President Joe Biden gestures during remarks on the implementation of the American Rescue Plan in the State Dining room of the White House in Washington, DC on March 15, 2021.
Eric Baradat | AFP | Getty Images
President Joe Biden said in a new interview that New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo should resign if an investigation confirms allegations by multiple women that Cuomo sexually harassed them.
And if those claims are confirmed, Biden said, “I think he’ll probably end up being prosecuted, too.”
“There should be an investigation to determine whether what she says is true,” Biden told ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos in the interview.
“That’s what’s going on now.”
“There could be a criminal prosecution that is attached to it. I just don’t know,” Biden said.
New York Attorney General Letitia James is overseeing a probe being conducted by a team of attorneys in private practice.
On Monday, investigators spoke for four hours to former Cuomo aide Charlotte Bennett, 25, who said the 63-year-old governor clearly was looking for a sexual relationship last year when he asked about her love life, and whether she had been with an older man.
Cuomo, like Biden, is a Democrat. He has denied behaving inappropriately toward women and has repeatedly refused to resign.
A majority of New York’s Democratic congressional delegation, and more than 55 Democrats in the state legislature, have demanded that Cuomo resign amid the allegations.
The state’s U.S. senators, Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand, last week became the most prominent Democrats to call on Cuomo to step down.
“Senator Schumer, Senator Gillibrand, the majority of the congressional delegation don’t think he can be an effective governor right now,” Stephanopoulos asked Biden. “Can he serve effectively?”
Biden responded, “Well, that’s a judgment for them to make.”
The president also said in the interview that “a woman should be presumed telling the truth and should not be scapegoated and become victimized by her coming forward.”
“Takes a lot of courage to come forward,” Biden said. “So, the presumption is they should be taken seriously. And it should be investigated. And that’s what’s underway now.”
Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie, who is a Democrat, last week authorized that chamber’s Judiciary Committee to open an impeachment investigation of Cuomo.
That move reportedly was seen as a stalling tactic by some members of the Democratic caucus, but endorsed by other members who want to give James times to finish her office’s investigation.
