Listen: Evidence Against Cuomo in New York Probe Includes Clip of Him Singing Motown Hit to Accuser
01:07 GMT 04.08.2021 (Updated: 08:41 GMT 04.08.2021)
© REUTERS / Office of Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo
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Earlier, the New York Attorney General's Office released a 168-page report by independent investigators that detailed several instances in which New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) allegedly made sexual advances against nearly a dozen former and current state employees. The report came several months after allegations first surfaced in late 2020.
Newly released evidence by the New York Attorney General's Office in the case against Gov. Andrew Cuomo includes an audio clip of the governor crooning a classic Motown love song to one of his female aides during a debriefing in late 2019.
The clip, which was released earlier Tuesday as part of evidence detailing sexual advances allegedly made by Cuomo, is an audio recording of a phone call between Cuomo and aide Charlotte Bennett, one of several women who have come forward with sexual harassment accusations against the governor.
In the recording, Bennett can be heard identifying herself to Cuomo, who then proceeds to respond with "Ok" before singing a rendition of hit Motown song "Do You Love Me" by The Contours.
With Bennett appearing to nervously laugh off the musical performance, Cuomo responds by questioning whether Bennett is familiar with the song. When she admits she is not familiar with the 1962-released tune, Cuomo acknowledges it's "before your time." Then just as Bennett remarks that she "appreciated" his rendition, he begins to once again sing the chorus of the song.
"It's like [from] the '50s," Cuomo suggests, before stating that the song "is before my time."
The slightly awkward phone conversation took place on October 4, 2019, and is just one encounter outlined in the 168-page report released on Tuesday by New York Attorney General Letitia James, who declared during an earlier conference on the findings that the independent investigation unearthed "deeply disturbing" revelations about Cuomo's behavior with staffers.
The report itself concluded that Cuomo "engaged in conduct constituting sexual harassment under federal and New York State law." Other encounters described in the findings note that the governor engaged in "unwelcome and nonconsensual touching, as well as making numerous offensive comments of a suggestive and sexual nature that created a hostile work environment for women."
James' Tuesday reveal prompted a chorus of calls from congressional US lawmakers and US President Joe Biden urging Cuomo to resign from his post, while the governor has rejected the findings and insisted that he never engaged in the inappropriate behavior described in the report.
