New York Governor Andrew Cuomo is denying a claim from a former aide that he suggested playing strip poker during a flight.
The accusation comes from Lindsey Boylan, who once served as a deputy secretary for economic development and a special adviser to the governor. In a post on Medium, she wrote that Cuomo harassed her during her time in his administration. She said that on an October 2017 flight home from an event in Western New York, the governor suggested a game of strip poker.
“We were flying home from an October 2017 event in Western New York on his taxpayer funded jet,” Boylan wrote. She described the seating on the plane and said a press aide and a state trooper were also on board.
On Wednesday, the governor’s office pushed back. Press secretary Caitlin Girouard said in a statement that Boylan’s claims of inappropriate behavior are false. She also said flight logs from that period do not show a flight where the governor was alone with Boylan.
The office also pointed to a joint statement from several former aides who were on flights with the governor and Boylan during that time. They said the conversation Boylan described did not happen on any of those October flights.
Meanwhile, the Sexual Harassment Working Group, which focuses on harassment in political workplaces, is calling for an independent investigation into Boylan’s allegations.
The claims are allegations, and the governor and his office deny them. We will keep you posted as more details are reported.
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