NY Assembly Member: Cuomo's Defense Team 'Extremely Triggering'

The defense team for New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo tried to come to the rescue after New York Attorney General Letitia James released a damning 165-page report that accused him of sexually harassing 11 women, as well as workplace bullying.

But the presentation from Cuomo's lawyers didn't sit well with some.

"When the attorneys had appeared together, and were talking, they definitely were saying some things that I can tell you personally was very triggering," New York State Assembly member Yuh-Line Niou said on CNN.

Niou, by the way, is a sexual assault member herself.

Basically, Cuomo's attorney's seemed to be all over the place in his defense, with one even admitting on CNN that the guy could be guilty of some behavior that could be considered ... well, creepy.

The attorney was Rita Glavin, who was talking about the accusations against Cuomo from a state trooper.

“The governor may have very well touched the state trooper’s back,” Rita Glavin said during an interview with Pamela Brown on CNN. “And she may have understood it one way and he understood it another way.”

Glavin tried to disprove another accuser's account by citing emails from the staffer about how she was eating cheese and crackers at the Executive Mansion.

"She was joking while she was there," Glavi said. "She was eating snacks and even offered to stay longer when the work was done."

Niou wasn't hearing it.

"When was talking about how the assistant actually was joking around, eating crackers and cheese, I felt like that claim that a survivor, after being violated, should act a particular way otherwise they weren't supposed to be believed, or they are not believable, is disgusting and vile," Niou said on CNN.

No less than President Joe Biden, a fellow Democrat, has said Cuomo needs to step down.

“I’ve not read the report. I don’t know the detail of it. All I know is the end result," Biden told reporters.

At this point, Biden is probably right. Cuomo needs to go.

The president thinks so, and so does the Democratic-controlled New York State Assembly -- which has launched an impeachment investigation over the report.

Written by
Sam Amico spent 15 years covering the NBA for Sports Illustrated, FOX Sports and NBA.com, along with a few other spots, and currently runs his own basketball website on the side, FortyEightMinutes.com.