News/Commentary

Talk about awkward, Andrew Cuomo asked straight up: ‘Did you ever actually grope anyone?’

October 29, 2023 | | Print Article

A promotional appearance on “Real Time with Bill Maher” led to a confrontational question as a former governor was asked point-blank about sexual assault allegations.

“Did you ever actually grope anybody?”

Friday, former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) joined Bill Maher alongside his former top aide Melissa DeRosa as she promoted her new book, “What’s Left Unsaid: My Life at the Center of Power, Politics & Crisis.” As the memoir dealt with what they considered a “takedown” of the disgraced governor, Maher made the sexual misconduct accusations that led to Cuomo’s resignation central to the discussion.

At one point, while parsing through some of the claims, the comedian asserted, “You know, I’m glad that there was a ‘MeToo’ movement. It was a necessary corrective, obviously. I also don’t want to live in the Soviet Union.”

“He kissed me on the cheek,” said Maher, noting one of the accusations against Cuomo. “I remember when the kiss on the cheek was the defense before I didn’t do anything wrong. Kissed me on the cheek in a sexual manner. I don’t know how you do that. Kissed me on both cheeks while we were looking at flood damage. I mean, it’s just — some of it is just silly. And then there’s others that are like, you, said, you groped them, like you actually groped.”

“Serious accusation. Went to the district attorney,” the governor replied tersely.

“Right. Well nobody, there’s no…So I’m just asking you, looking you in the eye, eye contact,” the host said as he spoke to the setting of their conversation. He then fired off his question, “Did you ever actually grope anybody?”

“The — no. Short answer, no. And even that story was problematic. And that’s why the district attorney didn’t bring a case,” argued Cuomo. “Five district attorneys went all through this, didn’t bring a single case.”

The governor had maintained that the charges that drove him out of Albany ultimately had more to do with the political aspirations of Attorney General Letitia James. Previously, as rumors had circulated that Cuomo had considered running against her, he had shared a social media post from his former advisor Rich Azzopardi that slammed the AG as “a serial liar whose touted 11 cases have been reviewed by Democratic & Republican DAs across the state & have resulted in 0 cases being brought.”

While the exchange included quibbling over generational differences regarding appropriate contact, Maher drew a line at “patting their stomach as you walk through the door” and said, “I gotta stop you at stomach. I mean you almost had me with some of these other ones — don’t touch my stomach.”

Still, Cuomo contended the alleged political motivations behind the accusations had a lasting impact as he also argued that he would be making his own bid against President Joe Biden for the 2024 Democratic nomination under different circumstances, and he asserted, “I think there should be a Democratic primary.”

“I don’t know that candidate Biden is the strongest candidate that we can put up, and frankly, I doubt it,” he told Maher. “I think the Democratic Party has to engage with real people and real voters on a different level. They’re too much ‘Trump is no good and Trump is a bum.’ You can’t run on banking that the other guy is gonna lose.”

Despite the claims, many remained skeptical of Cuomo and some even griped that Maher went far too easy on his guest, including Fox News’ Janice Dean who was outspoken against the governor’s COVID response after her in-laws both died while in New York elder care facilities.

Kevin Haggerty
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