Current aide accuses Andrew Cuomo of sexual harassment, looking down her shirt

Alyssa McGrath said the New York governor referred to her and her female colleague as ‘mingle mamas,’ and asked why she wasn’t wearing a wedding ring

She is the first current aide to come forward publicly on the mounting allegations of sexual misconduct against Cuomo, who is facing calls to quit

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New York Governor Andrew Cuomo. Photo: EPA-EFE

Published: 3:00pm, 20 Mar 2021Updated: 2:59pm, 20 Mar 2021

A woman who currently works in the office of New York Governor Andrew Cuomo says he looked down her shirt and made suggestive remarks to her and another aide, according to a newspaper report published on Friday.

Alyssa McGrath told The New York Times that Cuomo called her beautiful in Italian, referred to her and her female colleague as “mingle mamas,” asked why she wasn’t wearing a wedding ring, and inquired about her divorce, McGrath said.

McGrath is the first current aide to come forward publicly on the mounting allegations of sexual misconduct against Cuomo, who is the subject of an impeachment investigation by the New York Assembly, the state’s lower legislative chamber, presumably over those accusations and questions about the governor’s handling of data about Covid-19 nursing home deaths.

McGrath told The New York Times that her female colleague was the same woman the governor is accused of groping in the Executive Mansion, an allegation that was revealed in a report last week in the Times Union of Albany. That aide has not been identified publicly.

McGrath did not accuse the governor of inappropriate touching.

Cuomo, a Democrat, has repeatedly denied allegations of sexual misconduct. A lawyer for him told The New York Times that Cuomo has indeed used Italian phrases like “ciao bella,” which means “hello beautiful” in Italian, and greeted both men and women alike with hugs and a kiss.