ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) \u2014 An\u00a0aide who accused New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo of groping\u00a0her said in her first televised interview that she was initially afraid to identify herself because she worried the governor\u2019s \u201cenablers\u201d would destroy her if she spoke up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Brittany Commisso, an executive assistant on Cuomo\u2019s staff, detailed her interactions with the Democrat in a joint interview with CBS and The Times Union of Albany that was broadcast Monday as a key legislative committee met to discuss possible impeachment hearings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Commisso has spoken out before, first in an anonymous interview with the Times Union last winter, and then as\u00a0one of 11 women who said they were sexually harassed by Cuomo\u00a0whose allegations were detailed in a report by the state attorney general\u2019s office last week. She was also the first woman to\u00a0file a criminal complaint\u00a0against Cuomo, giving a report to the county sheriff Thursday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But until now, the public hasn\u2019t heard her tell her own story.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI was afraid that if I had to come forward and revealed my name, that the governor and his enablers, I like to call them, would viciously attack me, would smear my name, as I had seen and heard them do before to people,\u201d said Commisso, now 32.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She said she also wanted to protect her daughter, but now feels speaking out shows her that \u201cshe has a voice.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI never want her to be afraid to speak,\u201d Commisso said. \u201cI never want her to be afraid of any person in power, a man or a woman.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The interview aired as Cuomo faces another day under fire.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Scores of Democrats, including President Joe Biden, have\u00a0urged Cuomo to leave office.\u00a0About two-thirds of state Assembly members have said they favor an impeachment trial if he refuses to resign, according to an Associated Press count. Only a simple majority vote is needed to begin an impeachment trial.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Assembly\u2019s judiciary committee was meeting in executive session, behind closed doors, Monday to discuss how to wrap up an ongoing probe of Cuomo\u2019s conduct with women, and of other matters, including the use of staff to help with his $5 million book deal and his administration\u2019s decision to withhold full statistics on COVID-19 deaths in nursing homes from the public.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cOur investigation remains confidential, as it should be, and at the appropriate time and as early as later this month we will discuss the evidence publicly in an open and transparent manner,\u201d said committee Chair Charles Lavine, a Long Island Democrat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He promised that the committee was committed to protecting any witnesses from retaliation and giving Cuomo a chance to defend himself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe governor has said he wants to be treated fairly like anyone else in this country and he will be,\u201d Lavine said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Cuomo will be going into the fight without his former top aide, Melissa DeRosa, who\u00a0resigned late Sunday,\u00a0saying the past two years had been \u201cemotionally and mentally trying.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The report made public by state Attorney General Letitia James said DeRosa played a lead role in trying to protect Cuomo from harassment claims.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Among other things, it said she was involved in giving reporters personnel memos about Lindsey Boylan, the\u00a0first woman to accuse him publicly of harassment. The records described Boylan\u2019s exit from the administration amid allegations that she\u2019d mistreated her own staff.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In her interview on CBS, Commisso said the attention that Cuomo gave her was not a normal friendliness, as the governor has characterized it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cMaybe to him, he thought this was normal. But to me and the other women that he did this to, it was not normal. It was not welcomed and it was certainly not consensual,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She said he groped her for the first time on Dec. 31, 2019, when the governor suggested the two take a selfie together.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cHe was to my left. I was on the right. With my right hand, I took the selfie. I then felt while taking the selfie, his hand go down my back onto my butt, and he started rubbing it. Not sliding it. Not, you know, quickly brushing over it \u2014 rubbing my butt.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Commisso, who began working in the governor\u2019s office in 2017, said this made her so nervous that her hands began to shake, making it difficult for her to even take the picture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI was embarrassed,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Commisso said Cuomo groped her a second time at the governor\u2019s mansion in November 2020.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After shutting the door, \u201cHe came back to me and that\u2019s when he put his hand up my blouse and cupped my breast over my bra,\u201d she said. \u201cI exactly remember looking down, seeing his hand, which is a large hand, thinking to myself, \u2018Oh, my God. This is happening.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Cuomo has repeatedly denied that the episode took place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In an interview with investigators with the state attorney general, he said, \u201cI would have to lose my mind to do such a thing\u201d to a woman he hardly knew, with multiple staff members around.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Associated Press does not generally identify alleged victims of sexual misconduct unless they decide to speak out publicly, as Commisso has done.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Cuomo\u2019s lawyers have attacked the attorney general\u2019s investigation as biased in favor of his female accusers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At least five district attorneys have asked for materials from the attorney general\u2019s inquiry to see if any of the allegations could result in criminal charges. Albany County Sheriff Craig Apple said Saturday that Cuomo could face misdemeanor charges if investigators substantiate Commisso\u2019s complaint.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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