State Watch

New York Assembly panel to start issuing subpoenas in Cuomo impeachment inquiry

A New York Assembly panel announced Wednesday that it will start issuing subpoenas in the impeachment inquiry of Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D).

State Assembly Judiciary Committee Chairman Charles Lavine (D) made the announcement after emerging from an executive session meeting with the committee.

Investigators in New York are looking into allegations of sexual harassment made against Cuomo as well as allegations related to his administration’s handling of data on coronavirus deaths in nursing homes.

Cuomo has denied any wrongdoing and has since apologized for interactions that “may have been insensitive or too personal” and for comments that “made others feel in ways I never intended.”

Lavine, before entering executive session on Wednesday, said the law firm Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP, which was hired by the assembly to investigate the claims against Cuomo, has received more than 100,000 pages of documents that are being reviewed.

The documents include email, text and letter correspondence, photographs, personnel records, training materials, policies, reports contracts, transcripts and other material.

“In short, I am very pleased with the continued progress of the investigation,” Lavine said.

The Hill reached out to Cuomo’s office for comment.

The impeachment probe was launched in March after several women came forward to accuse the governor of inappropriate conduct. 

New York Attorney General Leticia James’s (D) office is overseeing a separate investigation into Cuomo, while a federal probe is also reportedly looking into whether close family members and associates benefited from the Cuomo administration’s coronavirus testing efforts early in the pandemic.