New York Governor Andrew Cuomo is refusing to step down after three women made sexual harassment claims about him in the past month. He publicly apologized Wednesday, March 3 in his first public appearance since the scandal started, saying he was “embarrassed” by his actions, but that he did not touch anyone inappropriately. He asked New Yorkers and fellow Democrats to wait until the investigation from New York Attorney General Letitia James was complete before “forming an opinion.”
Most Democratic Party leaders in the state, including state senators, are taking a similar “wait and see” approach. However, a growing number of Democrats are also asking him to step down, including U.S. representative for a Long Island district and former Nassau County District Attorney, Kathleen Rice, who tweeted Monday that “the governor must resign.” Protesters outside of Cuomo’s New York City office also called for his resignation.
In a CBS News segment, New York State Democratic Chair Jay Jacobs urged people to wait until the results of the investigation were known, saying “I think overwhelmingly there’s a sense that we should be fair about this. We don’t want to look back at it sometime in the distant future and think that maybe we rushed this.”
