Sunday, 14 March 2021

While NY Dems call on Cuomo to resign, both the president and Pelosi are taking a more cautious approach

andrew cuomo resign governor — New York Governor Andrew Cuomo speaks during a news conference at a vaccination site in the Brooklyn borough of New York, on February 22, 2021.
SETH WENIG/POOL/AFP via Getty Images

Biden said he wouldn't urge NY Gov. Andrew Cuomo to step down amid sexual misconduct allegations.
Biden said he was awaiting the results of the pending investigation to "see what it brings us."
Cuomo faces widespread dIvision within his party, with 13 prominent Dems calling for him to resign.
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President Joe Biden has stopped short of calling for New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo to resign amid sexual misconduct allegations, adopting a "wait and see" approach instead.

"I think the investigation is underway and we should see what it brings us," Biden told White House reporters on Sunday, referring to two separate investigations into Cuomo.

Cuomo has been accused by seven women of sexual misconduct. The governor allegedly asked employees about their sex lives and made unwanted sexual overtures towards them.

New York State Attorney General Letitia James is conducting an independent investigation into Cuomo's conduct.

Last week, New York State Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie authorized an impeachment investigation.

Cuomo is also facing resistance from his own party.

"He should resign, but because that is dependent on him, we also need to be willing and ready to investigate and impeach," Assemblywoman Yuh-Line Niou, a Democrat whose district covers Manhattan's financial district and Chinatown, previously told Insider.

In total, 13 New York Democrats in all have called for Cuomo's resignation, including Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Hakeem Jeffries, and Jerry Nadler.

Both New York Senators Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand have also urged Cuomo to step down, saying he has "lost the confidence" of New Yorkers. But as Axios' Jonathan Swan noted, Cuomo and Schumer have been at odds for years, so Schumer's opposition will likely mean little to the three-time governor.

According to Swan, the only person who could potentially persuade Cuomo to resign is President Biden.

"Unlike many of his other Democratic critics, Cuomo respects and likes Biden," Swan wrote. "The two men have had good relations - during the transition, there was even (far-fetched) talk that the governor would be considered as Biden's attorney general."

House Majority Leader Nancy Pelosi also stopped short of calling for Cuomo's removal.

Pelosi told reporters on Sunday that Cuomo should "look inside his heart" in order to "see if he can govern effectively."

Cuomo, once lauded as a hero of the pandemic, has in recent weeks faced scrutiny for covering up the true number of nursing home deaths in the early months of the COVID-19 crisis.

Earlier this month, The Wall Street Journal reported that Cuomo's aides pressured state officials to underrepresented the numbers of COVID-19-related deaths at nursing homes.

Cuomo initially said he withheld data in order to avoid scrutiny from then-President Trump. But new reports show that his office began concealing data before any federal inquiries were made.

Read the original article on Business Insider