibrahim Khan — the AG’s chief of staff— had been coordinating with Trip Yang and Lindsey Boylan‘s campaign and that it suggested collusion between James and Boylan. Other than to hide this obvious conflict of interest, why was this information redacted?
2. In Boylan’s testimony, why didn’t they ask her about the fact that Liz Fine, current counsel to the governor, requested Boylan‘s termination for abusing staff?
3. Why didn’t they question Boylan about her texts to executive chamber staff specifically saying she would retaliate against the governor because “life is long and so is my memory and so are my resources” and “the future is coming after (expletive.)”
4. Brittany Commisso testified that the governor became more reserved after Boylan started tweeting attacks against him. Did James tell Sheriff Apple that the new date of her allegation, December 7, was after Boylan started tweeting and therefore inconsistent with Commisso’s testimony?
5. James said that she spoke to politicians in Albany for her investigation. Who are those politicians that James spoke to inform her investigation and where are their transcripts?
6. James’ press release now says it was an “independent investigation." However, just four weeks ago James said that she personally conducted the investigation. Was she lying then or is she lying now?
7. Why didn’t investigators ask Charlotte Bennett about her activity at Hamilton College and her filing a false allegation?
8. Why did they omit the circumstances that caused the governor to talk to Bennett and provided the motivation for their conversation?
9. Why is James suddenly releasing the transcripts now after she said she had sent them to several district attorneys who are doing investigations?
10. Are the other district attorneys besides Albany not doing investigations?

The letter to the Attorney General’s Office is below (mobile users, click here):

2021.11.18 Ltr. to AG by News10NBC on Scribd

The letter to the Assembly is below (mobile users, click here):

2021.11.18 Ltr. to Assembly by News10NBC on Scribd