In the first public comments he made after the claim, government Andrew Cuomo on Monday denied for years that he had “sexually harassed” a former aide.
“This is not true,” Cuomo said when pressed by Lindsay Boyle during an Albany press conference on Sunday.
“Look, I struggled. I believe a woman has the right to come forward and express her opinion and express her problems and concerns,” Cuomo continued. “But that’s not true.”
Boylan, who served as Cuomo’s deputy secretary of economic development and special adviser from March 2015 to October 2018 – now running for mayor of Manhattan – tweeted on Sunday that his former boss had harassed him throughout his tenure.
“Yes, YNYGovCuomo sexually harassed me for years. Many saw it, saw it, ”Boylan wrote in part. “I can never expect what to expect: I’ll be harassed about my work (which was so good) or about my appearance. Or can the two be in the same conversation? This has been the way for years.”
But in a subsequent tweet, Boylan added that he was reluctant to provide further details about the allegations and did not respond to a number of requests.
Cuomo’s spokesman denied the allegations Sunday, but said this was the first time the governor had addressed a news conference on Monday.
“In tweets, I totally respect a woman’s right. I have fought for a woman’s right to express any concerns, any issues she may have in any workplace. I support it,” she added. “But the tweet is simply not true.”
Boylan, who voluntarily resigned from his post in 2018 amid a study of his own workplace behavior, trashed last week the “highly toxic team environment” he enjoyed while working for Cuomo.