Cuomo told aide to get tattoo on her butt and asked if she had piercings 'anywhere other than her ears,' New York AG report says

andrew cuomo impeachment investigation timeline — New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo.
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The office of NY AG Letitia James found Gov. Andrew Cuomo sexually harassed multiple women.
Cuomo told one aide to get a tattoo on her butt instead of her shoulder, investigators said in a 168-page report.
The governor asked the same aide if she had piercings "anywhere other than her ears," the report said.
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New York Governor Andrew Cuomo told an aide, Charlotte Bennett, that it would be better for her to get a tattoo on her butt instead of her shoulder, according to a 168-page report from investigators in the office of New York Attorney General Letitia James.

"The Governor insisted that she get the tattoo on her butt rather than her shoulder, so that people would not see it if she were wearing a dress," said the report.

Investigators also wrote that Cuomo "sexually harassed a number of current and former New York State employees by, among other things, engaging in unwelcome and nonconsensual touching, as well as making numerous offensive comments of a suggestive and sexual nature that created a hostile work environment for women."

Cuomo "made inappropriate comments" in a series of conversations with Bennett in 2020, the report stated, including asking if she had piercings "anywhere other than her ears" - a discussion Bennett described as "painfully awkward."

"Ms. Bennett reported interactions with the Governor that had made her so uncomfortable that she said she no longer wanted to interact with him," the report said.

The report also said Cuomo asked Bennett, who was 25 at the time, if she'd been with older men.

Comments like this "by the Governor-as evidenced contemporaneously in numerous text exchanges Ms. Bennett had with others-followed and coincided with discussions she previously had with the Governor about her having been a survivor of sexual assault and made her extremely uncomfortable," the report said.

Bennett, who left the Cuomo administration in November, eventually reported the interactions to Cuomo's chief of staff, but "the Executive Chamber did not report the allegations at the time to the Governor's Office of Employee Relations ('GOER'), the State agency tasked with conducting harassment investigations for State agencies, and did not otherwise conduct any formal investigation." Instead, senior staff sought to implement a practice that would prohibit individual woman staffers from being left alone with Cuomo, according to investigators.

Cuomo is accused of harassing 11 women. The New York governor last March apologized for making his accusers "feel uncomfortable," while maintaing that he's never harrassed anyone.

James on Tuesday applauded the women who've come forward with allegations against the governor. "I am inspired by all the brave women who came forward, but more importantly I believe them," she said.

If you are a survivor of sexual assault, you can call the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 800.656.HOPE (4673) or visit their website to receive confidential support.

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