-I think it's terrible, and I truly believe, you know,
that he has a dog's mess on his hands,
and with all this, where it stands,
it's not gonna do anything except get worse,
and I would say he needs to resign.
-New York Governor Andrew Cuomo
responding to allegations of sexual harassment,
and Charlotte Bennett, who's one of now four women
who accuse Cuomo of inappropriate behavior
as a third former aide, came forward late yesterday.
-I do think that this is Democrats and society
at large grappling with where the line is right now.
What is an action that is so inappropriate,
that is so egregious that a public official
can no longer stay in office?
-You're seeing a lot of Democrats
who I think are resistant
to the idea of a fourth term for Governor Cuomo
and who see him as a bully who's run them over --
Democrats, I'm talking about.
-Part of the reason why Andrew Cuomo
was in some ways rising in the summer of '20 was
because of that brash attitude,
that kind of attitude where he felt like he could be in charge,
and you could tell that he was someone who would be tough.
But that same style is also what aides,
and more and more of them are coming out,
saying created a toxic work environment.
And I think it's gonna be harder and harder for Democrats
to either be silent or defend him
as more and more of these aides come out.
-It's important to note that Cuomo is not just facing
these sexual-misconduct allegations.
The allegations of cooking the books, essentially,
on nursing-home deaths is really serious.
And I think that gets to the heart
of just his overall leadership
of the state of New York through this pandemic.
-I've never understood why Andrew Cuomo
was viewed as the emperor of New York
after he sent thousands of elderly people
to their death last year in nursing homes.
Now the chickens are coming home to roost,
not only on that but on the fact that he's another man
who believes that he should have impunity
because of who he is in the world of politics.
It's utterly disgusting.
-The reality is that Governor Cuomo sent sick COVID patients
back into nursing homes and infected other people,
and lives were lost because of those decisions.
It's hard to think of any state
that received more federal assistance
during COVID than New York from the Trump-Pence administration,
whether or not that was ventilators
or refurbishing the stockpiles.
It was also basically the federal government
creating a hospital in the Javits Center,
sending the USS Comfort up to New York
to be in the harbor for additional beds.
There were all sorts of options he had.
He made a wrong decision, and now there are allegations
he actually covered up and lied about the number of COVID deaths
that actually occurred in the nursing homes
because of his decisions.
Those are incredibly serious allegations,
and I think he's on very tenuous standing.
-Yeah, I think that's just bad decision-making.
I don't know that there's anything illegal.
Clearly, people died, and there's a terrible price
for all families who lost a loved one to pay.
But it was a decision.
So, I'm still curious as to what exactly anyone could say
that was done illegally.
-At what point does this become disqualifying for him?
-Listen, Margaret, I'm gonna stay where I've been on this,
which is this deeply troubling.
And more data points make it even more troubling.
And an independent investigation,
which all parties appear to have come to the conclusion
was the right road forward, I would agree with that.
Let's see where that comes out,
and I would just say every person,
regardless of who they are,
who has a concern, has a right to be heard,
and that concern has a right to be investigated.
And, God willing, that's what will happen here.
-I've seen a rush to judgment before,
and I think the investigation should proceed
and make a decision later.
And that's what I would hope that everyone would do
and allow this process to go through.
Allow the investigation to be completed.
Allow the person to be able to defend themselves
and tell their story, too.
-This really shouldn't be a partisan issue.
What we should want for everybody
is absolutely due process,
absolutely investigate the claim.
Make sure they're credible.
But no tolerance, zero tolerance for sex pests
and pigs like these.
-Well, that is one way to sort of end that segment there.
I think there is universal agreement
that we are all tired of seeing this bad behavior from people
that are supposed to be role models.