New York State Assembly’s report into former Governor Andrew Cuomo’s various alleged misdeeds will be done “very soon,” according to Judiciary Committee Chairman Charles Lavine.
“The New York State Assembly Judiciary Committee is making great progress preparing the report of its investigation of the former Governor,” Lavine said.
Lavine declined to give specifics, though one Judiciary Committee member, who declined to speak on the record because they were not authorized to do so, thought it could take several more weeks, and would be ready by November at the latest. The member expected another meeting of the judiciary committee before any report would be released to the public.
NY1 first reported on Lavine's comments.
The Assembly’s Judiciary Committee has been overseeing an investigation into various allegations against Cuomo since March. Their investigation overlaps with New York State Attorney General Letitia James’s probe into sexual harassment by Cuomo, though it goes beyond that, looking at whether Cuomo misused state resources to his personal benefit by way of his $5 million book deal, and at the circumstances around Cuomo's withholding of data on the deaths of nursing home residents.
At its inception, the assembly’s investigation was billed as a precursor to a potential impeachment vote. And in early August, as pressure grew on the state assembly to take action against Cuomo, Lavine said the probe was “nearing completion.”
But when Cuomo said he would resign on his own accord after James’s report corroborated the accounts of 11 women, Assembly leadership tried to pull the plug on the investigation completely, though outside attorneys hired by the assembly had been at work for five months.
Facing pushback, Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie backtracked and promised the investigation would be completed after all and the results would be released to the public, though it wouldn’t lead to impeachment proceedings.
Since then, members of the judiciary committee have been allowed to review some of the documents in secure locations in New York City and Albany, one committee member said, who added that their attorneys have compiled hundreds of thousands of pages of evidence.
The assembly's report is not legally binding, but any evidence uncovered will be referred to the appropriate authorities investigating Cuomo. (The Attorney General's office is still investigating Cuomo's book deal, federal investigators are probing his handling of nursing homes, and at least five district attorneys are considering potential criminal charges against Cuomo.)
A September 13th letter sent by Cuomo’s personal attorney Rita Glavin to assembly investigators once again tried to cast doubt on the credibility of Cuomo’s accusers and on the integrity of the independent investigators hired by Attorney General James to investigate Cuomo, the Daily News reported.
Neither Cuomo’s personal attorney Rita Glavin nor a spokesperson for Cuomo's campaign returned a request for comment immediately.
