Former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo is suing state Attorney General Letitia James to force her to release interviews from the damaging sexual misconduct investigation that led to his resignation.
Cuomo filed the case against James in New York state court on Thursday, arguing he needs the witness statements in full to defend himself against two sexual harassment lawsuits linked to the investigation.
One of those was brought by a New York state trooper in February 2022, who sued Cuomo for discrimination on the basis of sex and retaliation. The second was filed against Cuomo by Charlotte Bennett, a former aide, in September 2022.
A federal judge declined to release similar records in a separate case filed by Cuomo last year.
The former governor, once a rising star in the Democratic Party, resigned in 2021 after a report by the attorney general’s office concluded he sexually harassed at least 11 women.
Cuomo has denied the allegations. He and his backers have repeatedly criticized James and the sexual misconduct investigation as unfair. Cuomo is rumored to be contemplating a political comeback.
When reached by CBS News Friday, a spokesperson for James would not comment on Cuomo’s lawsuit.
In a statement provided to CBS News Friday, Cuomo said that “every single piece of information that has come out over the last two years has done nothing but undermine Tish James’ sham report and – after publicly stating that ‘evidence will be made available to the public’, she’s done everything she can to hide these documents from taxpayers. This was a political hit job from the beginning to pave the way for Tish’s failed campaign for governor and it’s sad that the courts are needed to step in and order the state’s top lawyer to stop violating the law.”
In November, Cuomo was also separately sued for sexual harassment by former executive assistant Brittany Commisso.
In a 2021 interview with “CBS Mornings” before Cuomo resigned, Commisso alleged that he had groped her twice, first in December 2019 and again in November 2020.
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