Is Cuomo on his way to vindication?

Earlier this week, Charlotte Bennett, one of the women accusing former Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo of sexual harassment, dropped her federal lawsuit against him and three aides. Bennett, who is still suing the state of New York, says that her decision was the result of "abusive" legal tactics by Cuomo and his attorneys; the former governor’s supporters regard this as a victory.

Is Cuomo on his way to vindication more than three years after his resignation amid multiple allegations of sexual misconduct?

Bennett, a former executive assistant and adviser to the governor, was a key figure in the scandal that unfolded in early 2021 after another former aide, Lindsay Boylan, made allegations of harassment including an unwanted kiss. Bennett was the second person to come forward; after that, complaints snowballed. A report released by Attorney General Letitia James in August 2021 concluded that the governor had harassed 11 women. The sheer number of alleged victims, Cuomo told me in an interview two years ago, created a "frenzy" that led to his resignation.

When the report came out, I thought some of the allegations — bantering with a female doctor during a COVID test, putting an arm around a woman’s waist during a photo opportunity — were extremely trivial, but others had more substance. Bennett’s claims in particular struck me as troubling. Yet after reviewing video testimony and other records, available online as part of the attorney general’s report, I came to believe the story was more complicated.

Bennett claimed that the governor, nearly 40 years her senior, engaged her in sexualized, intrusive conversations that contained veiled sexual overtures. Cuomo has said that these conversations were part of a mentoring relationship in which Bennett herself had discussed her personal problems. The discrepancy often relies on subjective impressions. Bennett said that while discussing a speech she planned to give about being sexually assaulted in college, Cuomo repeatedly and creepily intoned, "You were raped." Cuomo said Bennett asked for help with the speech and he suggested the line, "I was raped at this school, but then I was violated a second time by the school," for more emotional punch.

There is no question that Cuomo’s behavior ultimately bothered Bennett enough to ask for a job transfer. But when interviewed by the governor’s general counsel at the time, she stressed that she saw it as "friendly" conduct that crossed some boundaries. A year later, when Boylan urged her to go public, Bennett described the same behavior as sexual "grooming."

Now, Bennett has dropped her lawsuit on the eve of a deposition. This follows the dismissal, by early 2022, of all five criminal charges of sexual misconduct brought against Cuomo. A single civil complaint, by a state trooper alleging inappropriate touching, remains.

Cuomo may well be guilty of poor judgment. But the evidence also suggests that he was pilloried for innocuously flirtatious behavior in which many women at his office also freely engaged — and that he may have been the target of a vendetta by Boylan, who resigned due to conflicts with co-workers. In our interview, Cuomo also expressed bitterness about a "hatchet job" by James, who briefly attempted her own run for governor. While Cuomo's claim is obviously self-serving, there is a case to be made that James' report cherry-picked the evidence, omitting some material favorable to Cuomo.

This story is not over. But the withdrawal of Bennett’s lawsuit brings us one step closer to a reassessment of Cuomo’s downfall as a case of #MeToo overreach, not justice done.

Opinions expressed by Cathy Young, a writer for The Bulwark, are her own.

By Cathy Young

Cathy Young is a writer for The Bulwark.