One week after Queens officials called for Gov. Andrew Cuomo to resign following the results of an independent investigation from New York State Attorney General Letitia James’s office which found that Cuomo sexually harassed multiple women in violation of New York state law, the governor announced on Tuesday, Aug. 10, that he would resign in 14 days.
When Cuomo officially steps down on Aug. 24, Lt. Gov. Kathy Hochul will take over as governor, becoming the first woman to hold the office.
“This is about politics and our political system is too often driven by political extremes,” Cuomo said in a his Aug. 10 televised speech. “This situation by its current trajectory will generate months of political and legal controversy. That is what we’re going to have. It will consume government. It will cost taxpayers millions of dollars. This is one of the most challenging times for government in a generation. Government really needs to function today. It really needs to perform. It’s a matter of life and death, government operations, and wasting energy on distractions is the last thing that state government should be doing. And I cannot be the cause of that.”
