New York Governor faces second sexual harassment allegation, says 'never made advances'

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo on Saturday dismissed the sexual harassment allegation levelled against him by another one of his employees. According to the New York Times, Charlotte Bennett, a former health adviser to Cuomo, alleged that the governor sexually harassed her when she was working with his administration last year. Bennett, 25, said that Cuomo once told her he was open to dating younger women. Cuomo, while describing Bennett as a "hardworking and valued member of our team", claimed he never made any advances toward her. 

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"When she came to me and opened up about being a sexual assault survivor and how it shaped her and her ongoing efforts to create an organization that empowered her voice to help other survivors, I tried to be supportive and helpful. Ms. Bennett's initial impression was right: I was trying to be a mentor to her. I never made advances toward Ms. Bennett nor did I ever intend to act in any way that was inappropriate. The last thing I would ever have wanted was to make her feel any of the things that are being reported," Cuomo said in a statement he released on Saturday. 

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Cuomo calls for 'outside review'

Cuomo has called for a "full and thorough outside review'' and for that, he has directed state employees to comply with the effort. The three-time governor has urged the members of the public to wait for the review to be complete before making any judgements. 

Read: Cuomo: NY Should Have Released Care Home Death Data Faster

On Wednesday, another former employee of Cuomo alleged that he sexually harassed her while she was working with the New York State administration between 2015 to 2018. Lindsey Boylan, a mother of a six-year-old daughter, wrote in her blog post that Cuomo abused his power as Governor of New York to sexually harass her, ''just as he had done with so many other women". 

Read: Gov. Andrew Cuomo: New York Should Have Released COVID-19 Death Data 'faster'