“Let’s play strip poker.”
This is what New York Governor Andrew Cuomo allegedly told an ex-aide, Lindsey Boylan, on a 2017 flight — a pivotal incident that led to explosive sexual assault allegations against the New York governor.
Boylan went public with her story this week.
The allegations are quickly spreading the internet like wildfire.
“Today I am telling my story,” Boylan wrote on Twitter. “I never planned to share the details of my experience working in the Cuomo administration, but I am doing so now in hopes that it may make it easier for others to speak their own truth.”
Today I am telling my story. I never planned to share the details of my experience working in the Cuomo administration, but I am doing so now in hopes that it may make it easier for others to speak their own truth. https://t.co/n1Lcc6Ac66
— Lindsey Boylan (@LindseyBoylan) February 24, 2021
Boylan followed up her Twitter post with a lengthy blog about the years of harassment she claims to have suffered at the hands of Gov. Cuomo and his administration that covered it up.
According to her account, Cuomo quickly developed a romantic crush on Boylan after she joined his staff in 2016.
He allegedly went out of his way to make contact with the aide, including touching Boylan’s “lower back, arms, and legs.”
Boylan writes that she took note of Cuomo’s alleged behavior throughout the duration of her appointment with the administration. According to her word, he spoke carelessly about the weight of other women, scrutinized their dating lives, and sent women roses for Valentine’s Day — all acts she labeled as inappropriate gestures.
Boylan insists that other women have since reached out about their own experiences with the governor.
Underlying tensions reached a boiling point of sorts when she claimed he kissed her during a one-on-one meeting — an incident where Boylan drew the line shortly afterward and resigned.
One harrowing moment came in the New York capital of Albany, where during a holiday celebration Cuomo invited Boylan to his office for a personal tour.
“It was my first time in his Albany office. The Governor entered the room from another door. We were alone,” she said.
As for Cuomo and his office, they have yet to respond.
But bipartisan calls for his resignation have already begun.
The Horn editorial team