“This is the first sex scandal in history in which there wasn’t any sex,” said one Cuomo adviser. “I am sorry that all of these women felt awkward, and felt like something was going to happen, but nothing actually did. So let’s talk about what we are actually talking about here.”
People who have spoken with the governor say that he recognizes that the chances of him surviving this are very slim. “It’s like the building collapsed on top of him and there is a tiny ray of light you can still see through,” said one. “It’s fading, but it is there.”
Time is Cuomo’s best asset. If the Assembly moves slowly on impeachment, it will give Cuomo time to make the case that he is being railroaded. Back in March, when allegations of wrongdoing first surfaced, Cuomo’s team were buoyed by the fact that his poll numbers, especially among older Democrats, remained strong. The more time that elapses after James’s press conference on Tuesday, the more his numbers will have time to recover, as new political stories and scandals fill the news cycle and the state battles a new resurgence of the coronavirus.
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