Andrew Cuomo will not face criminal charges from a former assistant’s allegation that he groped her in his office as governor. On Tuesday, the Albany County district attorney announced that his office will be dropping the misdemeanor charge of forcible touching against the former governor.
“While we found the complainant in this case cooperative and credible, after review of all the available evidence we have concluded that we cannot meet our burden at trial. As such we have notified the Court that we are declining to prosecute this matter and requesting the charges filed by the Albany County Sheriff be dismissed,” David Soares said in a statement.
Last summer, Brittany Commisso, a former executive assistant, leveled the most serious allegation of sexual harassment against Cuomo: that he slid his hand up her blouse and groped her breast during an encounter in the governor’s mansion in December 2020. Commisso filed a complaint with the Albany sheriff’s office in August 2021, telling CBS This Morning during an interview that same month, “What he did to me was a crime. He broke the law.”
In October, an investigator with the sheriff’s office filed a summons charging Cuomo with one count of forcible touching. A source told the Albany Times-Union at the time that the sheriff’s office wasn’t expecting the papers to be filed at that time. The district attorney’s office was also reportedly caught off guard.
Soares is just the latest county prosecutor to decline legal action against Cuomo. District attorneys in Nassau and Westchester Counties announced in recent days that they would not be pursuing charges against the former governor for sexual harassment.
