For some New Yorkers, the report’s findings intersected with other problems they had with Mr. Cuomo.
Understand the Scandals Challenging Gov. Cuomo’s LeadershipCard 1 of 5
Results of an independent investigation. An independent inquiry, overseen by Letitia James, the New York State attorney general, found that Mr. Cuomo sexually harassed multiple women, including current and former government workers, breaking state and federal laws. The report also found that he retaliated against at least one of the women for making her complaints public.
Nursing home death controversy. The Cuomo administration is also under fire for undercounting the number of nursing-home deaths caused by Covid-19 in the first half of 2020, a scandal that deepened after a Times investigation found that aides rewrote a health department report to hide the real number.
Efforts to obscure the death toll. Interviews and unearthed documents revealed in April that aides repeatedly overruled state health officials in releasing the true nursing home death toll over a span of at least five months. Several senior health officials have resigned in response to the governor’s overall handling of the virus crisis, including the vaccine rollout.
“I’ve found him to be a bully, kind of like Trump, a real caustic character,” said Frank Byrne, who described himself as more progressive than the governor.
When the allegations against Mr. Cuomo first came out earlier this year, Mr. Byrne, a history professor at SUNY Oswego, said he found them “entirely believable.” Still, when Mr. Byrne began reading the attorney general’s report on Tuesday at his home in Baldwinsville, a village northwest of Syracuse, he was surprised to discover the severity of the findings.
He said he did not think Mr. Cuomo would resign.
“For him, it’s just ego and power,” he said.
Some New Yorkers, however, offered a more mixed reaction.
Liz King, 40, of Jackson Heights, Queens, said she had discussed the report with three colleagues in a break room at a hospital in New York City where they work. She said while they believed some of the report’s findings that Mr. Cuomo had verbally harassed women, they questioned whether Mr. Cuomo had groped anyone, even though investigators had corroborated the woman’s account.
Ms. King said that she and her colleagues were glad that the women shared their stories with investigators. But she said they do not think Mr. Cuomo should resign and should be given more of a chance to defend himself.
“He should have his fair say in court,” she said.
In Chelsea, Brenna Fromayan, 25, said she thought Mr. Cuomo had managed the pandemic well, but called the behavior outlined in the attorney general’s report “inexcusable,” particularly the finding that he retaliated against one woman for coming forward.
