De Blasio: Cuomo Needs to ‘Be Impeached' and 'Face Criminal Charges'
'Any assault on a woman, you should face criminal charges'
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Democratic New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio called on his friend and fellow Democrat New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo to be "impeached as quickly as possible” if he does not resign.
De Blasio added that “any assault on a woman, you should face criminal charges."
"But if you, on top of that, used your power and position to think you could cover up the assault, well, that sounds criminal to me," de Blasio said.
The NY mayor said the governor's behavior “is textbook sexual harassment, and then, unfortunately, making it worse, in some cases, even sexual assault, disgusting and troubling and unacceptable and he needs to leave office immediately.”
During a broadcast of CNN’s “Situation Room,” de Blasio told host Wolf Blitzer:
"He should resign."
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"If he won’t resign, he should be impeached as quickly as possible by the state legislature," he continued.
"He can’t govern. He can’t govern.
"And Wolf, this was one investigation."
"There’s a whole separate series of issues around the nursing home scandal, whether the facts of all those deaths in the nursing homes due to COVID was covered up," he added.
"There’s a scandal around the book he wrote with the help of state employees.
"There’s a scandal around giving out vaccines to political supporters and withholding vaccine supplies from opponents.
"I mean, this guy is past the point of no return."
"He can’t govern. He just has to go.”
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Host Wolf Blitzer asked:
“If he doesn’t go, and if he isn’t impeached, should he face criminal charges?”
De Blasio responded:
“It looks that way to me. Obviously, the Albany County district attorney is looking at that right now."
"I mean, an assault on a woman, any assault on a woman, you should face criminal charges.
"But if you, on top of that, used your power and position to think you could cover up the assault, well, that sounds criminal to me.”
Earlier this year, Cuomo faced a slew of sexual misconduct accusations with a women who claimed he touched her without her consent inside his mansion.
Cuomo claimed that, although he did touch women, it was not “inappropriate.”
“First, I’m not aware of any other claim,” he said at the time.
62-year-old Karen Hinton spoke to the Washington Post about an incident in which Cuomo summoned her to his "dimly lit" hotel room where he allegedly "embraced" her after a work event in 2000.
Hinton said that she tried to pull away from Cuomo but that he pulled her back and held her before she backed away and escaped the room.
Another accuser, Charlotte Bennett, spoke out for the first time about her allegations of sexual harassment against the Democratic governor earlier this year.
Joe Biden also called for Cuomo to resign.
“I think he should resign,” Biden said to reporters at the White House on Tuesday.
