His vow to steer clear of the story comes as a third woman stepped forward to accuse the governor of inappropriate behavior.
Three women have accused New York Governor Andrew Cuomo of inappropriate behavior. The story is now national news, but the governor’s brother, CNN anchor Chris Cuomo, says he won’t be covering it.
“I'm aware of what’s going on with my brother. Obviously, I cannot cover it because he's my brother,” Chris said.
His vow to steer clear of the story comes as a third woman stepped forward to accuse the governor of inappropriate behavior. Anna Ruch says Gov. Cuomo grabbed her by the face and asked, “Can I kiss you?” at a wedding in Sept. 2019. The moment was caught on cell phone camera by another guest.
The governor and Ruch, 33, were both guests at the wedding of high-powered Harvard law grads Alexa Kissinger and Thomas Rhodes. Ruch and the bride knew each other when they worked in the Obama administration.
Ruch, who was wearing a backless dress, says Gov. Cuomo first put his hand on her back. She says she shoved his hand away, but he apparently didn’t get the message and took her face in his hands. When he leaned in to kiss her, she turned away and he ended up kissing her on the cheek, Ruch alleges.
Her reaction, she told the New York Post was: "Gross! What the ***?”
Ruch’s accusations follow those made by Lindsey Boylan and Charlotte Bennett — two former Gov. Cuomo staffers who say the governor made unwanted advances toward them.
Boylan, who is running for Manhattan borough president, says Gov. Cuomo kissed her on the lips in 2018 and asked her to play strip poker. Bennett says Gov. Cuomo quizzed her about her sex life at a meeting in his office last June. “I understood he wanted to sleep with me,” Bennett told the New York Times.
Gov. Cuomo has denied Boylan’s claims and apologized for what he says was “playful banter ... misinterpreted as an unwanted flirtation.”
Meanwhile, a 2016 video showing Gov. Cuomo saying, “I want to see you eat the whole sausage,” to TV reporter Beth Cefalu at the New York State Fair is gaining traction on social media, with some calling the banter sexually suggestive. The governor was seated next to his daughter, Michaela, and had invited the young reporter to join them and eat an oversized sausage sandwich.
But Cefalu says that in her opinion, his remark wasn’t inappropriate.
“I then and even now don't think it was inappropriate. I did not feel harassed,” Cefalu said.
Gov. Cuomo says he will cooperate with the sexual harassment investigation being conducted by the state attorney general’s office.
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