Former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo will not face criminal charges in connection with two of the harassment allegations against him, the top prosecutor in Westchester County announced Tuesday.
District Attorney Mimi Rocah said in a statement that her office "has determined that, although the allegations and witnesses were credible, and the conduct concerning, we cannot pursue criminal charges due to the statutory requirements of the criminal laws of New York."
The district attorney's investigation looked at allegations from a report by the state attorney general's office that concluded that Cuomo had sexually harassed 11 women while he was governor. The only two incidents Rocah focused were alleged to have occurred in Westchester County, north of New York City.
In the first instance, Cuomo was alleged to have acted inappropriately with a female state trooper on his security detail at his home in Mount Kisco.
The trooper asked Cuomo whether he needed anything, and "he responded by asking her if he could kiss her," Rocah said. "She further indicated that she was concerned about the ramifications of denying the Governor’s request and so she said 'sure.' The Governor then kissed her on the cheek and, as indicated in the Attorney General’s report, 'said something to the effect of, ‘oh, I'm not supposed to do that’ or ‘unless that's against the rules.’”
The second allegation involved a woman who said "Cuomo grabbed her arm, pulled her toward him and kissed her on the cheek without seeking permission for such a greeting while the two were at an event at White Plains High School."
Rocah said her office's inquiry "found credible evidence to conclude that the alleged conduct in both instances described above did occur" but did not fit the statutory requirements for prosecution.
The Nassau County district attorney made a similar announcement last week involving another allegation involving the same trooper at the Belmont racetrack.
The trooper told the attorney general's office that Cuomo ran the palm of his left hand across her abdomen, to her belly button and then to her right hip, where she kept her gun, while she held a door open for him at an event in September 2019.
The district attorney, Joyce Smith, said her office had found that the allegations were "credible, deeply troubling, but not criminal under New York law."
Cuomo has denied touching anyone inappropriately but acknowledged that he may have acted in ways that made people feel uncomfortable.
Cuomo's spokesman, Rich Azzopardi, did not immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday about Rocah's decision.
Azzopardi said after Smith's announcement last week that the determination was more proof that Cuomo, who resigned in the wake of the attorney general's report, was mistreated.
“With each passing day it becomes more and more clear that the attorney general’s report was the intersection of gross prosecutorial misconduct and an abuse of government power for political purposes. Her press conference proclaimed ‘11 cases of violations of federal and state laws,’ ignited the cancel culture mentality and started a media and political stampede against Governor Cuomo,” he said.
Cuomo, who faces no other allegations in Nassau County, is still being investigated by two other county district attorneys and has been charged with misdemeanor forcible touching in Albany County.
The Albany case involves an executive assistant who says Cuomo groped her while she was working at the Executive Mansion. Cuomo has denied the allegations. Cuomo's attorney, Rita Glavin, has said he "never assaulted anyone" and has suggested that his prosecution is politically motivated.
Cuomo is due in court next month in the Albany case.
