Andrew Cuomo Facing Criminal Sexual Misconduct Complaint

A misdemeanor sex crime complaint has been filed in Albany City Court against former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, state courts spokesman Lucian Chalfen said Thursday. The complaint, signed by an investigator from the Albany County Sheriff’s Office, accuses Cuomo of groping a woman on Dec. 7, 2020. While the complaint did not name the woman, most coverage said it appeared to refer to former Cuomo aide Brittany Commisso. The Times Union (Center), an Albany-based newspaper, cited unnamed sources saying the complaint was filed “prematurely” by the investigator and that “no final decision had been made by the sheriff's department or the Albany County district attorney's office on whether to formally file charges.”

Coverage was widespread and prominently featured across the spectrum. Some left-leaning outlets like CNN (Left) featured the story somewhat less prominently than others. Some right-leaning outlets featured sensationalist coverage, with a Fox News (Right) homepage headline referring to Cuomo as a “disgraced Democrat forced to resign office in shame”; homepage headlines in New York Post (Lean Right) and Newsmax (Lean Right) highlighted that Cuomo would be arrested. New York Post also stood out by mentioning the possibility of Cuomo registering as a sex offender.