Cuomo lawyers accuse AG James of having political conflict of interest

ROCHESTER, N.Y. (WHEC) — A lawyer for former governor Andrew Cuomo is launching new criticism of the New York Attorney General’s Office in the scandal that forced Cuomo out of office.

In a letter Friday, Cuomo’s lawyer said the AG’s report on accusations of harassment by the governor was "flawed, unreliable and misleading" and accuses the Attorney General herself of a very political conflict of interest.

It says Attorney General Letitia James created a "one-sided" report to damage then-governor Cuomo as James was angling to run for governor herself.

The letter was sent Friday to the Chairman of the Assembly Judiciary Committee.

The committee is in the process of preparing its own report on the allegations of harassment and sexual misconduct by Cuomo.

Those allegations were the focus of a scathing report from the Attorney General’s Office in August.

A week later, the governor announced he was resigning.

But the letter accuses James of misleading the public with her report and it calls on the committee to amend the AG’s report.

It says the report failed to acknowledge what it says were inconsistencies and false statements in the stories of some of Cuomo’s accusers and accuses one of them, Lindsay Boylan, of threatening other witnesses.

It also said rather than let an outside law firm handle it independently, the attorney general "was personally involved in and vested in this investigation of a political rival against whom she planned to run for office.”

It said she had "a motive to draw every possible inference against Governor Cuomo and issue the most damaging report possible." Which she announced in an "unprecedented and extraordinarily prejudicial press conference."

The letter claims Cuomo’s legal team will be submitting its own findings. Read the full thing below:

10.8.21 Letter to the Assembly by News10NBC on Scribd

News10NBC spoke with a representative for James and was told there will be no comment from her office.

Assemblywoman Marjorie Byrnes (R, 133) who represents parts of Monroe, Livingston and Steuben Counties is on the Judiciary Committee.

She said she’s confident the committee’s report will be thorough when it’s issued.