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Despite resignation calls, Andrew Cuomo digs in and, so far, stays in office

ALBANY, N.Y. - State Democratic chairman Jay Jacobs called Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Wednesday afternoon to advise him to resign.

Cuomo didn't take the advice.

Nor has Cuomo heeded the calls of President Joe Biden, a close friend and ally; House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, another decades-long colleague; or anyone else close to him who has publicly or privately urged him to resign.

Instead, Cuomo has been meeting with a cadre of advisers, figuring out his legal options and perhaps hoping to wait out the firestorm surrounding him after a bombshell investigation found he sexually harassed female aides for years.

The questions are how long Cuomo may hold out or if he will decide to push the Assembly to impeach him, which lawmakers are vowing to do and appear to have the votes to do.

Jacobs issued a 300-word statement Wednesday, publicly laying out his tortured attempt to get Cuomo to cede to the will of his party and the nation's leaders to bow out of office after 11 years as governor.

"It appears that contrary to what I have advised, the Governor may seek to prolong the current situation," Jacobs wrote. "I have called the Governor this afternoon to inform him of my decision to issue a statement" to resign.

More: With impeachment possible, Gov. Andrew Cuomo finds few allies in Albany after 40-year tenure

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo denies sexually harassing women, disputing an investigation by  the state attorney general.
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo denies sexually harassing women, disputing an investigation by the state attorney general.

The governor weighs resignation

Cuomo, 63, has prided himself as being a bare-knuckle political brawler who learned at the hip of his father, the late three-term Gov. Mario Cuomo.

One of his former aides once privately said the administration operates "on two speeds here: Get along, and kill."

But the same Albany that Cuomo has dominated since 2011 has caught up to him.

Interviews this week with those who have been close to him said they do not see a way he can avoid having to leave office — either by his own volition or through impeachment.

"I honestly do believe that he should resign, but also honestly know that he won't," Assembly Majority Leader Crystal Peoples-Stokes, who had until this week refused on call on Cuomo to resign, told WGRZ television in Buffalo

The serial abuse detailed painstakingly in the 165-page report was the final straw for even those who resisted pressure for months to join the chorus calling for Cuomo to resign since the allegations became public.

The biggest blow politically came hours after the report was released Tuesday when Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie, a Bronx Democrat who had previously urged patience until the report came out, said Cuomo lost the confidence of his conference and "that he can no longer remain in office."

Assembly Democrats are confident they have the votes to impeach Cuomo if he doesn't resign, and drawing up articles of impeachment could start in days — although it could take weeks for the process to conclude.

The Assembly Judiciary Committee, which is doing its own investigation and would start the impeachment process, meets Monday.

So far, though, Heastie hasn't delivered what many believe could be a fateful conversation with Cuomo: resign or the impeachment will move forward in earnest.

Heastie spokesman Mike Whyland confirmed Wednesday night that Heastie and Cuomo haven't spoken since the allegations against Cuomo first surfaced about five months ago — perhaps other than one meeting to hash out a budget deal last spring.

Biden spokesman Jen Psaki said Wednesday afternoon that Biden and Cuomo have also not spoken, nor has anyone from the White House called the governor.

Biden and Psaki, however, have stopped short of calling for him to be impeached. Cuomo was an early and ardent supporter of Biden's presidential bid in 2019.

"The President made clear yesterday that Governor Cuomo should resign, and believes — and I believe — we should start with that," she told reporters.

"There's obviously a process that's going to proceed, and leaders in New York spoke to that yesterday. We'll leave it to them to speak to that."

More: Who is Kathy Hochul? She's next in line to be NY's governor amid calls for Cuomo to resign

More: What's next for Gov. Andrew Cuomo? What we know right now

Waiting out the scandal?

Cuomo is believed to be considering at least two immediate options: remain on the attack — as he did Tuesday with a 14-minute video denying wrongdoing and an 85-page rebuttal from his attorney — or go quiet to see how the coming days and weeks could play out.

It was the strategy Cuomo used earlier this year after the allegations first started to surface.

He mixed contrition with denials of any wrongdoing. And he rejected calls then to resign, buying himself months before James' report came out to try to show it was business as usual for him as he toured the state to address the COVID-19 pandemic.

It was a similar refrain Tuesday from Cuomo: "My job is not about me, my job is about you. What matters to me at the end of the day is getting the most done I can for you."

But the heat on Cuomo now is much more than at any point in his career, which has included scandals around his control of an corruption-busting panel and the bribery conviction of his former closest aide Joe Percoco.

The damning report details a series of groping or touching incidents, inappropriate comments of a sexual nature and mishandling of the women's complaints by his office.

Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie, D-Bronx, speaks to members of the New York Assembly after passing a state budget during a Legislative session at the state Capitol, late Wednesday, April 7, 2021, in Albany, N.Y. (AP Photo/Hans Pennink)
Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie, D-Bronx, speaks to members of the New York Assembly after passing a state budget during a Legislative session at the state Capitol, late Wednesday, April 7, 2021, in Albany, N.Y. (AP Photo/Hans Pennink)

And if Cuomo doesn't resign, the Assembly will face increased pressure to move toward impeachment — something Heastie was able to stave off prior to James' report and amid its own investigation.

A Marist College poll Wednesday found 59% of New Yorkers want Cuomo to resign or be impeached if he doesn't.

If Cuomo doesn't resign, "the clamor, which is universal at this point, Democrats and Republicans, saying, he's got to go, is going to win the day," New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio — a Cuomo foe — said Wednesday on CBS

"If he wants to wait for impeachment, he can, but it's coming soon in our state Legislature."

Even Jacobs, who has long been a Cuomo ally and confidante, recognized that time is critical, for Democrats and the state.

"What I can say is that the Governor has lost his ability to govern, both practically and morally," Jacobs' statement continued.

"The party and this state will not be well served by a long, protracted removal process designed only to delay what is now, clearly, inevitable."

More: 59% of New Yorkers believe Cuomo should resign, Marist poll finds

Joseph Spector is the Government and Politics Editor for the USA TODAY Network's Atlantic Group, overseeing coverage in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland and Delaware. He can be reached at JSPECTOR@Gannett.com or followed on Twitter: @GannettAlbany

This article originally appeared on New York State Team: Will Andrew Cuomo resign? Inside his deliberations and fight to stay