Will he get away with it? All of it?
The assault.
The groping.
The mass killing of nursing-home patients.
Disgraced former Governor Andrew Cuomo is, apparently, free to get on with his life after a career of grabbing women and a political decision that killed thousands of the elderly at the height of the China Virus crisis.
Local prosecutors won’t charge him for any of the possible crimes that ended his worthless career as chief executive of New York.
Yet Cuomo might not waltz away. He still faces state and federal probes of his activities.
Sex Charges Go Nowhere
In the last two weeks, prosecutors have dropped four cases against Cuomo; three involved possible sex assault; one involved the nursing-home scandal that left 15,000 New Yorkers dead.
The first case involved Cuomo’s groping a state trooper in Nassau County, the New York Post reported two days before Christmas.
“Our exhaustive investigation found the allegations credible, deeply troubling, but not criminal under New York law,” county district attorney Joyce Smith said:
The unidentified trooper, who was serving as one of Cuomo’s bodyguards at the time, told James’ investigators that Cuomo ran the palm of his left hand across her belly as she was holding a door open for him, according to James’ report.
The second groping case to go involved Cuomo’s forcibly kissing a state trooper and a “random woman” as the Post put it.
Though a “thorough investigation” evinces “credible evidence to conclude that the alleged conduct in both instances … did occur,” Westchester District Attorney Miriam Roach said, she had let the man known as Handsy Andy off the hook:
“However, in both instances, my Office has determined that, although the allegations and witnesses were credible, and the conduct concerning, we cannot pursue criminal charges due to the statutory requirements of the criminal laws of New York,” Roach said in a prepared statement.
In that case, Cuomo planted a big juicy on the state trooper right outside the home in which he lived with Sandra Lee, the Food Network star.
“When the trooper approached Cuomo in the driveway and asked if he needed anything, he allegedly asked if he could kiss her,” the Post reported:
The trooper said “she was concerned about the ramifications of denying the Governor’s request and so she said ‘sure,’” after which Cuomo kissed her on the cheek,” according to Roach’s statement.
The other woman Cuomo kissed said she didn’t expect charges, but only wanted to “clear my name.”
Cuomo will also get away with grabbing Brittany Commisso’s breast, the Post reported.
The district attorney in Albany County, David Soares, will “drop criminal charges of forcible touching” just days before the skirt-chasing cad was due to be arraigned in Albany City:
Commisso reportedly wanted to pursue the case, but was told during a meeting with prosecutors on Monday that they intended to drop the charges due to the matter in which the criminal complaint was filed, an individual familiar with the matter told the Times Union.
Those cases were only three of the many that helped force Cuomo from office. One victim of his unwanted attention, Charlotte Bennett, said Cuomo came on so strong he “terrified” her. Cuomo told Bennett — who played soccer against Cuomo’s daughter — that he was in fine fettle for any woman over 22.
Nursing-home Massacre
Cuomo’s also off the hook, at least on the part of state prosecutors, for the decision to jam pack nursing homes with thousands of people with China Virus, which caused a mass die-off.
The Manhattan district attorney’s office has dropped a probe into Andrew Cuomo over allegations he mishandled nursing homes during the initial coronavirus outbreak, the ex-governor’s lawyer said Monday.
Cuomo’s spokesman forwarded a statement from Elkan Abramowitz, an attorney who had repped the governor’s office under Cuomo.
“I was contacted today by the head of the Elder Care Unit from the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office who informed me they have closed its investigation involving the Executive Chamber and nursing homes,” Abramowitz said.
“I was told that after a thorough investigation — as we have said all along — there was no evidence to suggest that any laws were broken.”
But Cuomo could be in trouble for lying about the nursing-home massacre. Those lies helped ink the $5.1 million book deal that resulted in the risibly self-aggrandizing American Crisis: Leadership Lessons from the COVID-19 Pandemic.
In mid-December, the state’s ethics panel ordered Cuomo to give the proceeds to the state because he lied about using state resources to write the big brag.
Assemblyman Ron Kim, a sworn Cuomo enemy whose uncle died with the virus in a nursing home, told the Post that Cuomo isn’t out of trouble just yet.
He said “federal prosecutors and AG James” are “more serious threats to Cuomo than the Manhattan DA’s inquiry,” the Post reported:
“Cuomo used his executive power to suppress nursing home deaths while chasing a $5.1 million book deal. Sooner or later the truth will come out,” Kim said.
The feds’ probe is still examining the Cuomo administration’s actions relating to the nursing homes and other long-term care facilities after thousands of their residents died from COVID-19.
The FBI is also looking into the book and has interviewed state officials about it.
The state attorney general’s probe is also still open.
The question is whether the Democrats at the state and federal level are any more disposed to bring down Cuomo than their local counterparts.
