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ALBANY — The female aide who’s accused Gov. Andrew Cuomo of groping her is willing to take a lie-detector test — and has challenged him to take one, too.
The unidentified woman’s lawyer, Brian Premo, told the Albany Times Union on Friday that she had told him “the day we met … that she would take a polygraph test — without hesitation.”
Premo also added that his client wants the governor to submit to a polygraph examination as well, to answer questions about her allegations against him.
The aide previously described an incident with Cuomo in November 2020, when he summoned her to the Executive Mansion in Albany, claiming he was having problems with his cellphone.
She said the third-term Democrat got up from his desk and aggressively embraced her — before slamming the door shut.
“He pulled me close and all I remember is seeing his hand, his big hand,” she said. “I remember looking down like, ‘Holy sh–t.”
The woman then said Cuomo, 63, reached under her blouse and grabbed one of her breasts over her bra.
She immediately walked out of the office, but as the interaction happened on a weekday during work hours had to go back to work in the State Capitol Building nearby.
She said she also believes the governor tried to groom her for a relationship over the last two years.
The woman is still employed in the Cuomo administration, but Premo said since she disclosed her allegations under condition of anonymity she has been given very few job-related duties in the office.
Neither a representative for Cuomo nor his personal attorney Rita Glavin responded to an immediate request for comment Friday, but Glavin has previously stated the governor “never made inappropriate advances or inappropriately touched anyone.”
“My heart hurts knowing that this was one of the first things she told her attorney. That our culture practically mandates such a choice because, as it stands, ‘believe survivors’ really means ‘believe survivors when it’s convenient,’ Erica Vladimer of the Sexual Harassment Working Group told The Post.
“Her strength and willingness to share the trauma she experienced by the most powerful man in [New York state] publicly isn’t enough on its own, she needs to ‘prove’ her truthfulness. If our electeds showed institutional courage and passed the SHWG agenda, we could finally start to change our harasser-protecting culture for every staffer, every survivor.”
The anonymous woman’s allegations are part of an ongoing investigation headed by state Attorney General Letitia James’ office, which is probing multiple accounts made by women including current and former female aides accusing Cuomo of sexual misconduct.
The state Assembly has also launched a separate impeachment inquiry into the sexual harassment allegations, as well as reports that the governor misused state resources in the production of his $5.1M book deal and alleged withholding of data pertaining to COVID-19 policy impacting nursing homes.
The Brooklyn US Attorney’s Office is also investigating the alleged up of nursing home data and Cuomo’s book deal.
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