Cuomo accuser Karen Hinton says NY Gov. was 'aroused' when he hugged her in LA hotel room in 2000 when he was HUD chief
Andrew Cuomo was physically 'aroused' when he allegedly hugged a press aide more than two decades ago, she claimed on Monday, as another of the seven women to accuse him of sexual harassment spoke to prosecutors investigating misconduct.
Karen Hinton, 62, was working as a consultant at the time of the 2000 incident. Cuomo, 63, was serving in Bill Clinton's Cabinet as the housing secretary.
Hinton first made her allegations against the three-term governor on March 6, and told her story in more detail on Monday on WNYC radio.
She said the pair were inside a Los Angeles hotel room in December 2000.
'He approached me, embraced too tightly, too long and was aroused,' Hinton said.
'I felt extremely uncomfortable and actually shocked. Nothing had ever happened that way between the two of us.'
Karen Hinton, pictured left in the early 2000s and right more recently, accused Cuomo of inappropriate behavior in 2000
Cuomo is seen speaking at the DNC in Los Angeles in August 2000
Cuomo, seen on March 9, has strongly denied Hinton's accusations
Hinton, who's married to lobbyist and former Cuomo administration official Howard Glaser, said Cuomo twice hugged her.
He was married to Kerry Kennedy at the time, with the couple divorcing in 2005.
Cuomo strongly denied her allegation earlier this month, saying: 'What she said is not true.'
He noted that she was formerly the press secretary for Mayor Bill de Blasio, a political rival.
'As everybody who has been involved on any level in New York politics knows, she has been a longtime political adversary of mine, highly critical for many, many years and has made many, many accusations,' Cuomo said during a conference call with reporters on March 7.
Hinton then replied: 'Truth is the "longtime adversary" that Cuomo fears the most.'
Cuomo is pictured with Bill Clinton in 1996, when he was nominated for Housing Secretary
Cuomo with Kerry Kennedy, his wife from 1990-2005. The couple had three children
Billy Baldwin, Kerry Kennedy, Andrew Cuomo, Christie Brinkley, and her husband Peter Cook
A second of his seven accusers, Charlotte Bennett, 25, told investigators on Monday that Cuomo has a 'preoccupation with his hand size'.
Bennett spoke for four hours on Monday to lawyers investigating claims of sexual harassment after the state attorney general, Letitia James, opened an inquiry.
Bennett has hired high-profile civil rights and employment lawyer Debra Katz, and Katz on Monday announced that Bennett had spoken to the investigators.
Katz said that Bennett shared with investigators 'detailed information' about the 'sexually hostile' work environment Cuomo allegedly fostered in the Manhattan and Albany offices.
Charlotte Bennett, 25, spoke to CBS's Norah O'Donnell on March 4 to detail her allegations
Andrew Cuomo, like Donald Trump, reportedly had an obsession with the size of his hands
She said he created 'rivalries and tensions among female staffers on whom he bestowed attention.'
Katz continued: 'One piece of new information that came to light today was the Governor's preoccupation with his hand size and what the large size of his hands indicated to Charlotte and other members of his staff.'
His apparent preoccupation echoes that of Donald Trump, who was famously obsessed with the size of his hands.
Charlotte Bennett told investigators of her encounters with Cuomo in May and June
Cuomo's office has not commented on the allegation, but has insisted that he never intended to make anyone feel uncomfortable.
Bennett, a former policy adviser to Cuomo, shared more than 120 pages of contemporaneous records and documents with the investigators.
'The investigators have been moving quickly, and with sensitivity, to get to the heart of these allegations,' Katz said in a statement.
'We remain confident that their investigation will substantiate Charlotte's claims of sexual harassment against Gov. Cuomo, as well as the failure of his senior staff to meet their mandatory reporting requirements under the very laws he signed.'
The investigation into the sexual harassment allegations is being led by attorneys Joon Kim, a former prosecutor with the US Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York, and Anne Clark, an employment discrimination attorney.
Cuomo made a public appearance on Long Island on Monday where he took no questions from the media and made no mention of the mounting troubles against him, but instead said he'd soon be getting the vaccine.
On Monday, Cuomo refused to take questions from the media and didn't invite them
He was at a mass vaccine site on Long Island and was surrounded by aides. Cuomo gave a pantomime-style welcome the crowd.
Cuomo is due to take part on a call with President Biden and other governors this week. He was appointed as head of the National Governors Association in August 2020.
After first calling the allegations against him 'troubling', White Press Secretary Jen Psaki on Monday hinted that he may soon be stripped of his title within the Governors' Association, but she also shied away from taking a firm position on the subject, saying instead they would wait the outcome of the attorney general's investigation.
She however said that the president would not take a side or any form of action until the investigation is complete.
'Our focus from here, from the federal government is of course supporting that independent investigation, which we adamantly do.'
Cuomo is pictured outside the Governor's Mansion in Albany with his daughter on Friday
The governor draped a blanket around his shoulders and appeared to be in a downcast mood
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