Lawmakers looking into accusations against Governor Andrew Cuomo will hold hearings through the rest of this month before deciding whether to start impeachment proceedings against him.
So far, the governor’s legal team is not doing much to respond.
Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie says the judiciary committee’s investigation will be wrapped up in a matter of weeks.
Heastie said he understands demands for his fellow Democrat’s immediate ouster.
But he said the public shouldn’t expect an impeachment vote in coming days, because he wants lawmakers to finish going through piles of evidence to consider whether there’s enough to impeach Cuomo over a variety of issues.
“I think it’s been very, very, very clear by this Assembly Majority that there’s no confidence in the governor remaining in office,” Heastie said.
In addition to allegations that Cuomo sexually harassed nearly a dozen women, lawmakers are looking into the governor’s $5 million book deal and his administration’s decision to withhold full statistics on COVID-19 deaths in nursing homes from the public.
The judiciary committee will continue to meet in private through at least Aug. 23 to discuss hundreds of thousands of pages of documents and other evidence.
Lawmakers plan to have public hearings featuring testimony from experts on sexual harassment and on impeachment procedures, though it’s unclear whether they would call any of the women or other witnesses to testify.
Any vote to start an impeachment trial would lead to Lt. Gov. Kathy Hochul serving as acting governor and trigger a 30-day period for Cuomo to respond.























