NEW YORK — New York Governor Andrew Cuomo resigned on Tuesday after an inquiry discovered that he sexually harassed 11 girls.
The event got here amid mounting authorized stress and calls for for his departure by President Joe Biden and others, a downfall for a person as soon as seen as a attainable US presidential contender.
Cuomo, a Democrat who had served since 2011 as governor of the fourth most-populous US state, made the announcement after New York Legal professional Common Letitia James on August three launched the outcomes of a five-month impartial investigation that concluded he had engaged in conduct that violated US and state legal guidelines.
In accordance with the investigation, a 168-page report discovered that Cuomo groped, kissed or made suggestive feedback to girls together with present and former authorities staff — one a state trooper — and retaliated towards at the least one lady who accused him of sexual misconduct. Cuomo denied wrongdoing.
Lieutenant Governor Kathy Hochul, a Democrat from western New York, will take over as governor of the state of greater than 19 million individuals till the tip of Cuomo’s time period in December 2022 as outlined within the state’s structure, changing into the primary lady to carry the submit.
Cuomo’s resignation marks the second time in 13 years {that a} New York governor has stepped down in scandal, after Eliot Spitzer stop in 2008 over his patronage of prostitutes. Cuomo additionally grew to become the most recent highly effective man taken down lately following the rise of the #MeToo social motion towards sexual abuse and harassment that has shaken politics, Hollywood, the enterprise world and the office.
