United States President, Joe Biden has said he respects New York Governor, Andrew
Cuomo‘s decision to resign from his position following a State probe report that he sexually harassed multiple women.
Gatekeepers News reports that Cuomo on Tuesday announced his decision to resign after the New York Attorney General probe found that he engaged in a pattern of sexual harassment of women employees in his state office violating federal and state laws.
Cuomo, who is currently facing impeachment proceedings, said he’ll leave office in 14 days as he insists that he did nothing wrong.
“And I think that given the circumstances the best way I can help now is if I step aside and let government get back to government, and therefore that is what I’ll do, because I work for you, and doing the right thing, is doing the right thing for you,” Cuomo said on Tuesday.
“It is a matter of life and death. Government operations and wasting energy on distraction is the last thing government should be,” Cuomo noted.
In his reaction, President Joe Biden who had earlier called for Cuomo’s resignation, said: “I respect the governor’s decision.”
When asked to assess how he believed Cuomo had performed as governor, Biden said he thought the New Yorker had done “a helluva job” professionally.
“And I mean both on everything from access to voting, to infrastructure, a whole range of things. That’s why it’s so sad,” Biden added.
Gatekeepers News reports that when another reporter asked a follow-up question on if Biden could really say Cuomo has done a “helluva job” if he’s been accused of sexually harassing multiple women.
“‘Should he remain as governor?’ is one question. And women should be believed when they make accusations that are able to, on the face of them, make sense and investigated … and the judgment was made that what they said was correct. That’s one thing,” Biden answered.
“The question is, ‘Did he do a good job at infrastructure?’ That was the question. He did,” Biden said.
Asked if Cuomo’s personal behaviour and his professional work could be separated, Biden said, “No, I’m not. I was asked a specific question.”
White House Press Secretary, Jen Psaki later tweeted in reaction to the questions that: “@potus responded to a specific question today about @NYGovCuomo work on infrastructure. He also made clear it was right for @NYGovCuomo to step down, reiterated his support for women who come forward, and made clear you can’t separate personal behavior from other work.”
