NEW YORK NOW - President Joe Biden called on Gov. Andrew Cuomo to resign from office Tuesday after a report issued by the New York Attorney General’s Office found allegations of sexual harassment made against the three-term governor to be credible.
Cuomo has denied those claims and issued a rebuttal to that report Tuesday.
Biden had previously said he wanted to see the outcome of that report before calling on Cuomo to resign, saying he didn’t want the governor to immediately step down when asked in March.
But, now that the report has been made public, Biden confirmed to reporters at the White House Tuesday that he now thinks Cuomo should immediately resign.
When asked if he was now calling for Cuomo's resignation following the attorney general’s report, Biden responded with a simple: “Yes.”
"I think he should resign," Biden said later during the press briefing. "I've not read the report, I don't know the detail of it. All I know is the end result."
Biden is the latest high-ranking federal official to call for Cuomo’s resignation. Both U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi also called on Cuomo to step down Tuesday.
“No elected official is above the law,” Schumer said in a statement Tuesday. “The people of New York deserve better leadership in the governor’s office. We continue to believe that the Governor should resign.”
Schumer had previously called for Cuomo’s resignation in March, and was joined in the call by Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, the state’s other representative in the upper chamber.
Every member of New York’s delegation in the House also publicly called for Cuomo’s resignation Tuesday. A handful had taken the position that Cuomo deserved to stay in office until the attorney general’s office concluded its report.