US

Cuomo Accuser Details Grope Attack Inside Executive Mansion In First Interview After Report

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A woman identified as “Executive Assistant #1” in New York state Attorney General Letitia James’ damning report on Gov. Andrew Cuomo publicly discussed her accusations of sexual assault for the first time in an interview with “CBS This Morning” and the Albany Times Union.

“What he did to me was a crime,” Brittany Commisso, 32, told Jericka Duncan in an interview Monday morning, revealing her identity for the first time. She said Cuomo needed to be held accountable and charged because “he broke the law.”

Commisso testified that Cuomo groped her while taking a selfie in the governor’s mansion in 2019 and reached under her blouse to grab her breast at the same location in November 2020.

“He cupped my breast,” Commisso told investigators about the latter incident. “I have to tell you it was — at the moment I was in such shock that I could just tell you that I just remember looking down seeing his hand, seeing the top of my bra and I remember it was like a little even the cup — the kind of bra that I had to the point I could tell you doesn’t really fit me properly, it was a little loose, I just remember seeing exactly that.”

Cuomo has denied the accusations against him and refused to resign in light of the report’s conclusion he sexually harassed at least 11 women. Commisso was the first accuser to file a criminal complaint against the governor, Fox News reported.

“I became so nervous that my hands were clearly shaking”: Brittany Commisso tells @CBSThisMorning and @timesunion that NY Gov. Cuomo groped her twice — the first time on New Year’s Eve in 2019 at the governor’s mansion.

He denies the allegations. https://t.co/IAtgh7aNLp pic.twitter.com/41Ktlhmq8B

— CBS This Morning (@CBSThisMorning) August 9, 2021

Commisso worked for the governor’s executive chamber as an administrative assistant from 2019 to 2020. She was previously employed as a confidential stenographer for the Department of Transportation, according to information Fox News obtained from the Empire Center for Public Policy.

Her testimony alleges Cuomo repeatedly spoke about her physical appearance and continued to ask her about her ongoing divorce. He also allegedly asked her if she had sex with other men during the marriage.

Commisso said in her interview that she didn’t tell anyone about the incident for three months and only decided to speak with investigators about her story after the governor’s press conference on March 3, where he denied he ever “touched anyone inappropriately.”

“That was the tipping point,” she said. “I felt like he was personally saying it to me.”

Rita Glavin, an attorney for the governor, said Friday James’ report failed to include key information that backed up Cuomo’s denial.

“Records reflect that senior staff members were in the Mansion working with the Governor that day, while Executive Assistant #1 was there,” she said. “Did the investigators ever ask those senior staffers about November 16? Ask them. Ask the Attorney General. Release the transcripts, because I’m betting they didn’t.”