“This investigation started at the request of the governor after multiple women accused him of sexual harassment,” said Delaney Kempner, a spokeswoman for the state attorney general. “It is being carried out by independent investigators who have decades of experience. The continued attempts to undermine and politicize this process are dishonest and take away from the courage and bravery displayed by these women.”
As a top prosecutor in the U.S. attorney’s office in Manhattan, Mr. Kim interrogated Mr. Cuomo in a federal investigation into the governor’s abrupt decision in 2014 to shut down the Moreland Commission, an anticorruption panel, according to three people familiar with the matter. Prosecutors ultimately closed that inquiry without bringing charges, but the investigation cast a cloud over the governor, dogging his re-election campaign at the time and raising suspicions about his commitment to rooting out public corruption in Albany.
During his brief stint as acting U.S. attorney, Mr. Kim was also involved in the prosecution of Joseph Percoco, a former top Cuomo aide who was convicted of federal corruption charges in 2018.
This time around, Mr. Kim’s investigation has unfolded during one of the most perilous chapters of Mr. Cuomo’s 10-year tenure.
“I think many of us are eager to see this conclude, one way or another, and get back to the business of government,” said State Senator Brad Hoylman, a Democrat who has called on Mr. Cuomo to resign. “But this is the calm before the storm: I think, truly, we’re about to hit the gale force winds of Albany, and it’ll be something to behold.”
While the report’s conclusions are unknown, Mr. Cuomo could, in theory, face criminal exposure if investigators were to determine that there is sufficient evidence of a crime — if, for example, an instance of unwanted touching could support a criminal charge — and were to refer the matter to a local district attorney for further investigation.
So far, the unnamed woman who said Mr. Cuomo groped her in the Executive Mansion last year has not filed a complaint with the Albany Police Department. Mr. Cuomo has denied the woman’s account, saying he has never touched anyone inappropriately.
