Latest Cuomo Accuser Still Works for Him, Backs Up Groping Claim

Alyssa McGrath says she's friends with unnamed co-worker who says Cuomo groped her
By Jenn Gidman,  Newser Staff
Posted Mar 20, 2021 7:30 AM CDT
Current Cuomo Aide: He Ogled Me, Called Me 'Mingle Mama'
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo speaks at an event at his offices in New York on Thursday.   (AP Photo/Seth Wenig, Pool)

A group of current and former aides to New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo have accused him of sexual harassment in the workplace, but for the first time, one who still works for him is now publicly speaking out. Alyssa McGrath details for the New York Times a "series of unsettling interactions" with the 63-year-old governor, who has so far denied any wrongdoing. McGrath, 33, says she's friends with an unnamed colleague who has alleged that Cuomo groped her at the governor's mansion last year, and that Cuomo, who knew the two were friends, had told her co-worker not to speak about the alleged incident with McGrath. McGrath notes that, in early 2020, she and that co-worker, who was married, were scheduled to travel to Florida, and Cuomo asked McGrath's colleague if she planned to "mingle" and meet men during their trip. "He called us 'mingle mamas' for the rest of the day," McGrath says.

She notes that Cuomo has also asked her about the status of her divorce, kissed her on the forehead, told her she was beautiful in Italian, and, on one occasion when she was alone with him in his office, stared down her shirt, ostensibly at a necklace she was wearing. Rita Glavin, an attorney for Cuomo, conceded to the Times Friday that the governor "has greeted men and women with hugs and a kiss on the cheek, forehead, or hand," as well as "posed for photographs with his arm around them" and used "Italian phrases like 'ciao bella.'" Glavin added that although these behaviors may be "old-fashioned," there's nothing "remarkable" about them. McGrath's lawyer disagrees. "This was not just friendly banter," Mariann Wang says in her own statement to the Washington Post, which notes that recent polling has shown public support for Cuomo lessening with each new accuser who comes forward. More here. (More Andrew Cuomo stories.)

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