Former Cuomo aide says he is 'textbook abuser' and details alleged harassment

A former aide to Andrew Cuomo who has accused the New York governor of sexual harassment has said she believes he is a “textbook abuser” who knew she was a survivor of sexual violence and nevertheless made inappropriate advances.

Charlotte Bennett, 25, Cuomo’s former executive assistant and health policy adviser, told CBS Evening News on Thursday that Cuomo was trying to proposition her for sex during an “uncomfortable” encounter in his office last spring, and that she felt she “had to get out of this room as soon as possible”.

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She said it was one of multiple incidents in which the 63-year-old governor, who is also facing similar allegations from two other women, acted inappropriately.

“He is a textbook abuser,” Bennett said, when asked how she would describe Cuomo. “He lets his temper and his anger rule the office, but he was very sweet to me for a year in the hope that maybe one day when he came on to me I would think we were friends or that it was appropriate or that it was OK.”

She said the governor repeatedly asked her about her love life and her history as a sexual assault survivor.

“I think it’s really strategic,” she said. “I think abusers look for vulnerabilities, previous traumas, the idea that maybe I’m more willing to accept behavior because I have a history of sexual violence. Perhaps I’m not as confident in myself because of my history.”

She said he had questioned her if she had been intimate with older men, and had told her he was comfortable dating women who were decades younger than him.

“He also explained that he was fine with anyone over 22,” she said in the interview with CBS’s managing editor, Norah O’Donnell, adding that he had further asked if she had “had trouble” being intimate with anyone because she was previously sexually assaulted.

“He asked if I had trouble enjoying being with someone because of my trauma,” she said.

“I really was uncomfortable and understood that my boss was asking these questions, so I was trying to answer them. I feel like people put the onus on the woman to shut that conversation down. And by answering, I was somehow engaging in that or enabling it, when in fact, I was just terrified.”

In a 5 June 2020 encounter in Cuomo’s office, Bennett said she had no doubt of his intentions.

“I thought, he’s trying to sleep with me, the governor is trying to sleep with me, and I’m very uncomfortable and I have to get out of this room as soon as possible,” she said.

“He asked me if age difference matters. I’m 25. Without explicitly saying it, he implied that I was old enough for him and he was lonely.”

Asked by O’Donnell if she could have misinterpreted his actions, Bennett replied: “I understood him loud and clear. It just didn’t go the way he planned.”

Two other women have come forward to accuse Cuomo of harassment: Lindsey Boylan, the former chief of staff of New York’s economic agency, who said he touched and kissed her inappropriately during a one-on-one meeting, and Anna Ruch, the only accuser not to work for Cuomo, who said he touched her exposed lower back at a friend’s wedding in 2019.

The New York state attorney general, Letitia James, is investigating all the claims.

Cuomo apologized during a press conference on Wednesday, tearing up and insisting he was “embarrassed” by his actions.

“I never knew at the time that I was making anyone feel uncomfortable,” he said. “I never, ever meant to offend anyone or hurt anyone or cause anyone pain.”

Cuomo is also facing widespread criticism after it emerged, separately, that his office underreported Covid-19 deaths in nursing homes by the thousands last year.