The New York state Assembly will suspend its impeachment investigation of Gov. Andrew Cuomo after his resignation takes effect Aug. 25, Speaker Carl Heastie said Friday.
Cuomo announced his resignation earlier this week after the New York state attorney general’s office found that he sexually harassed at least 11 women and oversaw a hostile working environment in his office.
Heastie said there is no longer a need for the state Assembly Judiciary Committee’s impeachment investigation, which was authorized in March, due to the governor’s resignation. The Judiciary Committee also advised the Assembly that the state constitution does not authorize the legislature to impeach and remove an elected official who is no longer in office, Heastie said.
However, the committee’s work over the last several months did uncover evidence related to allegations against the governor, Heastie said, which “could likely have resulted in articles of impeachment had he not resigned.”
This includes evidence related to sexual harassment and misconduct, the misuse of state resources in relation to the governor’s memoir, and misleading disclosure of nursing home data during the coronavirus pandemic.