Disgraced former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo is ready to step out of the shadows.
After largely disappearing from the public eye as he dealt with allegations of sexual harassment and his brother’s ouster from CNN, Cuomo is re-entering the public arena. In his first public remarks since the scandals, Cuomo blamed cancel culture and dirty politics for his fall from grace instead of his own actions.
Cuomo delivered the remarks at God’s Battalion of Prayer Church in Brooklyn in what many are regarding as his first step in his plan to make a political comeback.
According to Townhall:
“As you probably know, I’ve gone through a difficult period the past few months. I resigned as governor, the press roasted me, my colleagues were ridiculed, my brother was fired. It was ugly. It was probably the toughest time of my life, and it was probably the first time that I was glad my father wasn’t here with us anymore, so he didn’t have to see,” he said, referring to his late father, former New York Gov. Mario Cuomo.
“My father, God rest his soul, used to say government is an honorable profession but that politics can be a dirty business,” he said. “Now that is especially true today when the politics out there is so mean and so extreme, when even the Democratic Party chooses to cancel people that they have a disagreement with.”
Cuomo then said that his behavior hasn’t changed over the past 40 years and claimed that heightened sensitivity among younger generations is what led to the onslaught of sexual harassment allegations.
“My behavior has been the same for 40 years in public life. … But that was actually the problem. Because for some people, especially younger people, there’s a new sensitivity,” Cuomo said. “No one ever told me I made them feel uncomfortable. I never sensed that I caused anyone discomfort. I was trying to do the exact opposite.”
The Democrat then seemed to hint at his political comeback when he said “God isn’t finished with me yet.”
Later in his speech, Cuomo took a thinly-veiled shot at New York Attorney General Letitia James’ investigation into the 11 women’s allegations against Cuomo. Ultimately, the report led to Cuomo’s resignation however no criminal charges were filed against the former governor.
“Contrary to what my political opponents would have you believe, nothing I did violated the law or the regulations,” he said. “I said from the start that I would defend any allegation that anyone wanted to bring, but the political sharks in Albany smelled blood. And then the sharks smell blood, then come. And they exploited the situation for their political purpose.”
While Cuomo has remained focused on fighting the sexual harassment allegations leveled against him his scandals in the governor’s mansion go beyond that. The former governor faced intense criticism for using state resources to write his memoir on his handling of Covid-19. However, the most severe criticisms came from his decision to place COVID-positive patients in nursing homes, which led to countless elderly nursing home deaths.
