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Biden calls on Cuomo to resign

Gov. Andrew Cuomo's office
/
(file photo)

President Joe Biden called on Gov. Andrew Cuomo to resign from office Tuesday after a report issued by the New York Attorney General’s Office found allegations of sexual harassment made against the three-term governor to be credible.

Cuomo has denied those claims andissued a rebuttal to that reportTuesday.

Biden had previously said he wanted to see the outcome of that report before calling on Cuomo to resign, saying he didn’t want the governor to immediately step down when asked in March.

But, now that the report has been made public, Biden confirmed to reporters at the White House Tuesday that he now thinks Cuomo should immediately resign.

When asked if he was now calling for Cuomo's resignation following the attorney general’s report, Biden responded with a simple: “Yes.”

"I've not read the report, I don't know the detail of it. All I know is the end result," Biden said later during the press conference.

Biden is the latest high-ranking federal official to call for Cuomo’s resignation. Both U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi also called on Cuomo to step down Tuesday.

“No elected official is above the law,” Schumer said in a statement Tuesday. “The people of New York deserve better leadership in the governor’s office. We continue to believe that the Governor should resign.”

Schumer had previously called for Cuomo’s resignation in March, and was joined in the call by Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, the state’s other representative in the upper chamber.

Every member of New York’s delegation in the House also publicly called for Cuomo’s resignation Tuesday. A handful had taken the position that Cuomo deserved to stay in office until the attorney general’s office concluded its report.

Dan Clark is the host and producer of New York NOW, a weekly television show focusing on state government produced by WMHT in Albany. Clark has been reporting on New York state government and politics for the last six years, during which time he's worked out of the state Capitol in Albany. Clark reported for the national political fact-checking publication PolitiFact, the Buffalo News, the statewide political television show Capital Tonight, and most recently the New York Law Journal. At the New York Law Journal, Clark has focused on state legal challenges to President Donald Trump, as well as litigation concerning laws enacted by the New York State Legislature. Clark covered the Legislature in each role he's held and is a familiar face to state lawmakers and staff. Clark is a native of Afton, NY in Chenango County. He's lived in Albany with his husband since 2011.