On August 10th Andrew Cuomo, the now-former Governor of New York, resigned from his position after multiple victims have come forward accusing him of sexual harassment. Impeachment was still a possibility for the politician, but on the afternoon, of August 13th the New York State Assembly chose to suspend the investigation.

Cuomo was the 56th governor of New York and had been in office since 2011. As with any politician, his 10-year career was full of ups and downs, but more recently the 63-year old has found himself in hot water. In the midst of the pandemic, it started to be questioned whether or not the state was under-reporting COVID-19 deaths in long-term care facilities after the governor was previously praised for his handling of the virus. It was found that the nursing home death-count was actually far larger than what was being reported when the count jumped from 8,505 deaths to 12,743 as of January 19th. The Cuomo administration then made a directive that “barred nursing homes from refusing people just because they had COVID-19.” This was another development in his “nursing home scandal” as people credited the directive as the cause of widespread outbreaks in New York’s nursing homes. Embed from Getty Images

Cuomo is now facing sexual harassment allegations with at least 11 women’s stories being gathered in an investigation. Many of the women worked for Mr. Cuomo at some point while others had come across him at events, and even a COVID-19 test. Investigators reported that,  “Cuomo touched her bare back and, after she removed his hand, grabbed her face and kissed her,” according Anna Ruch, one of the 11 women. To which the former governor defended himself using his Italian heritage, claiming it’s common to kiss people on the face. Among the other reports are accusations of inappropriate language, prying into the sex lives of employees, and groping of breasts and buttocks.

The push for impeachment began to build as the reports were released, with even President Biden urging him to step down. He explains that he is stepping down in his televised address because, “The best way I can help now is if I step aside and let government get back to governing.” In response to the sexual harassment allegations, Cuomo said, “I am a fighter, and my instinct is to fight through this controversy because I truly believe it is politically motivated. I believe it is unfair and it is untruthful.” He additionally gave a message to his children during the address, saying he would never intentionally disrespect a woman and that “dad made mistakes.”

Kathy Hochul will be New York’s 57th governor and the first woman to hold the position.