Andrew Cuomo Reportedly Blamed iPhone Problems to Get Close to Alleged Harassment Victims

A new report says New York Governor Andrew Cuomo repeatedly claimed he had tech problems as a pretext to get up close to two of the women who’ve accused him of sexual harassment and misconduct.

Jessica Westerman, the attorney representing Cuomo accuser Charlotte Bennett, described to the Albany Times Union an incident last year where her client was unexpectedly asked to meet with the governor in his private office. This meeting allegedly happened a day after Cuomo privately spoke with Bennett and asked her multiple probing questions about her personal life and willingness to have an intimate relationship with older men.

Here’s how the report describes the 2nd meeting between Bennett and Cuomo:

Not long after she was alone with Cuomo in the office, he asked her to help him with his iPhone, claiming he was uncertain how to get from his “settings” app to his “notes” app, according to Westerman. The request required Bennett to stand very close to the governor in order to show him how to operate the phone — a device that, by then, the governor had been using for at least several months.

Five months later, Cuomo allegedly used the same excuse in order to summon one of his female staff members to assist him at his private quarters in the Executive Mansion. The woman was not identified, but a person familiar with her account told the Times Union that Cuomo allegedly put his arms around her, groped her, and reached under her blouse to touch her breasts before she told him to stop and left.

Cuomo is facing tremendous political pressure to resign between his nursing home scandal and his multiple harassment accusations. The governor claims he never inappropriately touched any of his accusers, but he is currently under investigation and numerous Democrats are demanding his resignation.