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NEW YORK Governor Andrew Cuomo is under increasing pressure to resign after a seventh woman made allegations of sexual harassment against him in the United States on Friday.
In a joint statement, Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand, who represent the city in the Senate, said Mr Cuomo had lost the confidence of New Yorkers and had to go.
New York representatives in Congress Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Jamaal Bowman also released a joint statement. They said: “We believe these women, we believe the reporting, we believe the Attorney General and we believe the 55 members of the New York state legislature,” referring to a group of legislators who have called on Mr Cuomo to resign.
“Governor Cuomo can no longer effectively lead in the face of so many challenges.”
He has continued to deny the allegations and is refusing to step down from the position he has held since 2011.
“I did not do what has been alleged,” he said on Friday. “I never harassed anyone, I never assaulted anyone, I never abused anyone.”
He has been accused of a string of sexual abuses including aggressive touching and unwanted kissing.
One former staffer said Mr Cuomo “reached under her blouse and began to fondle her” after he summoned her upstairs at his executive mansion.
New York state assembly speaker Carl Heastie gave the green light to an impeachment investigation on Thursday, which will interview witnesses and examine evidence against Mr Cuomo.
But he said he would wait for the results of an independent investigation into the allegations, which is being conducted by state attorney general Letitia James.
Mr Cuomo is the latest US politician to face charges of sexual misconduct. Former president Donald Trump has been accused of rape, sexual assault and sexual harassment, including non-consensual kissing or groping, by at least 25 women since the 1970s.
And in 2019 former staffer Tara Reade accused current President Joe Biden of sexually assaulting her in his Capitol Hill office in 1993.
She said that Mr Biden pushed her against a wall, kissed her, put his hand under her skirt and penetrated her with his fingers without consent. He has denied the allegations.
