Third Woman Accuses Cuomo Of Sexual Harassment

TV NEWS

A third woman, former Obama administration and Biden 2020 campaign member Anna Ruch, has come forward to accuse New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo of sexual harassment at a Sept. 2019 wedding reception, according to the New York Times.

The governor was working the room after toasting the newlyweds, and when he came upon Ms. Ruch, now 33, she thanked him for his kind words about her friends. But what happened next instantly unsettled her: Mr. Cuomo put his hand on Ms. Ruch’s bare lower back, she said in an interview on Monday.

When she removed his hand with her own, Ms. Ruch recalled, the governor remarked that she seemed “aggressive” and placed his hands on her cheeks. He asked if he could kiss her, loudly enough for a friend standing nearby to hear. Ms. Ruch was bewildered by the entreaty, she said, and pulled away as the governor drew closer.

“I was so confused and shocked and embarrassed,” said Ms. Ruch, whose recollection was corroborated by the friend, contemporaneous text messages and photographs from the event. “I turned my head away and didn’t have words in that moment.”

• Ruch said Cuomo’s touch on her bare skin was uncomfortable, and “I promptly removed his hand with my hand, which I would have thought was a clear enough indicator that I was not wanting him to touch me.
• “It’s the act of impunity that strikes me,” Ms. Ruch said. “I didn’t have a choice in that matter. I didn’t have a choice in his physical dominance over me at that moment. And that’s what infuriates me. And even with what I could do, removing his hand from my lower back, even doing that was not clear enough.”