When asked Wednesday if he had completed training on sexual harassment, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said “the short answer is yes.” But Charlotte Bennett, one of the women accusing the governor of sexual harassment, said the director of his office completed the training for him in 2019.
“In 2019 he didn’t take training on sexual harassment,” Bennett told Norah O’Donnell, director and director of CBS Evening News. “I was there. I heard [the office director] say, “I can’t believe she’s doing this for you” and making a joke about the fact that she was completing training for him. And then I heard her at the end asking her to sign the certificate. ”
Stephanie Benton, director of Cuomo’s office, “categorically denies the exchange,” according to a statement from the governor’s office adding, “this is not true.”
“Some state employees take an online course; for senior executive chamber staff, training takes the form of personal review of documentation,” the governor’s special attorney Beth Garvey told CBS News. “The governor did this review of the required material and completed the training.”
In her interview with O’Donnell, Bennett also described what allegedly transpired after she told Cuomo’s chief of staff that the governor did a series of inappropriate comments, including asking her if her experience with sexual assaults affected her sex life.
At that meeting, Bennett said, he told Cuomo’s top aide that he no longer wanted to work directly for him.
“I sat down and said quickly,‘ I love working here. I love you. But the governor crossed the line for me last week, “Bennett said.” And he asked me what I meant. And I said, “He said he was alone, he said he wanted a girlfriend. He asked me if I had slept with older men. He said he was willing to sleep with younger women.” And by that time, he was gone. it was enough. And it was just like, “What can we do here?”
Two days later, Bennett says she was moved to a new job.
“It seemed to me that if I got a new job, we didn’t have to investigate that. And I really didn’t want it to be investigated. I was terrified,” she said.
Bennett told CBS News he was pleased with the deal. But after the meeting, Bennett texted his mother, saying he felt, “Happy, relieved, and sad … He shouldn’t have stolen that experience or that path.”
Courtesy of Charlotte Bennett
Then, on June 30, Bennett said she was summoned to another meeting, this time with the chief of staff and the governor’s general counsel.
“It was a long, exhaustive conversation,” Bennett said. “At first, they apologized. They told me it was inappropriate. When I asked them if they could let it go they said, ‘I don’t want this to be investigated.’ Please let it go, ”you know, because she was afraid She said,“ You beat us before anything serious happened. It was just a preparation and was not yet considered sexual harassment. That’s why there is no need to investigate. “
Debra Katz, who represents Bennett in the New York State independent investigation into the allegations, said Cuomo staff was required by law to investigate the claims.
“When he said,‘ I’m terrified, I don’t want you to investigate, ’what they should have said is,‘ We have a legal duty to investigate, ’” Katz said.
In 2019, the governor signed a law that facilitated the proof of sexual harassment.
“The law he signed himself makes it clear that sexual harassment includes creating conditions that make someone feel uncomfortable because you are sexually proposing it,” Katz said.
In a new statement to CBS News, Cuomo’s special counsel said: “We continue to believe that the matter was dealt with properly and we look forward to cooperating fully with the Attorney General’s review.”
Bennett said she is “confident” in the attorney general’s investigation and asked Cuomo to quit if the findings of the investigation support his allegations.
“I think I should start telling the truth. I’m very confident in this investigation,” he said. “But if this research finds out he’s behaved that way, which he absolutely has because I have contemporary evidence, I should give up.”