Cuomo resigns as governor: "I will step aside" 3:30
(CNN Spanish) -
After months of tensions around a series of accusations of alleged sexual harassment against 11 women, the governor of the state of New York, Andrew Cuomo, announced on Tuesday his resignation from the position, which will be effective in 14 days.
Who exactly is Andrew Cuomo, the Democratic governor of one of America's most important states, and once one of the most popular politicians in the country?
Resignation
"Wasting energy on distractions is the last thing the state government should do, and I can't be the cause of that," he said in a video shared on social media.
"The best way I can help is if I step aside and let the government go back to government."
Roberta Kaplan, Time's Up Board Co-Chair, Resigns in Light of Governor Cuomo Scandal
Cuomo will be replaced by Lieutenant Governor Kathy Hochul, and his decision comes a week after details were released about the charges of 11 women against him for "unwanted and non-consensual touching," among other accusations.
Cuomo, who has rejected some of the accusations against him and said certain behaviors were taken out of context, said Tuesday that he should have appreciated generational and cultural changes, but did not.
"In my mind, I've never crossed the line with anyone, but I didn't realize how far the line has been redrawn," he said.
advertising
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo announced his resignation.
The governor said he thought he was being "friendly" and "nice" with his kisses and hugs, but that he ultimately took "full responsibility" for his actions.
Beginnings in Queens
Cuomo, 63, was born on December 6, 1957 in Queens, within New York City, according to his biographical information available on the official state website.
He is the son of Mario Cuomo, former governor of New York between 1983 and 1994 for the Democratic Party, and brother of Chris Cuomo, a CNN news anchor.
He graduated from Fordham University, in the Bronx, in 1979 and earned his law degree from Albany Law School in 1982. He then headed the Transitional Committee for then-Governor-elect Mario Cuomo and served as an advisor in his administration.
Biden: Cuomo should quit 1:04
In 1997, during Bill Clinton's second presidency, he was Secretary of Housing and Urban Development.
Later, in 2006, he was elected as attorney general of the State of New York, a position he held from 2007 to 2010. It is the same office that is now investigating, under the leadership of Letitia James, the accusations against Cuomo.
Arrival to the governorship of New York
After his years as attorney general he ran for and won the election for governor of New York.
He assumed the governorship in 2011, and then he was reelected in 2014 and 2018, this last time obtaining 59.62% of the votes against 36.2% of his rival, Marc Molinaro of the Republican Party.
Although he was already popular in his state, Cuomo jumped onto the national stage in early 2020 and after his state became the epicenter - at the time - of the covid-19 pandemic.
Cuomo sexually harassed several women, says Prosecutor 6:03
At that time the governor's reaction, including the closure of schools and bars when these measures were not yet being massively adopted, while at the same time offering daily press conferences based on data and with the aim of alerting about the danger of the coronavirus, when Still underestimated by many - including President Donald Trump - they generated a significant base of support for him.
According to an April 2020 Siena College poll, Cuomo at the time had a 77% approval rating among New Yorkers, including the support of 90% of Democrats, 73% of independents and 53% of Republicans.
From popularity to criticism
Cuomo's popularity sparked a wave of expectations about whether the governor would seek a fourth term in New York or even the US presidency.
Although Cuomo emphatically rejected any intention of reaching the White House, in an interview with CNN.
But in early 2021 the first shadows began to appear.
Pressure increases for Cuomo to resign 0:46
In January, the New York attorney general's office indicated in a preliminary report that the New York Department of Health had undercounted deaths in nursing homes by about 50%.
In a statement, New York State Health Commissioner Dr. Howard Zucker denied there was an undercount.
Cuomo himself supported his subordinates and denied that there has been a lower count of the actual deaths.
But the report, based on a survey of 62 nursing homes, a sample of about 10% of total facilities statewide, generated a wave of criticism of the Cuomo government over handling the pandemic, to the point of that the FBI and the US attorney's office in Brooklyn opened their own investigations into the situation and raised questions about the government's transparency.
The first accusations
But the biggest blow to Cuomo's image began in December 2020, when Lindsay Boylan denounced the governor for alleged sexual harassment in 2018.
The details of the sexual harassment complaint against Cuomo 5:17
"When I got up to leave and walk to an open door, he stood in front of me and kissed me on the lips," Boylan wrote in a Medium post, describing a briefing he had with Cuomo.
Caitlin Girouard, the governor's press secretary, said in a statement in February that "Ms. Boylan's claims of inappropriate behavior are simply false."
Following Boylan's remarks, other women began to accuse Cuomo in the following months, culminating in the New York attorney general's report, and pressure for the governor to resign continued to mount.
Until this Tuesday, however, Cuomo resisted resigning, despite having lost the support of members of the Democratic Party, the New York State Assembly beginning an investigation for a possible impeachment and the president himself Joe Biden asked you to step aside.
Andrew Cuomo New York