Adams defends dinner with Cuomo
February 3, 2022NEW YORK — New York City Mayor Eric Adams on Thursday defended his decision to have dinner this week with former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who resigned from office in August after the state attorney general corroborated claims he had sexually harassed multiple women.
“I’m going to sit down with everyone. No stone will be left unturned to get my city back up and operating,” Adams said in a Thursday morning interview on PIX11 News in New York. “And those who don’t understand that just have not been following me throughout my career. We need to talk to each other and not at each other. And I’m willing to do that.”
Adams and Cuomo dined Tuesday night at Osteria La Baia in midtown Manhattan, the New York Post first reported.
The mayor, who was on a local media blitz Thursday, said he sought advice from the former governor on how to negotiate the budget in Albany and handle the city's spiraling gun violence problem.
Adams said it would be “foolish not to learn from people who have gone through these crises before,” despite the scandal that brought Cuomo down. “And I am not foolish. I’m learning from everyone that is in government,” he said in another appearance on WCBS Newsradio 880.
“We talked about the governance, not politics, and he shared some much-needed advice on what his belief is the best way to get out of this crisis we’re facing,” the mayor said.
Cuomo stepped down in August in the face of possible impeachment after a report by the state attorney general found he sexually harassed 11 women and violated state and federal law.
He faced multiple criminal investigations, the last of which was dropped with no charges this week. Since leaving office, he has insisted on his innocence and blasted the attorney general’s investigation.
Adams said that Cuomo was right to resign over the charges. “I made it clear that the governor did the right thing by stepping down when he did, and I stand by that decision,” he told WCBS.
Though Cuomo famously feuded with former Mayor Bill de Blasio and thwarted his ambitions at every turn, Adams said he hoped Cuomo could offer some guidance on promoting the city’s interests in the upcoming state budget. “We are creatures of Albany,” he said on PIX11.
The mayor declined to divulge details of their dinner conversation.
Critics have gone after Adams’ decision to have dinner with a man the attorney general has labeled a serial sexual harasser.
De Blasio’s former press secretary, Bill Neidhardt, said Adams insistence that the meeting focused on governance only made things worse. “So you’re not meeting a former Governor to talk policy, you’re just hanging out with your friend who happens to have documented evidence of sexually assaulting women???” he said in a tweet. “A staggering misjudgment from Eric Adams.”
Source: https://www.politico.com/
