NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK: A former top aide to Andrew Cuomo, former governor of New York, has come forward with allegations that the disgraced ex-governor threatened to smear his wife if she discussed sexual harassment allegations against him. The explosive claims were revealed in recent court documents filed in Brooklyn federal court.
Andrew Cuomo's alleged threat
Howard Glaser, former state operations director, disclosed that during a phone call in June, Cuomo made a threatening statement directed at his wife, Karen Hinton, who is also a former aide to Cuomo. Hinton had previously accused Cuomo of harassment dating back approximately 20 years.
According to the court documents filed on September 22, Glaser recounted Cuomo's ominous words, "Mr. Cuomo stated, in sum and substance, that 'if she goes there [referring to sexual harassment claims against defendant Cuomo], there’s stuff on her that will come out They have material on Karen that’s not good for her, the kind of thing she wouldn’t want her children to see.'"
Carrie Cohen, Hinton's lawyer, included this statement in the filing. Cuomo's legal team had subpoenaed Karen Hinton for extensive documents in connection with a federal lawsuit where a female state trooper has accused Cuomo of groping her.
In response, Cohen expressed concerns in the court documents about Cuomo's alleged campaign of threats, abuse, and harassment through the discovery process.
“This Court should not permit defendant Cuomo to continue his campaign of threats, abuse, and harassment through discovery in this litigation,” Cohen wrote in the filing.
“Ms. Hinton will not stand idly by and allow defendant Cuomo to use this Court and the litigation process to continue his longstanding and targeted abusive campaign to attempt to silence women who have come forward about defendant Cuomo’s sexual harassment of them and his targeted smear campaign against and harassment of her,” she added.
Karen Hinton's support for accusers
Karen Hinton has been an outspoken supporter of other women who have accused Cuomo of sexual misconduct, actions that ultimately led to his resignation in August 2021 under the threat of impeachment.
Throughout this period, Cuomo consistently denied any wrongdoing.
Regarding these recent claims, both Glaser and Hinton referred inquiries to their lawyer, Carrie Cohen. In response, Cohen condemned Cuomo's alleged misuse of the litigation process.
"Andrew Cuomo’s abuse of the litigation process by essentially weaponizing the use of third-party subpoenas to further his vicious campaign against women who have stated that he sexually harassed them and those that have supported them should not be tolerated," Cohen asserted.
In a counterstatement, Cuomo's spokesperson, Rich Azzopardi, claimed that it was Karen Hinton who threatened to disclose damaging information about the ex-governor during the court proceedings, the New York Post reported.
Azzopardi said, "It was Ms. Hinton, through her lawyer, who threatened to push unspecified damaging information about the governor into the public if the subpoena issued to her was pursued."
According to him, Glaser was upset about the subpoena issued against his wife and wanted it dropped.
“To be clear there were several conversations with Mr. Glaser because he was furious about the subpoena issued against his wife. He wanted it dropped, but Karen injected herself into this situation when she tried to cash in, wrote a book full of lies about the governor, publicly interacted with multiple individuals Trooper 1 identified as directly relevant to her suit, and even teamed up with them to – unsuccessfully – sell her book. We’ll see them in court,” Azzopardi stated.
Startling claims in Karen Hinton's book
In her book titled 'Penis Politics', Hinton made startling claims, including allegations that Cuomo engaged in lurid discussions about sex with his subordinates, even mentioning explicit scenarios involving his ex-in-laws, the Kennedys, who categorically denied these allegations alongside Cuomo.
Another contentious point of Hinton's allegations involved her claim that Cuomo was physically "aroused" during an uncomfortable hug when she worked as a press aide more than two decades ago while Cuomo was the HUD secretary under President Bill Clinton.
"He approached me, embraced too tightly, too long, and was aroused," she asserted, adding, “I felt extremely uncomfortable and actually shocked. Nothing had ever happened that way between the two of us.”