More troubles for Cuomo as Legislature strips his emergency powers amid dual scandals

New York’s besieged Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo had more bad news on Friday regarding the two crises he currently faces, sexual harassment allegations and a nursing home cover-up scandal of deaths due to his handling of the coronavirus pandemic in New York state.

On Friday, CBS News ran the second part of an interview with Charlotte Bennett, a former aide to Gov. Cuomo, in which she accused him of lying when he said that he had personally taken his mandatory workplace sexual harassment training course. She named another employee, office director Stephanie Benton, as the person who took the course for him, though Cuomo signed off on it as if he had taken it himself. According to a statement from the governor's office, Benton denies Bennett's claim. 

Also on Friday, New York state lawmakers stripped the governor of his emergency powers to handle issues related to the pandemic, according to the New York Post. The vote in the Senate was 43-20 and in the Assembly it was 107-43, against Gov. Cuomo. Both chambers of the state government are dominated by Democrats. Cuomo would have to sign the bill, but he indicated on Wednesday that he would accept the restrictions, when the legislators first announced their intentions. 

Friday’s news followed news from the previous day, as reported by the New York Times, that Cuomo’s top aides rewrote a report to remove the number of nursing home deaths.