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Cuomo accuser Brittany Commisso breaks her silence to detail groping allegations and says the governor is lying
by CBS News
August 9, 2021 / 6:30 AM
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/brittany-c ... interview/

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During the COVID-19 pandemic, Cuomo became known by the nickname of the "Love Gov" after answering a question by his brother, CNN anchor Chris Cuomo, about showing his softer tone while leading coronavirus response efforts. The governor responded with, "I've always been a soft guy. I am the love gov. I'm a cool dude in a loose mood, you know that. I just say, 'Let it go, just go with the flow, baby.' You know. You can't control anything, so don't even try."

-- Andrew Cuomo, by Wikipedia

In a damning report released last week by New York State Attorney General Letitia James, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo is accused of sexually harassing 11 women. In an exclusive interview with "CBS This Morning" and the Times Union, one of those women, previously known only as Executive Assistant #1 is breaking her silence.

Brittany Commisso began working as an executive assistant in the governor's office in 2017. Now, she is speaking publicly for the first time since filing a criminal complaint against Cuomo last week — just days after the attorney general's report was released.

"To me this was a dream job. And it unfortunately turned into a nightmare," she said.

Commisso was not the first woman to come forward with allegations of sexual misconduct against Cuomo, but she is listed first in the attorney general's report. She believes this is because of the seriousness of her allegations.

"I believe that my story appears first due to the nature of the inappropriate conduct that the governor did to me," Commisso said. "I believe that he groped me, he touched me, not only once, but twice."

Commisso, now 32, alleges that the governor groped her for the first time on December 31, 2019. She said that she was at the governor's mansion that night to help Cuomo with his upcoming State of the State address. According to Commisso, after finishing her draft of the speech, Cuomo suggested the two of them take a selfie together.

"He was to my left. I was on the right. With my right hand, I took the selfie," she said. "I then felt while taking the selfie, his hand go down my back onto my butt, and he started rubbing it. Not sliding it. Not, you know, quickly brushing over it — rubbing my butt."

Commisso said this made her so nervous that her hands began to shake, making it difficult for her to even take the picture.

"I was embarrassed," she said. "Not only embarrassed for what was going on, I was embarrassed that a governor wanted a selfie and I couldn't take it. I was so nervous. I remember looking at them, and when he said, 'can I see them?' I showed him them. And he said, 'Oh, those aren't – those aren't good.'"

Cuomo then, according to Commisso, suggested the two try again on the couch. A suggestion that she said she accepted because she thought he would no longer be able to touch her rear end if she were sitting down.

"So we sat down on the couch and in the photo I have my arm wrapped around his shoulder, almost as if we were taking a picture with a buddy. And I got a clear photo sitting down," Commisso said. "And that is the one that has been blurred out that has been now released to the public."


A selfie taken by Brittany Commisso with New York Governor Andrew Cuomo. BRITTANY COMMISSO

[CUOMO MANUFACTURES EVIDENCE, BY CREATING A PICTURE WHERE BRITTANY LOOKS HAPPY AT THE TIME OF HIS ABUSE!]

According to Commisso, after finishing her draft of the speech, Cuomo suggested the two of them take a selfie together.

"He was to my left. I was on the right. With my right hand, I took the selfie," she said. "I then felt while taking the selfie, his hand go down my back onto my butt, and he started rubbing it. Not sliding it. Not, you know, quickly brushing over it — rubbing my butt."

Commisso said this made her so nervous that her hands began to shake, making it difficult for her to even take the picture.

"I was embarrassed," she said. "Not only embarrassed for what was going on, I was embarrassed that a governor wanted a selfie and I couldn't take it. I was so nervous. I remember looking at them, and when he said, 'can I see them?' I showed him them. And he said, 'Oh, those aren't – those aren't good.'"

Cuomo then, according to Commisso, suggested the two try again on the couch. A suggestion that she said she accepted because she thought he would no longer be able to touch her rear end if she were sitting down.

"So we sat down on the couch and in the photo I have my arm wrapped around his shoulder, almost as if we were taking a picture with a buddy. And I got a clear photo sitting down," Commisso said. "And that is the one that has been blurred out that has been now released to the public."

Types

• Forged evidence - an item or information manufactured, or altered, to support some agenda, is not admissible in many courts, including U.S. criminal courts.
• Planted evidence - an item or information which has been moved, or planted at a scene, to seem related to the accused party, is not admissible in many courts, including U.S. criminal courts.
• Tainted evidence - information which has been obtained by illegal means or has been revealed (or traced) using evidence acquired by illegal search, and/or seizure, is called the "fruit of the poisonous tree" and is not admissible in many courts, including U.S. criminal courts.
• Parallel construction - tainted evidence, where the origin of the evidence is untruthfully represented, preventing discussion of whether it was legally obtained or not.

-- False evidence, by Wikipedia

Cuomo has denied that he ever touched Commisso inappropriately, including when they took the selfie.

Commisso alleges that Cuomo groped her a second time at the governor's mansion in November 2020. She claims that, during this encounter, Cuomo hugged her in a "sexually aggressive manner."

"It was then that I said, you know, governor, you know, you're — my words were 'you're going to get us in trouble.' And I thought to myself, that probably wasn't the best thing to say," Commisso said.

Commisso claims she was afraid a staffer might walk in and get the wrong idea, but that after she said that, Cuomo "shut the door so hard to the point where I thought for sure, someone downstairs must think if they heard that, 'what is going on?'"

It was then that Commisso claims the governor groped her a second time.

"He came back to me and that's when he put his hand up my blouse and cupped my breast over my bra," she said. "I exactly remember looking down, seeing his hand, which is a large hand, thinking to myself, 'Oh, my God. This is happening.'"

"It happened so quick, he didn't say anything. When I stopped it, he just pulled away and walked away."

Commisso described Cuomo's behavior that night as "almost as if he was in a sexually aggressive state of mind. I really don't know how to explain the moment. It was, it was – I don't have the words. I don't have the words."

Cuomo has denied this accusation as well, saying, "to touch a woman's breasts, who I hardly know, in the mansion with 10 staff around, with my family in the mansion, to say, 'I don't care who sees us.' I would have to lose my mind to do such a thing."

Commisso called the governor's response "disgusting."

"I know the truth. He knows the truth. I know what happened and so does he," she said. "I don't believe that there were 10 staff there that day. I don't believe his family was there that day. And if that's what he has to say to make himself feel better, I really, I feel sorry for him."

Commisso said she never planned on going public with her allegations, partly because she was worried about what might happen to her daughter. But everything changed a few months later when she saw Cuomo deny accusations of sexual harassment during a press conference in March 2021 and heard him say that he "never touched anyone inappropriately."

"He almost has this smirk that he thinks that he's untouchable," Commisso said. "I almost feel like he has this sense of almost a celebrity status and it just — that was the tipping point. I broke down. I said 'He is lying.'"

"I felt like he was personally saying it to me that 'I never touched anyone inappropriately,'" Commisso explained. "And, yes, you did."

Commisso said that after watching his denial she "broke down" and told two coworkers "a little bit."

Commisso also apologized to Cuomo's other accusers for not coming forward and telling her own story sooner.

"I hope that the other women understand and that I've seen them and I support them. And I thank them, because without them, I don't know if I would have come forward."

"I was afraid that if I had come forward, and revealed my name, that the governor and his 'enablers' I like to call them would viciously attack me, would smear my name as I had seen and heard them do before to people," she said.

Commisso also explained that she wanted to protect her daughter, saying, "I didn't want her to have to deal with anything that came along with this."

"And, but then I also — after a couple of months and processing this whole thing, I do want her to know that she has a voice," Commisso said. "I never want her to be afraid to speak. I never want her to be afraid of any person in power, a man or a woman."

In addition to the two groping allegations, Commisso also claimed that the governor would hug her inappropriately and that he kissed her on the lips without her consent.

"These were not hugs that he would give his mother or his brother," Commisso said. "These were hugs with the intention of getting some personal sexual satisfaction out of. Then they started to be hugs with kisses on the cheek. Then there was at one point a hug, and then when he went to go kiss me on the cheek, he quickly turned his head and he kissed me on the lips."

Commisso said that she did not consider any of this behavior normal or acceptable.

"Maybe to him, he thought this was normal. But to me and the other women that he did this to, well, it was not normal," she said. "It was not welcomed. And it was certainly not consensual."

Cuomo has denied kissing Commisso.

Commisso also denied the governor's claim that he only hugged her on multiple occasions because she initiated the contact and he didn't want to make her feel awkward.

"That is not true. I would never on my own get up and initiate a hug with the governor," she insisted. Asked if Cuomo was lying, Commisso replied, "Yes. 100%."

Commisso also brushed aside the governor's suggestion that his accusers were misinterpreting his actions.

"There's a difference between being an affectionate and warm person. Sexual harassment is completely different," she said. "The governor knows that what he did to me and what he did to these 10 other women, whether it be a comment or an actual physical contact, was sexual harassment. He broke the laws that he himself created."

Commisso said that she filed a criminal complaint because "it was the right thing to do. The governor needs to be held accountable."

"What he did was a crime," she said. "He broke the law."

Albany County Sheriff Craig Apple said on Saturday that his office will undertake a criminal investigation based on Commisso's complaint. He said that the governor could face a misdemeanor charge or "possibly a couple."

Commisso ended the interview by pleading with the governor to heed his own words.

"There was a speech that he gave less than a month ago, and in his speech, he said, 'If you give New Yorkers the truth and you give New Yorkers the facts, the good, the bad, the ugly, they will do the right thing.' I would say, Governor, this is the truth. These are the facts. And it's your turn to do the right thing. And that right thing is to resign and to tell the truth."

Cuomo has denied all claims of sexual harassment and has thus far resisted calls for his resignation from his fellow Democrats, including President Biden. He has until the end of this week to submit evidence in his defense in connection with a State Assembly impeachment probe.

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Gov. Cuomo Resigns After Sexual Harassment Probe; Critic Says He Is “Still Gaslighting New Yorkers”
by Amy Goodman
DemocracyNow
AUGUST 11, 2021
https://www.democracynow.org/2021/8/11/ ... esignation

GUESTS
Yuh-Line Niou: Democratic member of the New York State Assembly.

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo has announced his resignation, effective August 24, after a week of intense pressure from fellow Democrats for him to step down. Cuomo, who has been in office since 2011, had few allies left after an investigation by New York’s attorney general found he had sexually harassed at least 11 women — allegations he continues to deny. “Governor Cuomo is still gaslighting New Yorkers,” says Yuh-Line Niou, a member of the New York State Assembly representing Manhattan, who says Cuomo must still be impeached. “Impeachment means that New York will not be paying Andrew Cuomo’s pension for the rest of his life. Impeachment means that Governor Cuomo will not be able to run for office again.”

Transcript

This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.

AMY GOODMAN: New York Governor Andrew Cuomo has announced he’s resigning, following the recent release of a devastating report from the New York Attorney General’s Office, which found the three-term Democrat sexually harassed at least 11 women in violation of state and federal law. New York Lieutenant Governor Kathy Hochul will take over in two weeks, becoming New York’s first woman governor. Cuomo made the announcement Tuesday afternoon as state lawmakers were moving forward on starting impeachment proceedings against him.

GOV. ANDREW CUOMO: “New York tough” means New York loving. And I love New York. And I love you. And everything I have ever done has been motivated by that love. And I would never want to be unhelpful in any way. 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 governing. And therefore, that’s what I’ll do.

AMY GOODMAN: During his resignation speech, Governor Cuomo denied all the allegations and continued to defend his actions.

GOV. ANDREW CUOMO: I take full responsibility for my actions. I have been too familiar with people. My sense of humor can be insensitive and off-putting. I do hug and kiss people casually, women and men. I have done it all my life. It’s who I’ve been since I can remember. In my mind, I’ve never crossed the line with anyone. But I didn’t realize the extent to which the line has been redrawn. There are generational and cultural shifts that I just didn’t fully appreciate. And I should have. No excuses.

AMY GOODMAN: One of Cuomo’s accusers, former aide Lindsey Boylan, responded by saying, quote, “From the beginning, I simply asked that the Governor stop his abusive behavior. It became abundantly clear he was unable to do that, instead attacking and blaming victims until the end. It is a tragedy that so many stood by and watched these abuses happen,” she said.

Governor Cuomo had faced mounting calls to resign for months over the sexual harassment allegations, as well as his cover-up of thousands of COVID-19 deaths in New York nursing homes.

We’re joined now by two guests. Zephyr Teachout is a professor of law at Fordham University who ran against Andrew Cuomo in the Democratic gubernatorial primary in 2014. We are also joined by Democratic Assemblywoman Yuh-Line Niou, who first called on Cuomo to resign in February. She was one of the first.

Democratic Assemblymember Yuh-Line Niou, thanks for joining us once again on Democracy Now! Respond to Governor Cuomo’s resignation yesterday. And now, again, this doesn’t go into effect — this has been sort of unexplained, why he wants two weeks, but for 14 days.

ASSEMBLYMEMBER YUH-LINE NIOU: Yeah, well, I mean, I don’t believe that it’s a shock to us that he also still wants to control the narrative, control the timeline, control everything. Governor Cuomo is still gaslighting New Yorkers. He had his lawyer — that the state is actually paying for — come out and defend him again on a state platform, basically telling these women that they were imagining it, that they were not harmed by the governor. And then he continued to say things, just like the clip that you played, that “I didn’t know where the line had — that the line had been redrawn,” and, you know, all of these different things that continued to basically dismiss the fact that women do know when men are mistreating them.

And then, at the end, he addressed the Legislature and tried to say that it would be costly to the state and painful for the state to proceed with impeachment proceedings, because he doesn’t want us to actually hold him accountable. Governor Cuomo basically told New Yorkers in his remarks that in exchange for resigning, he’d like the Assembly to not impeach him and not investigate his conduct any further. This is gaslighting all New Yorkers. Impeaching him isn’t what is costly; actually, not impeaching him is what is costly.

JUAN GONZÁLEZ: And, Assemblywoman, in terms of this issue of what happens now with the impeachment proceedings, because there has been some speculation that the governor and some of his remaining few supporters would like to see him possibly have a comeback later, and if he was impeached, obviously, he could not come back to run for office again, so I’m wondering what your sense is in terms of whether the Assembly will move forward, now that he’s resigned.

ASSEMBLYMEMBER YUH-LINE NIOU: What you’re saying is exactly right. Impeachment must continue. And we must remember that the governor’s abuse of power extends far beyond just the women that, you know, he actually harassed and harmed and victimized. And it also extends to the millions that he made on the book deal while abusing his staff and misusing his staff. It extends to the victims of COVID-19 who passed away in nursing homes and whose numbers and whose deaths he erased, in their numbers, and hid from the Legislature, right? This is a pattern. This is serial abuse.

Impeachment means that New York will not be paying Andrew Cuomo’s pension for the rest of his life. Impeachment means that Governor Cuomo will not be able to run for office again by claiming to be the victim, while he’s also gaslighting and harming further the actual victims that he caused harm to. Impeachment means that we are then securing justice for folks who actually came forward, were brave enough to speak up about their experience, and also the folks who were not yet able to come forward, who we know there are many.

JUAN GONZÁLEZ: And could you comment on this irony of Governor Cuomo, while he was in office, supposedly championing the rights of women and now to being forced to resign in disgrace because of his treatment of women?

ASSEMBLYMEMBER YUH-LINE NIOU: Well, I mean, it’s interesting that you actually commented on that, because just because Governor Cuomo is retiring, it doesn’t actually mean that the toxic culture of abuse and misogyny in which he operated and thrived in is actually going away. We want to actively work to change that. We have to pass legislation that will make Albany a safe and harassment-free workplace. Landmark legislation was passed in 2019 to protect workers in the workplace from sexual harassment, but we, very ironically, exempted our own staff, our own folks, from being protected. I actually have a bill, with Senator Andrew Gounardes, to close that loophole.

AMY GOODMAN: How is that possible that you exempted yourselves?

ASSEMBLYMEMBER YUH-LINE NIOU: Well, I believe that that was a clause or an exemption that the executive wanted.

AMY GOODMAN: Well, as Governor Cuomo continually says, “I did this to everyone. It’s just that mores are changing now, and I wasn’t up on the times,” I wanted to go to Governor Cuomo’s former executive assistant. In the report, she was known as “Executive Assistant Number One.” But this past week, she came out, named herself and filed a criminal complaint — her name is Brittany Commisso — accusing Cuomo of groping her, kissing her against her will, verbally harassing her. This is Commisso speaking on CBS about one of the incidents that occurred at Cuomo’s Executive Mansion.

BRITTANY COMMISSO: So, he gets up, and he goes to give me a hug. And I could tell, immediately when he hugged me, it was in the — probably the most sexually aggressive manner than any of the other hugs that he had given me. It was then that I said, you know, “Governor” — you know, my words were, “You’re going to get us in trouble.” And I thought to myself that probably wasn’t the best thing to say, but at that time I was so afraid that one of the mansion staff, that they were going to come up and see this and think, “Oh, you know, is that when she comes here for?” And that’s not what I came there for, and that’s not who I am. And I was terrified of that.

And when I said that, he walked over, shut the door, so hard, to the point where I thought, for sure, someone downstairs must think — they must think, if they heard that, “What is going on?” — came back to me, and that’s when he put his hand up my blouse and cupped my breast over my bra. I exactly remember looking down, seeing his hand, which is a large hand, thinking to myself, “Oh my god, this is happening.” It happened so quick. He didn’t say anything. When I stopped it, he just pulled away and walked away.

AMY GOODMAN: Again, that is the Executive Assistant Number One. She is naming herself, Brittany Commisso, filing a criminal complaint accusing Cuomo of groping her. Unclear if other criminal complaints will be filed. A number of local DAs, from Albany to New York City, have asked for the evidence behind the attorney general’s report. And this could continue at that level, on a criminal level. Yuh-Line, state Assemblymember Yuh-Line Niou, you yourself are a sexual assault survivor. You have championed the legislation that ultimately Governor Cuomo has signed off on. Can you tell us whether he will be impeached, whether or not he leaves, as impeachment proceedings are continuing in the Assembly now?

ASSEMBLYMEMBER YUH-LINE NIOU: I mean, you mentioned, you know, the Child Victims Act, which is about child survivors of the childhood sexual assaults, etc., that we actually passed. But we have not passed the Adult Survivors Act, which is actually very important in this case.

And I just wanted to note that if you are a survivor of sexual assault, it doesn’t matter if you had to laugh it off, go to a dance party or drink until you made yourself sick or make a joke or even have sex or forget or just read a book or take a shower, or whatever that you have to do to survive something like that, because the way that Governor Cuomo’s lawyer addressed that situation was just gaslighting and very harmful, talking about how Brittany actually got up and ate cheese and crackers and made jokes with her colleagues. And I just wanted to say that there are lots of different ways for survivors to cope and to survive after something violating, and it’s a really big deal that they just got through it. And I think that it’s a really big deal to acknowledge that.

****************************

“A Petty Tyrant with Too Much Power”: Former Cuomo Rival Zephyr Teachout Responds to Resignation
by Amy Goodman
DemocracyNow
AUGUST 11, 2021
https://www.democracynow.org/2021/8/11/ ... r_teachout

GUESTS
Zephyr Teachout: professor of law at Fordham University and former candidate for the Democratic nomination for New York governor.

Law professor Zephyr Teachout, who challenged Cuomo for the New York Democratic nomination for governor in 2014, describes Cuomo as “extraordinarily vengeful” and applauds the bravery of the women who spoke up about his behavior. “He never hesitated to use the power of the state, state resources, to serve his own ends,” says Teachout.

Transcript

This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.

JUAN GONZÁLEZ: Well, I’d also like to bring into the conversation Zephyr Teachout, professor of law at Fordham University. You were a candidate for governor in 2014 against Andrew Cuomo. And I’m wondering, one, your reaction to what’s happened in the last few weeks, and also to the governor’s resignation, and also how the governor dealt with you in your campaign.

ZEPHYR TEACHOUT: Yeah. Thank you so much for having me on. And I do want to take the moment to thank Assemblywoman Niou for her extraordinary leadership, because one thing that has not gotten enough attention in the last 24 hours, since Cuomo has resigned, is something that all New York politicians and leaders know, which is that he is extraordinary — extraordinarily vengeful and will destroy people’s careers, will go out of his way to make sure that those who speak up against him are crushed and vanished. And Assemblywoman Niou, as well as the extraordinarily brave survivors, who should never have been in the position they were in, their speaking up has been an incredible service for all New Yorkers, and it has been with extraordinary bravery, because they are not wrong to be scared of Cuomo’s revenge.

When I ran against Andrew Cuomo, just as one small example of hundreds of such examples, two — a few organizations supported me, including the New York chapter of the National Organization of Women and the Public Employees Federation. Cuomo threatened to destroy the leaders of those organizations. And after my race, after I got about 34% of the vote with their support, both of those leaders were gone. He made sure they no longer could keep their leadership position. So, when he threatens, he threatens with the full power — threatened — I’m not used to the past tense yet, and we can’t wait for those 14 days, for the past tense — with the full power of the state resources behind him.

So, as you hear these stories of these survivors and the extraordinary report by Attorney General Tish James, which interviewed over 170 witnesses and looked at over 50,000 documents, remember, it is not just that he was doing these sort of gross abuses and assaults. There is no time at which there was a cultural line where it was OK to grope, proposition your employees. He was doing it not — with this deep threat of state power behind him, and he never hesitated to use the power of the state, state resources, to serve his own ends.

So, my feeling yesterday was one of extraordinary relief for the state of New York, which has crumbling infrastructure, some of the highest inequality in the nation, and feeling of relief that we might finally have a government worthy of its people, and extraordinary gratitude to those who dare to speak up against a petty tyrant with too much power.

JUAN GONZÁLEZ: And I’m wondering if you could also talk about the general situation that continues to exist in Albany and in many state capitals across the country, not only of the harassment of women — we’ve seen it over and over again, not just with governors, but also with elected assemblymen and senators and their staffs — and the fact that most of the state capitals have very little press coverage anymore to, somehow or other, hold people accountable. I’m wondering: Do you expect that there’s going to be any significant change in the culture of this corruption at the state government level?

ZEPHYR TEACHOUT: We are at that moment of significant change in New York. And this is after decades upon decades of a old boys’ club that covers up its own, both in terms of sexual harassment, sexual assault and corruption. And these two are deeply intertwined. There’s an abuse of power that connects these two.

I think it’s important to understand, as Assemblywoman Niou was mentioning, that Andrew Cuomo not only used this powerful position to abuse women, but also used it to retaliate against them and also used his staff to cover up nursing home deaths, lying about the number of people who had died in nursing homes, and then lying about the reason he lied, so that he could make millions in a book deal and do a victory lap and look like the hero, while people were suffering. He epitomizes the connection between abusive power of toxic masculinity and the abuse of power in corruption.

So, what is changing in New York? Which relates to why Andrew Cuomo resigned. He did not resign in a fit of love, as he described yesterday. Those of us who watched him know that this is a man who rules entirely by fear and power, not love. He resigned because he could count the numbers, and for the first time he knew that he would be impeached, he would be convicted, and he would no longer be able to run for office in the future.

Now, why did that happen? It happened because of local, grassroots organizing that elected a new generation of lawmakers, lawmakers who, despite the threats to their career, to their constituents — because this is what Andrew Cuomo does, is he threatens to take away money from people’s local needs, so lawmakers are afraid to speak up not only for how he will smear them in the press, but also for the effects on his constituents. We have a new generation of lawmakers rising up. And it is so important to support them, to support the legislation that Assemblywoman Niou talked about, the Adult Survivors Act, among others, and to take this moment and say we don’t want to replace Andrew Cuomo with somebody else who is backed by big real estate money, big healthcare money, and holds all the strings of powers in his or her hands. We need a new generation of small-D democratic leadership, where we see the Legislature leading, where the executive branch doesn’t collect power and dole it out as favors and punishments.

So it’s a major moment for New York state, but I would argue it’s a major moment for the Democratic Party nationally. We should be proud that Democrats, looking at somebody who had a “D” next to their name — and Andrew Cuomo has always been a bit of a Ronald Reagan-Margaret Thatcher Democrat; if his name wasn’t Cuomo, you might think he was a Republican — but that Democrats had the moral courage to say, “No. Yes, he’s a Democrat, but what he has done is beyond the pale.” And that is something we should be proud of and make sure that we do in other states, as well.

AMY GOODMAN: Finally, Zephyr Teachout, and we just have a minute, ironically, the resignation of Governor Cuomo is paving the way for the first woman New York governor —

ZEPHYR TEACHOUT: Yes.

AMY GOODMAN: — Kathy Hochul —

ZEPHYR TEACHOUT: Yes.

AMY GOODMAN: — who became a congressmember after winning a special election, because the previous congressmember was forced to resign because of sexual malfeasance. But what do you know of soon-to-be Governor Hochul?

ZEPHYR TEACHOUT: Well, when she was — she’s been sort of at Andrew Cuomo’s side. She has been a lieutenant governor who largely serves as a spokesperson, not a lieutenant governor who has been a public critic. But before that, what we know is that she was fairly conservative. She was a bank lobbyist before she became lieutenant governor. When I ran in 2014, my running mate was Tim Wu, who ran for lieutenant governor and pointed out that she was opposed to driver’s licenses for undocumented immigrants at the time. She has changed her position on that. There is bit of a blank slate question here. It’s been a long time since she has run on her own platform.

But I think what is critical here is that — you know, Kathy Hochul and I don’t share the same politics, but I believe Kathy Hochul will not abuse her position of power. I believe Kathy Hochul will not use threats, abuse her staffers, and that we need to take this moment to transform the deeply corrupt and abusive and toxic culture of Albany. And I will be pushing her to be a — lead as a progressive governor.

But again, and I said this before, this is the moment for the state Legislature in New York. It is a moment to stop looking at individual leaders and look at the small-D democratic moment, so we can have leaders like Assemblywoman Niou, who has been so brave and leading on legislation that would allow New York to thrive, with funding for schools and infrastructures, for building New York. And that requires both a change in our understanding of what is possible in New York, but also a wholehearted rejection of granting anyone so much power to be so abusive as Andrew Cuomo had.

AMY GOODMAN: Zephyr Teachout, we want to thank you for being with us, professor of law at Fordham University. In 2014, she ran for the Democratic Party nomination for New York governor against the incumbent, Andrew Cuomo. And also thank you to Democratic Assemblywoman Yuh-Line Niou.

[admin]

“Unfit to Lead”: NY State Sen. Biaggi Says Gov. Cuomo Impeachment Proceedings Should Start Now
by Amy Goodman
DemocracyNow
AUGUST 10, 2021
https://www.democracynow.org/2021/8/10/ ... drew_cuomo

GUESTS
Alessandra Biaggi: New York state senator representing parts of the Bronx and Westchester.

Lawmakers in New York are preparing impeachment proceedings against Democratic Governor Andrew Cuomo after the state attorney general found Cuomo harassed at least 11 women in violation of the law — including unwanted touching and kissing, and inappropriate remarks. Cuomo’s former executive assistant, Brittany Commisso, has filed a criminal complaint against him, and other cases are expected to follow. “The governor is unfit to lead,” says New York state Senator Alessandra Biaggi, who first called on Cuomo to resign in February. She says the damage Cuomo has inflicted goes beyond sexual harassment and includes the state’s COVID relief programs, nursing homes deaths, transit funding and more. “It is very important that we act with a serious sense of urgency.”

Transcript

This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.

AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now! I’m Amy Goodman, with Juan González.

New York state lawmakers are moving ahead with preparations for impeachment proceedings against Democratic Governor Andrew Cuomo after the explosive report from the New York Attorney General’s Office found Cuomo sexually harassed at least 11 women in violation of the law, including unwanted touching, kissing, inappropriate remarks. The New York state Judiciary Committee is wrapping up its own impeachment investigation. Last week, Cuomo’s former executive assistant, Brittany Commisso, filed a criminal complaint against him. Other lawsuits are expected.

We’re joined now by Alessandra Biaggi, New York state senator representing parts of the Bronx and Westchester. She first called on Cuomo to resign in February. Now his top assistant has just resigned.

The circle is closing very quickly, state Senator Biaggi. Can you talk about what’s happening in the state Legislature and what you’re demanding of Governor Cuomo now?

SEN. ALESSANDRA BIAGGI: Sure. So, thank you very much for having me on, Amy. I really appreciate being here.

I think that the most important thing for your viewers and also especially for New Yorkers to know is that right now the governor of New York, who has been found to have violated both state and federal laws, not only for sexual harassment, but also for retaliation, amongst other things, including a toxic workplace environment, is in a position where those around him, those closest to him are starting to resign. He has not resigned, as I just mentioned. So that means that myself and many other lawmakers are calling on impeachment to begin immediately.

Why do I say immediately? Because the moment upon which the Assembly begins the impeachment process — the impeachment process, by the way, begins in the Assembly, who votes on the articles of impeachment — the moment that they do that and hand those articles of impeachment to the Senate is the moment that Governor Cuomo has to step aside, and the Lieutenant Governor Kathy Hochul has to step in, until the end of the proceedings. And so, that is a very important process to begin, because, as evidenced by probably not only this report by the AG, but probably many other things that New Yorkers and your viewers know, the governor is unfit to lead.

And so, the delay in the impeachment proceedings, which we are seeing happen in the Assembly right now, is just delaying the accountability of Governor Cuomo, because the AG’s report is not a full accountability. It is simply a set of findings. It’s a very substantiated, credible and important set of findings, but it is only that. It is only findings. It is not a method of accountability.

And so, it is our job as legislators in New York to move forward as quickly as possible, because the harm that Governor Cuomo is causing every single day that he’s in office does go beyond the 11 women that he’s sexually harassed. It extends into things like COVID relief. It extends into things like our MTA. It extends into things like accountability, again, for nursing home deaths. There are so many things that this governor has been involved with that lead us to understand that he is no longer fit for office. And so, that is why it is very important that we act with a serious sense of urgency.

JUAN GONZÁLEZ: And, Senator, I wanted to ask you about the issue — you worked in the governor’s executive chamber at times, and you’ve described it as, quote, “the most dark period I have lived through in a workplace setting.” Could you talk about that? And also, you mentioned resignations. The importance of Melissa DeRosa, the top aide to the governor, suddenly resigning over the weekend? Could you comment on both of those?

SEN. ALESSANDRA BIAGGI: I would be happy to. So, I think I would like to begin just by commenting on the resignation of Melissa DeRosa, who I’m sure you both know, but maybe your viewers don’t know, is somebody who has really been an enabler of the governor. The governor has not acted alone. He has acted with impunity, with the help of the people who are closest to him. And Melissa DeRosa is absolutely one of those people. In fact, her name appears in the AG’s report many times. And you see her trying to not only make efforts to retaliate against Lindsey Boylan, one of the 11 accusers, but what you see her do also is make comments that are not only outside of the realm of public service or outside of the ethos of public service, but are absolutely antithetical to public service.

And so, through my experience in the chamber, which I, again, have talked about many times — my experience, almost from day one, was one where it was very clear to me that the executive chamber was run solely to serve the needs of Andrew Cuomo. It was not to serve the needs of New Yorkers. And so, this was carried out in a way that was undermining of staff, yelling at staff. It was what felt like, in so many ways, a whiplash between you have value, but you are valueless. And that experience of really what was gaslighting made many people live in a constant state of fear, a fear that maybe you would lose your job, a fear that you would be embarrassed, a fear that you did something wrong and would be sidelined and no longer included on projects. And that collective experience, of course, is what is part of the toxic workplace environment. But really what it lends itself to is the point that the executive chamber is run where the loyalty to the governor is the currency that is the most important currency in the chamber.

AMY GOODMAN: You have your own experience with Governor Cuomo outside of working for him, when you saw him after you worked for him. And you talk about his actions to you as continually trying to show who has power. Can you describe that very briefly?

SEN. ALESSANDRA BIAGGI: Absolutely. So, I saw Governor Cuomo during the 2018 election cycle at a wedding. When I went to go say hello to him, he pulled me into him. He kissed my forehead twice. He kissed my eye twice. And he turned — while he was still holding onto me, turned to my fiancé, who is now my husband — and at the time — and he said to him, “Are you jealous?” That was not him, in my opinion, sexualizing me. That was him asserting power over me and trying to make it very clear, not only to me, but to my fiancé, that he was in control and that he was in charge.

And that kind of behavior is exactly the kind of behavior that we see described amongst the 11 women, amongst other people who have been inside of his executive chamber, and beyond. And so, I think what this is very clearly demonstrating is that this pattern of abuse of power is something that has been going on not just now, not just in 2019, ’18 or ’17, but for decades. And so, this is the thing that I believe not only will lend itself to accountability, but it is important because if we do not hold this person accountable, effectively, what we are saying is that there are no standards for sexual harassment in the state of New York. And that is an absolutely unacceptable conclusion to make.

AMY GOODMAN: And you have said, if he goes through these impeachment proceedings and doesn’t resign before — by the way, he has three daughters in their twenties — they will widen the investigation to include, for example, covering up nursing home deaths. We have 30 seconds.

SEN. ALESSANDRA BIAGGI: Yes. And so, you know, there are things beyond, again, just the sexual harassment claims, which are serious and sufficient in their own right to begin impeachment proceedings, but the nursing home deaths, where he covered up the deaths, the number of deaths, so that he could make it seem as if he had done a better job than he did. Why? So that he could get a book deal, a book deal that allowed him to make $5 million and profit during a time when the state of New York not only was the state with the largest number of deaths, but the state that had the greatest amount of need, with a leader who was more concerned, again, with serving his own needs rather than the needs of New Yorkers and protecting the most vulnerable, those who were in nursing homes. And the result of that was that we lost 15,000 elderly because of decisions that he made that were uninformed and irresponsible.

AMY GOODMAN: Alessandra Biaggi, we want to thank you for being with us, New York state senator representing parts of the Bronx and Westchester, called on Andrew Cuomo to resign since February. I’m Amy Goodman, with Juan González. Stay safe.

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Biles and Her Teammates Rip the F.B.I. for Botching Nassar Abuse Case: Christopher A. Wray, the F.B.I. director, apologized for “inexcusable” failures in the investigation of Lawrence G. Nassar, who sexually abused hundreds of women and girls.
by Juliet Macur
New York Times
September 15, 2021


Aly Raisman, Simone Biles, McKayla Maroney and Maggie Nichols testified before the Senate on the sexual abuse investigation involving the former U.S.A. gymnastics team doctor Lawrence G. Nassar. The gymnasts also received an apology from the F.B.I. director, Christopher A. Wray, for the handling of the case.

“I don’t want another young gymnast, Olympic athlete or any individual to experience the horror that I and hundreds of others have endured before, during and continuing to this day in the wake of the Larry Nassar abuse.” “I was so shocked at the agents’ silence and disregard for my trauma. After that minute of silence, he asked, ‘Is that all?’ Those words in itself was one of the worst moments of this entire process for me, to have my abuse be minimized and disregarded by the people who were supposed to protect me just to feel like my abuse was not enough. But the truth is my abuse was enough, and they wanted to cover it up.” “It is unrealistic to think we can grasp the full extent of culpability without understanding how and why U.S.A.G. and U.S.O.P.C. chose to ignore abuse for decades, and why the interplay among these three organizations led the F.B.I. to willingly disregard our reports of abuse.” “I’m sorry for what you and your families have been through. I’m sorry that so many different people let you down over and over again. And I’m especially sorry that there were people at the F.B.I. who had their own chance to stop this monster back in 2015 and failed. And that is inexcusable. It never should have happened, and we’re doing everything in our power to make sure it never happens again.”

WASHINGTON — Sitting at a witness table alongside three of her former gymnastics teammates, Simone Biles broke down in tears while explaining to a Senate committee that she doesn’t want any more young people to experience the kind of suffering she endured at the hands of Lawrence G. Nassar, the former national team doctor.

“To be clear, I blame Larry Nassar, but I also blame an entire system that enabled and perpetrated his abuse,” Ms. Biles, 24, said Wednesday as her mother, Nellie Biles, sat nearby, dabbing her eyes with a tissue.

Ms. Biles and hundreds of other girls and women — including a majority of the members of the 2012 and 2016 U.S. Olympic women’s gymnastics teams — were molested by Mr. Nassar, who is now serving what amounts to life in prison for multiple sex crimes. His serial molestation is at the center of one of the biggest child sex abuse cases in American history.

McKayla Maroney, an Olympian in 2012, also testified, describing in detail how Mr. Nassar repeatedly abused her, even at the London Games, where she won a gold medal. She said she survived a harrowing ordeal when she and Mr. Nassar were at a competition in Tokyo, certain she “was going to die that night because there was no way he was going to let me go.”

“That evening I was naked, completely alone, with him on top of me, molesting me for hours,” she said.

In 2015, when Ms. Maroney was 19 years old and before she had even told her mother what Mr. Nassar had done, she described her abuse to an F.B.I. agent during a three-hour phone call from the floor of her bedroom. When she finished, Ms. Maroney said the agent asked, “Is that all?” She said she felt crushed by the lack of empathy.

“Not only did the F.B.I. not report my abuse, but when they eventually documented my report 17 months later, they made entirely false claims about what I said,” Ms. Maroney testified. “They chose to lie about what I said and protect a serial child molester rather than protect not only me but countless others.”


Senator Dianne Feinstein of California hugged Maroney after the hearing. Credit...Pool photo by Graeme Jennings

In a remarkable turn, the F.B.I. director, Christopher A. Wray, acknowledged the agency’s mishandling of the case and apologized to the victims. He said the F.B.I. had fired an agent who was involved in the case early — the one who interviewed Ms. Maroney. It was the first time anyone at the agency had submitted to public questioning about the F.B.I.’s failure to properly investigate a sexual abuse case that shook the sports world to its core.

Mr. Wray, who became the F.B.I. director in 2017 said he was “heartsick and furious” when he heard that the F.B.I. had made so many errors in the case before he took charge of the agency.

“I’m sorry that so many people let you down again and again,” Mr. Wray said to the victims. “I am especially sorry that there were people at the F.B.I. who had their own chance to stop this monster back in 2015 and failed, and that is inexcusable. It never should have happened, and we are doing everything in our power to make sure it never happens again.”

Mr. Wray said that one of the agents initially involved in the case, Michael Langeman, was fired two weeks ago. When asked why the case was mishandled in the first place, Mr. Wray said the agents had made many basic mistakes that clashed with how the F.B.I. usually conducts investigations.

“I don’t have a good explanation for you,” Mr. Wray said, later adding, “On no planet is what happened in this case acceptable.”

Mr. Wray said that as a result of the Nassar case the F.B.I. had strengthened its policies, procedures, systems and training, including emphasizing that agents report abuse cases to state and local law enforcement. He promised that steps in future investigations would be “quadruple checked” so that there was not “a single point of failure.”

Senator Patrick Leahy, Democrat of Vermont, said Mr. Wray’s answers would not provide any solace to the gymnasts who testified before the Judiciary Committee, and that they weren’t good enough “for the American people,” either.

Like the gymnasts who testified, Mr. Leahy and several other senators on the committee expressed outrage that the agents who mishandled the case have not been prosecuted. He said sports and government officials and anyone else who “turned a blind eye” to Mr. Nassar’s abuse should face criminal charges.

“A whole lot of people should be in prison,” Mr. Leahy said.

The Justice Department was not at the hearing to address the lack of criminal prosecutions. Senators said they had asked Justice Department officials to attend, but those officials declined.

The hearing came two months after the Justice Department’s inspector general released a report that sharply criticized the F.B.I. The agency’s errors allowed Mr. Nassar to continue treating patients at Michigan State University, where he practiced, and in and around Lansing, Mich., including at a local gymnastics center and a high school, even though he had left U.S.A. Gymnastics under a cloud, with both gymnastics officials and the F.B.I. aware of the abuse accusations.

Mr. Nassar was able to molest more than 70 girls and women under the guise of medical treatment while the F.B.I. failed to act, the inspector general’s report said.


“To be clear, I blame Larry Nassar, but I also blame an entire system that enabled and perpetrated his abuse,” Biles said. Credit...Pool photo by Graeme Jennings

To open the hearing, Senator Richard J. Durbin, Democrat of Illinois and the committee chair, scolded the F.B.I. for its “dereliction of duty,” “systematic organizational failure” and “gross failures” in the case.

“It shocks the conscience when the failures come from law enforcement itself, yet that’s exactly what happened in the Nassar case,” Mr. Durbin said.

Two F.B.I. agents who took the initial abuse reports no longer work for the agency, including Mr. Langeman, the supervisory special agent in the F.B.I.’s Indianapolis office who first spoke to Ms. Maroney. Mr. Wray said the agency had been waiting to receive the inspector general’s report and had to go through the proper disciplinary process before firing Mr. Langeman.

Mr. Langeman, who was not immediately available for comment, was not named in the inspector general’s report, but his actions and multiple crucial missteps were carefully described. The report said that Mr. Langeman should have known that Mr. Nassar’s abuse was probably widespread, but that he did not investigate the case with any urgency.

After Mr. Langeman interviewed Ms. Maroney — who was just one of the three elite gymnasts who gave U.S.A. Gymnastics details of Mr. Nassar’s abuse — the agent did not properly document that interview or open an investigation. In an interview report that Mr. Langeman filed with the F.B.I. 17 months after he spoke to Ms. Maroney, who was not named in the report, he included statements she did not make, according to the report.

Like other agents initially involved in the case, Mr. Langeman did not alert local or state officials about the allegations of abuse by Mr. Nassar, violating F.B.I. policy that says crimes against children “invariably require a broad, multijurisdictional, and multidisciplinary approach.”

Mr. Langeman later said he had filed an initial report about Mr. Nassar, asking for the case to be transferred to the F.B.I.’s Lansing office. But the paperwork wasn’t found in the F.B.I. database, the inspector general’s report said.

W. Jay Abbott, a former special agent in the Indianapolis office, also is no longer with the F.B.I. after voluntarily retiring in 2018. The report said he had made false statements to Justice Department investigators and “violated F.B.I. policy and exercised extremely poor judgment under federal ethics rules.”

According to the report, Mr. Abbott had been angling for a job with the United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee, which he discussed with Steve Penny, who was then the president of U.S.A. Gymnastics. Several senators expressed surprise and disgust that Mr. Abbott was able to leave the F.B.I. without being disciplined.

Hundreds of girls and women who were abused by Mr. Nassar have been waiting for years to hear from the F.B.I. about the mistakes in the case. Ms. Biles has been vocal about wanting to know “who knew what, and when” about Mr. Nassar. She said the effects from his abuse linger. She won a silver medal and a bronze this summer at the Tokyo Olympics after dropping out of the team competition, saying she was struggling mentally.

“The scars of this horrific abuse continue to live with all of us,” she said at the hearing, referring to all the victims, including Maggie Nichols, who also testified. Ms. Nichols is often referred to as “Athlete A” because she was the first national team athlete to report Nassar’s abuse.


The gymnasts being sworn in. Credit...Pool photo by Saul Loeb

Aly Raisman, an Olympic gold medalist who testified at the hearing, has publicly asked for an independent investigation of the Nassar case. She pressed senators for that on Wednesday, saying that it was hard for her to speak at the hearing, but that she did so to protect others and force change within sports and law enforcement.

“The F.B.I. made me feel like my abuse didn’t count and that it wasn’t real,” she said.

Ms. Raisman, 27, told the senators that she wondered if she was going to be able to walk out of the hearing room after the proceedings.

After the first time she spoke publicly about her abuse, in 2017, she said, she was so shaken that she couldn’t stand up in the shower and had to sit on the floor of the tub to wash her hair. Since then, she said, there have been times when she was so sick from the trauma that she had to be taken to a hospital by ambulance.

Ms. Raisman said testifying on Wednesday would set her back, too.

“This might take me months to recover,” she said. “I just wanted to make that clear.”

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FBI director details "totally unacceptable" failures in Larry Nassar case
by Jeff Pegues, Nicole Sganga, Stefan Becket
CBS News
UPDATED ON: SEPTEMBER 15, 2021 / 7:05 PM

Washington — FBI Director Christopher Wray said federal investigators made "totally unacceptable" errors in failing to investigate allegations of sexual assault by former USA Gymnastics doctor Larry Nassar in 2015 and 2016, telling senators on Wednesday that an agent who failed to act on one gymnast's accusations and later lied about his actions has recently been fired.

Wray appeared before the Senate Judiciary Committee alongside Inspector General Michael Horowitz to testify about the bureau's July report in the case against Nassar, who has been sentenced to over 100 years in prison for sexual abusing dozens of young gymnasts and child pornography. Wray said Michael Langeman, formerly a supervisory special agent in the FBI's Indianapolis field office, was fired two weeks ago.

"When I received the inspector general's report and saw that the supervisory special agent in Indianapolis had failed to carry out even the most basic parts of the job, I immediately made sure he was no longer performing the functions of a special agent," Wray said. "And I can now tell you that individual no longer works for the FBI in any capacity."

[x]
FBI Director Christopher Wray testifies during a Senate Judiciary hearing about the inspector general's report on the FBI's handling of the Larry Nassar investigation on Capitol Hill on September 15, 2021, in Washington, D.C.
GRAEME JENNINGS / GETTY IMAGES

The first half of Wednesday's hearing featured emotional testimony by four elite gymnasts — Simone Biles, McKayla Maroney, Aly Raisman and Maggie Nichols — who said Nassar sexually abused them under the guise of medical treatment during his time as a USA Gymnastics doctor.

Maroney recalled speaking with the FBI in the summer of 2015 and providing "extreme detail" about Nassar's abuse during a nearly three-hour phone interview. But the bureau failed to proceed with an investigation into his alleged misconduct until more than a year later, as revealed by a blistering inspector general's report in July.

Maroney said her interview with the bureau was not documented until 17 months later, and she accused the FBI of making "entirely false claims" about what she told them.

"They chose to lie about what I said and protect a serial child molester rather than protect not only me but countless others," she said, accusing the bureau, USA Gymnastics and the U.S. Olympic Committee of working together to conceal the allegations against Nassar.

Wray said the FBI agents "betrayed the core duty that they have of protecting people" and "failed to protect young women and girls from abuse."

The July report by Horowitz's office harshly criticized the supervisory special agent in the FBI's Indianapolis office, now known to be Langeman, and Jay Abbott, the agent in charge of the FBI's Indianapolis field office, for bungling the Nassar case and later lying about it. Abbott retired in 2018.

The report said the FBI's Indianapolis field office first learned of the accusations in July 2015 after USA Gymnastics conducted its own internal investigation. But the FBI did not open an investigation in Michigan, where the abuse occurred and where Nassar was still working at Michigan State University, until October 2016. The FBI did not take action until USA Gymnastics filed a new complaint in Los Angeles following months of inactivity in Indianapolis, the report said.

Citing civil court documents, Horowitz testified that "approximately 70 or more young athletes were allegedly sexually abused by Nassar under the guise of medical treatment between July of 2015 — when the FBI first received these allegations — until September 2016."

Nassar abused additional athletes after the allegations were first brought to the FBI's attention, the report said. The inspector general also accused the FBI of failing to "formally document" the initial meeting when the allegations were brought to their attention.

Senator Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut said he was infuriated that FBI agents "made material, false statements and deceptive omissions." Senator Richard Durbin of Illinois, the committee's chairman, called the FBI's botched investigation a "dereliction of duty" and "systematic organizational failure."

"It shocks the conscience when the failures come from law enforcement itself, yet that's exactly what happened in the Nassar case," Durbin said. The senator added that he was "disappointed" by the Justice Department's decision not to testify at Wednesday's hearing.

Horowitz testified that he referred agents' conduct for criminal prosecution to attorneys at the the Justice Department. When asked by CBS News about top department officials' absence, a Justice Department official cited longstanding department policy against testifying to Congress about declining to prosecute cases. No charges have been brought against the agents, a fact that infuriated senators.

"I don't have a good explanation for you," Wray testified, noting he felt "heartsick and furious" when he learned of the FBI's failures in the Nassar investigation. "It is utterly jarring to me. It is totally inconsistent with what we train our people on and totally inconsistent from what I see from the hundreds of agents that work these cases every day."

Wray added that over the past five years, the bureau and its partners "have made 16,000 arrests of people like Mr. Nassar."

"It gives you a sense of just the sheer scale of this kind of abuse in this country," Wray said. "Because I have no doubt that for the 16,000 arrests that we made, lord knows how many other predators that are out there that we didn't get."

"It's not just about these survivors. It's not just about gymnastics. It's not even necessarily about the Olympics," Senator Jerry Moran of Kansas said Wednesday. "This challenge is pervasive in our country, in our society, in our culture."

Melissa Quinn, Jordan Freiman and Andres Triay contributed to this report.

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Gymnasts Testify That The FBI Failed To Protect Them Against Nassar
by Ailsa Chang
NPR
September 15, 2021, 4:53 PM ET

Gymnasts testifying on Capitol Hill on Wednesday repeatedly said that the FBI failed to protect them from Larry Nassar.

AILSA CHANG, HOST:

Larry Nassar, the former Olympics team doctor convicted of multiple cases of sexual assault, is currently serving up to 175 years in prison. Today in Washington, a Senate hearing made it clear that there are still many outstanding questions about how the FBI handled their investigation of that abuse.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

ALY RAISMAN: It disgusts me that we are still fighting for the most basic answers and accountability over six years later.

CHANG: That is Aly Raisman, who, along with three other Olympic Team U.S.A. gymnasts - Simone Biles, Maggie Nichols and McKayla Maroney - told the Senate Judiciary Committee that the FBI mishandled its investigation of Larry Nassar. Here is Simone Biles.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

SIMONE BILES: To be clear - sorry.

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: Take your time.

BILES: To be clear, I blame Larry Nassar. And I also blame an entire system that enabled and perpetrated his abuse.

CHANG: McKayla Maroney said the FBI did not report her abuse for 14 months and falsified her testimony when they did.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

MCKAYLA MARONEY: Let's be honest. By not taking immediate action from my report, they allowed a child molester to go free for more than a year. And this inaction directly allowed Nassar's abuse to continue. What is the point of reporting abuse if our own FBI agents are going to take it upon themselves to bury that report in a drawer?

CHANG: Joining us to talk about the hearing and the athletes' testimony is John Manly. He's an attorney representing the women who spoke today. And also joining us is U.S. gymnast Jessica Howard. Thank you both for being here. I know it's been a really tough day.

JOHN MANLY: Thank you for having us.

CHANG: Jessica, I want to start with you. You know, as we mentioned, Larry Nassar is in prison. He almost certainly will never get out. But for you and the women who testified today, this is not at all over. Why do you think it is important to pursue this question of the FBI's failures here?

JESSICA HOWARD: You know what? It's been wild. And I, even today, have run through the gamut of emotions that I've felt over the last four years. But I think what has been underscored today and what was spoken about by the senators and what was spoken about by anybody who's read the report is that this isn't just Larry Nassar. This is a systemic problem that affects government-run organizations, the U.S. Olympic Committee, U.S.A. Gymnastics, all the organizations and now the FBI. There is no excuse. People talk about mishandling. This is the opposite of mishandling. This is dead failure. Like I - there's just no excuse.

CHANG: Yeah. Well, both Simone Biles and McKayla Maroney - they were very clear today that they do not trust the system. And I'm wondering, what about you? Do you ultimately trust the system? How do you feel?

HOWARD: You know, I don't. That's one of the difficult things that I've had to deal with personally as well. And I'm sure they're on their recovery journeys. And they were so powerful today that, I mean, I just - I can't imagine anybody not being affected after hearing their testimonies. But no, why would I believe in anything that's happened so far in this case? At every single turn, we've been diminished. At every single turn, we've been told we were not enough. At every single turn, we've been told we were lying. At every single turn, we've been told, oh, it's just Larry Nassar. It was just a few bad apples. And it's so far beyond that point now that, no, I absolutely do not believe in the system, in any of the systems.

CHANG: And yet...

HOWARD: I do believe in people.

CHANG: ...You still showed up at the Senate...

HOWARD: And I hope that they can make those changes.

CHANG: And yet you still showed up today at the Senate hearing. Tell me why you felt it was important to still show up and make an appearance inside the system, despite how you feel?

HOWARD: The team of people that have been working on this from the beginning, since it began to come out, have been nothing but utterly faithful to the gymnasts. And they have kept their promises, and they have shown us that this is not just something they're doing, you know, for a headline. And that's why we're here today.

And I'm here today because of the 120 victims that were served to Larry, trafficked to Larry Nassar, a horrible predator. And honestly, like, again, I hate just saying cliche things, but it is literally on a silver platter. And the youngest was 8 that we know of. 120 girls, 8-year-olds - they were all exposed to Larry Nassar during that five-month period where all of the communication that was happening between Steve Penny and the FBI was...

CHANG: 14 months, according to some reports about the failures for the FBI to take action. John Manly, let me turn to you in the last moments we have. What do you hope to see after this hearing? What is the next legal step, in your mind?

MANLY: Well, No. 1, I think there needs to be a - we're hoping that the Justice Department and the White House will insist that a special prosecutor be appointed to investigate this. Anybody that thinks this was a couple of errant FBI agents that just, you know, helped Steve Penny cover this up is naive. This is clearly - there's clearly more to this story. And as Jessica said and Aly said and McKayla said and Simone said, no, we don't have answers. And you know, the fact that the FBI covered this up and literally these agents conspired with U.S.A. Gymnastics and the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee to cover up Larry Nassar - those aren't my words, that's the Senate and the Office of the Inspector General report on this - is beyond belief. McKayla reported her abuse, and they falsified her report...

CHANG: Right.

MANLY: ...To protect Larry Nassar. That's unbelievable. And if they can do that to these women, what hope does an ordinary American have? You know, Martha Stewart went to jail...

CHANG: All right.

MANLY: ...For lying to the FBI.

CHANG: All right.

MANLY: And these agents lied repeatedly, and they're not being prosecuted.

CHANG: I am so sorry. We will have to leave it there. That is attorney John Manly and U.S. gymnast Jessica Howard. Thank you both so much for your time.

MANLY: Thank you.

HOWARD: Thank you.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

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FBI Will Pay Hefty Price for Sitting on Nassar Allegations: 'WSJ' reports it has agreed to pay 100 victims roughly $100M
by Newser Editors, Newser Staff
Posted Apr 17, 2024 3:16 PM CDT
https://www.newser.com/story/349185/fbi ... ng-so.html

The final legal claims against the institutions that in one way or another failed the athletes who were victimized by Larry Nassar have been settled. The Justice Department announced it will pay roughly $100 million to 100 victims of the former national women's gymnastics team doctor in connection with the FBI's failure to act on reports that he was abusing athletes. The settlement has not been finalized, but the Wall Street Journal and USA Today say sources confirm the DOJ has agreed to pay that amount. They had sought more than $1 billion from the FBI. This settlement would bring the total liability-related legal payouts to victims to just shy of $1 billion (see this and this). The FBI's mishandling of the complaints it received was detailed in a 2021 report from the DOJ's inspector general:

• USA Gymnastics shared the gymnasts' allegations of molestation with the Indianapolis field office on July 28, 2015.
• There was apparently confusion among the agents about jurisdiction: USA Gymnastics is headquartered in Indianapolis, but there were no allegations that involved Nassar treating gymnasts in that city.
• Though the report stated Indianapolis agents told USA Gymnastics they had transferred the allegations to the FBI's resident agency in Lansing, Michigan, they actually hadn't done so.
• After the July 2015 meeting, which wasn't formally documented, Indianapolis agents interviewed only one gymnast, McKayla Maroney.
• The FBI did not reach out to state or local law enforcement or do anything else that might have safeguarded Nassar's patients and otherwise failed to act for more than 14 months, during which Nassar allegedly abused another 40 people, reports ABC News.

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FBI: We Blew It on Larry Nassar Investigation: Watchdog says dozens more athletes were abused while agency mishandled allegations
by Rob Quinn, Newser Staff
Posted Jul 15, 2021 6:17 AM CDT
https://www.newser.com/story/308576/fbi ... ation.html

The FBI has admitted that its agents' conduct in the Larry Nassar sexual abuse case was "inexcusable" and a discredit to the agency. The FBI issued a statement after the release of a Justice Department watchdog report that outlined massive failures in the investigation of the former Team USA gymnastics doctor, who sexually abused hundreds of female athletes, the Wall Street Journal reports. The inspector general's report said officials with the FBI's Indianapolis field office failed to treat abuse allegations in 2015 with the "utmost seriousness," made "numerous and fundamental errors" in their investigation, and then lied to cover up their mistakes, per the Indianapolis Star. The FBI failed to contact state or local law enforcement about the risk Nassar presented to athletes, the report states.

The report states that after Indiana-based USA Gymnastics reported gymnasts' complaints to the FBI, the agency did almost nothing for a year—and Nassar, who also worked for Michigan State University, continued to abuse women and girls during that time. The report says that according to civil court documents, another "70 or more young athletes were allegedly sexually abused under the guise of medical treatment" before Nassar's arrest in late 2016. The watchdog said W. Jay Abbott, the agent in charge of the Indianapolis office at the time, made "materially false" statements to investigators looking into the agency's mishandling of the case, and violated ethics rules by negotiating for a job at the US Olympic Committee during the investigation, the AP reports. Attorneys for Nassar's victims say Abbott, who has now retired, should be prosecuted. (More Larry Nassar stories.)

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DOJ OIG Releases Report of Investigation and Review of the FBI’s Handling of Allegations of Sexual Abuse by Former USA Gymnastics Physician Lawrence Gerard Nassar
Department of Justice (DOJ) Inspector General Michael E. Horowitz announced today the release of an Investigation and Review of the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI) Handling of Allegations of Sexual Abuse by Former USA Gymnastics Physician Lawrence Gerard Nassar.
by U.S. Department of Justice Office of the Inspector General
July 14, 2021
Press Release
https://oig.justice.gov/news/doj-oig-re ... use-former

-- Investigation and Review of the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Handling of Allegations of Sexual Abuse by Former USA Gymnastics Physician Lawrence Gerard Nassar

The DOJ Office of the Inspector General (OIG) found that senior officials in the FBI Indianapolis Field Office failed to respond to allegations of sexual abuse of athletes by former USA Gymnastics physician Lawrence Gerard Nassar with the urgency that the allegations required. We also found that the FBI Indianapolis Field Office made fundamental errors when it did respond to the allegations, failed to notify the appropriate FBI field office (the Lansing Resident Agency) or state or local authorities of the allegations, and failed to take other steps to mitigate the ongoing threat posed by Nassar.

After eight months of inaction by the FBI Indianapolis Field Office, the FBI Los Angeles Field Office received the same allegations. The OIG found that while the Los Angeles Field Office took numerous investigative steps, it too failed to notify the FBI Lansing Resident Agency or state or local authorities of the allegations, and failed to take other steps to mitigate the ongoing threat posed by Nassar. The FBI Lansing Resident Agency did not become aware of the Nassar allegations until after the Michigan State University Police Department (MSUPD) executed a search warrant on Nassar’s residence in September 2016, following the MSUPD’s receipt of separate complaints of sexual abuse by Nassar, and discovered child pornography at Nassar’s residence. During this period from July 2015, when the allegations were first reported to the FBI, to September 2016, Nassar continued to treat gymnasts at Michigan State University, a high school in Michigan, and a gymnastics club in Michigan. Ultimately the investigations determined that Nassar had engaged in sexual assaults of over 100 victims and possessed thousands of images of child pornography, led to his convictions in federal and state court, and resulted in Nassar being sentenced to incarceration for over 100 years.

The OIG further found that, when the FBI’s handling of the Nassar matter came under scrutiny from the public, Congress, the media, and FBI headquarters in 2017 and 2018, Indianapolis Field Office officials did not take responsibility for their failures. Instead, they provided incomplete and inaccurate information to make it appear that they had been diligent in responding to the sexual abuse allegations.

The specific findings of the report include:

• Officials in the Indianapolis Field Office violated numerous FBI policies in handling the Nassar allegations. Specifically, officials in the Indianapolis Field Office:
o failed to formally document a July 28, 2015 meeting with USA Gymnastics during which the FBI first received the allegations against Nassar;
o failed to properly handle and document receipt and review of relevant evidence, i.e., a thumb drive provided by USA Gymnastics President Stephen D. Penny, Jr.;
o failed to document until February 2017 an interview of a gymnast that was conducted on September 2, 2015, during which the gymnast alleged sexual assault by Nassar; and
o failed to transfer the Nassar allegations to the FBI Lansing Resident Agency, where venue most likely would have existed for potential federal crimes.
• Indianapolis Field Office Special Agent in Charge (SAC) W. Jay Abbott and an Indianapolis Field Office Supervisory Special Agent (Indianapolis SSA) made false statements. Specifically, we concluded that the gymnast interview summary that the Indianapolis SSA drafted in February 2017, 17 months after the interview took place, contained materially false statements and omitted material information. We further concluded that the Indianapolis SSA made materially false statements when twice questioned by the OIG about the victim interview. In addition, we concluded that Abbott made materially false statements during his OIG interviews to minimize errors made by the Indianapolis Field Office in connection with the handling of the Nassar allegations.
• Abbott violated FBI policy and exercised extremely poor judgment under federal ethics rules when he, without prior authorization, communicated with Penny about a potential job opportunity with the U.S. Olympic Committee, an entity with which Penny had professional connections. Abbott communicated with Penny about the potential job opportunity while the two continued to discuss the allegations against Nassar and while Abbott took an active role in conversations about the FBI’s public statements regarding USA Gymnastics’ handling of those allegations. Abbott should have known—and we found that he in fact did know—that this conduct would raise questions regarding his impartiality. Further, Abbott applied for the position with the U.S. Olympic Committee, and then falsely denied that he had done so when questioned by the OIG on two separate occasions.

In addition, the OIG identified shortcomings in the FBI’s policies, including its policy regarding notification of local law enforcement agencies in child exploitation cases, that should be further assessed to ensure that the FBI can more effectively handle these types of matters. The DOJ OIG made four recommendations to the FBI to address the concerns we identified. The FBI agreed with the recommendations.

[admin]

Harvey Weinstein's rape conviction overturned in New York; DA will attempt to retry. The disgraced movie producer was convicted of rape in February 2020.
by Aaron Katersky and Josh Margolin
abc news
April 25, 2024, 2:54 PM
https://abcnews.go.com/US/harvey-weinst ... =109621776

The rape conviction of movie producer Harvey Weinstein has been overturned by New York's highest court.

The New York Court of Appeals, in a scathing 4-3 opinion, overturned Weinstein's conviction on sex crimes against three women, finding the trial judge "erroneously admitted testimony of uncharged, alleged prior sexual acts against persons other than the complainants of the underlying crimes."

The court said that testimony "served no material non-propensity purpose" and "portrayed defendant in a highly prejudicial light."

Weinstein spokesperson Juda Engelmayer told ABC News, "We are happily surprised and we are studying the ruling."

The Weinstein team, which was eagerly awaiting a ruling, was not expecting it to be in Weinstein's favor after a succession of rulings in different courts all went against Weinstein.

The Manhattan district attorney's office said it will retry Weinstein should the alleged victims be willing to come forward again.

"We will do everything in our power to retry this case, and remain steadfast in our commitment to survivors of sexual assault," a spokeswoman for Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said in a statement.

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Film producer Harvey Weinstein arrives at New York Criminal Court for his sexual assault trial in the Manhattan borough of New York City, Jan. 9, 2020. Brendan McDermid/Reuters, FILE

The decision elicited anger from several of those who accused Weinstein of sexual misconduct or who testified at the trial.

Judd, along with other alleged victims of Weinstein, held a press conference Thursday. She said she was informed of the judge's decision by the writer of the article that broke open the accusations.

"I was in disbelief when I heard from Jody Kanter of The New York Times about the decision," said Judd. "It's a stark reminder of the male entitlement that persists in our society. But today, as every day, I stand in sisterhood with all survivors."

Attorney Douglas H. Wigdor, who has represented eight alleged Weinstein victims, including two of the Molineux witnesses -- those not pertaining to the crimes charged -- at the New York criminal trial, said in a statement: "Today's decision is a major step back in holding those accountable for acts of sexual violence. Courts routinely admit evidence of other uncharged acts where they assist juries in understanding issues concerning the intent, modus operandi or scheme of the defendant."

He continued, "The jury was instructed on the relevance of this testimony and overturning the verdict is tragic in that it will require the victims to endure yet another trial."

Weinstein was also convicted of sex offenses in Los Angeles and sentenced to 16 years in prison there.

Because Weinstein is already convicted in California, he will not be released, but instead transferred to the custody of prison authorities in California.

Weinstein, 72, was a well-known, powerful man within the entertainment industry and prosecutors said he abused his power to take advantage of aspiring female actors, like the alleged victims, to coerce them into unwanted sexual encounters. According to the prosecution, the quid pro quo of assisting them with their careers in exchange for sexual favors on demand was both common behavior and a well-known secret throughout the film industry.

An explosive New York Times article in October 2017 reported Weinstein had reached at least eight settlements with women who accused him of sexual misconduct over decades. The story, which featured actress Ashley Judd publicly accusing Weinstein of propositioning her in 1997, sparked an avalanche of accusations from women who came forward with similar accounts and largely kicked off the #MeToo movement, targeting prominent celebrities for sexual misconduct.

Weinstein was arrested on May 25, 2018, and charged with first- and third-degree rape for one victim, and first-degree criminal sex act for another woman. He was found guilty in February 2020 of two felonies -- criminal sexual assault and third-degree rape -- but acquitted of the two most serious charges -- predatory sexual assault. He was also acquitted of first-degree rape.

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Harvey Weinstein appears in court at the Clara Shortridge Foltz Criminal Justice Center in Los Angeles, Calif., on Oct. 4 2022. Etienne Laurent/AP

Prosecutors said the testimony of women other than those whose claims formed the basis of the criminal charges spoke to Weinstein's state of mind to use forcible compulsion. The majority opinion, however, said that eviscerated the time-tested rule against propensity evidence, "which, in criminal cases, serves as a judicial bulwark against a guilty verdict based on supposition rather than proof."

Lindsay Goldbrum, who represents six Weinstein accusers, including Taralê Wulff, one of the Molineux witnesses to testify about being sexually assaulted by Weinstein during his criminal trial in New York, said in a statement: "This ruling is a leap backward for the rule of law. In New York, Molineux witnesses play a critical role in establishing a defendant's common scheme or plan to commit alleged crimes. When a defendant is accused of being a sexual predator, especially one as powerful as Weinstein, the testimony of Molineux witnesses is crucial to disproving the defense that sexual encounters were consensual."

The Court of Appeals decided the evidence of uncharged crimes allowed at trial "was unnecessary" to establish Weinstein's intent and "served only to establish defendant's propensity to commit the crimes charged."

The opinion also said the trial judge, James Burke, abused his discretion when he allowed Weinstein to be cross-examined about the uncharged conduct, ruling it "served no purpose other than to display for the jury defendant's loathsome character."

Weinstein's appellate case lawyer Arthur Aidala said in an Thursday press conference that the New York Court of Appeals deserves a "tremendous amount of credit" for overturning Weinstein's rape conviction.

"From the bottom of our hearts ... we knew that Harvey Weinstein did not get a fair trial," Aidala told reporters.

Aidala reiterated he believes the law must still be applied fairly to those society deems unpopular.

"The Court of Appeals ... said today that yes, no one is above the law, but no one is below the law either," he said. "You can't throw out 100 years of legal precedent because someone is unpopular."

ABC News' Jianna Cousin and Jason Volack contributed to this report.