New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) defied New York Congressional Democrats’ call for him to step down Friday, insisting that he is actually a victim of “cancel culture.”
“There are facts and then there are opinions. And I’ve always separated the two,” a defiant Cuomo told reporters during a conference call. “Politicians who don’t know a single fact, but yet form a conclusion and an opinion, are in my opinion reckless and dangerous.”
“The people of New York should not have confidence in a politician who takes a position without knowing any facts or substance. That, my friends, is politics at its worst,” the governor added. “People know the difference between playing politics, bowing to cancel culture, and the truth,” he said.
Cuomo, who has served three terms as governor and three years as New York attorney general, then attempted to paint himself as a political outsider who has become the target of the establishment.
“I am not part of the political club, and you know what? I am proud of it. I have been in the public eye my entire life. My entire life I have been under public scrutiny, since I was 23 years old and ran my father’s campaign. New Yorkers know me. Wait for the facts,” Cuomo said in reference to his father, Mario Cuomo, who served as New York’s governor between 1983 and 1994.
Cuomo also served as former President Bill Clinton’s secretary of Housing and Urban Development and was previously married to Kerry Kennedy, the seventh child of Robert F. Kennedy.
Multiple members of New York’s congressional delegation called Friday on Gov. Andrew Cuomo to resign in the wake of mounting allegations of sexual harassment and an allegation of groping.
The Democratic governor has denied he ever touched anyone inappropriately and has said he’s sorry if he ever made anyone uncomfortable.
But a majority of state lawmakers are calling on him to resign, and Democratic congressional members including U.S. Reps. Jerry Nadler and Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez joined those calls Friday. Nadler said Cuomo has lost the confidence of New Yorkers.
“The repeated accusations against the governor, and the manner in which he has responded to them, have made it impossible for him to continue to govern at this point,” Nadler said.
The state Assembly allowed an impeachment investigation into Cuomo on Thursday as lawmakers investigate whether there are grounds for impeachment.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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