This afternoon the NY Times published yet another claim of sexual harassment involving Gov. Cuomo. Alyssa McGrath, who is a current aide to the governor, describes some incidents that are very similar to those described by other accusers, i.e. being alone in the governor’s office and having him make suggestive comments.
During one meeting in 2018, the governor asked McGrath, who is of Italian descent, if she spoke Italian. She told him she did not. Cuomo proceeded to say a phrase in Italian which McGrath later asked her parents to translate for her. “It was commenting on how beautiful I was,” she told the Times. Another incident took place when she was called in to take dictation:
She was alone and nervous and wanted to do a good job, she said. She sat across from the governor, pen and paper at the ready.
“I put my head down waiting for him to start speaking, and he didn’t start speaking,” she said. “So I looked up to see what was going on. And he was blatantly looking down my shirt.”
The governor noticed her gaze, she said, and then “made a reference, a subtle reference, saying, ‘What’s on your necklace?’ Which was in my shirt.”
Ms. McGrath said she felt flushed and embarrassed — “My face turned really hot,” she said — but she continued to work. She shared this experience at the time with her co-worker.
In addition to the ogling and personal talk, Cuomo did kiss her head during a Christmas Party one year and grabbed her a bit for a photo, but there was no kissing on the lips or groping. Cuomo never suggested they should start dating.
But there’s an additional wrinkle to the story which is pretty damning for Cuomo. The co-worker mentioned above is the as-yet-unnamed woman who previously claimed Cuomo groped her during a visit to the governor’s mansion. The two women were friends who were often asked to work alone with Cuomo. After one such meeting in which their plans for a trip to Florida came up, McGrath claims Cuomo repeatedly referred to them as “mingle mamas.”
Because of their friendship, which Cuomo was well aware of, Cuomo allegedly asked the unnamed accuser (#6) not to share the story of the groping incident with her friend McGrath.
the co-worker, who has not been publicly identified, told her that the governor had asked her not to talk about the alleged incident, knowing that the two women regularly spoke and texted about their interactions with Mr. Cuomo.
“He told her specifically not to tell me,” Ms. McGrath said.
If Cuomo asked the 6th accuser not to tell her friend McGrath about the groping incident, that suggests he’s well aware that he did something wrong. He’s not just an innocent, warm Italian who likes hugs. He’s a guy trying to get away with misbehavior.
McGrath tells the Times that she and her unnamed friend spoke about their experiences in the wake of all of the allegations and, looking back, they wonder why they put up with it for so long. “Her and I discussed this after the fact and now we’re like, ‘How did we not see this?’ Because it’s so blatant and obvious,” McGrath said.
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