State Attorney General Letitia James has opened a criminal probe into whether Gov. Andrew Cuomo had state employees work on his best-selling memoir about the coronaviru🤪s crisis, a spokesperso🌃n said Monday.
The move came in response toඣ an official request from state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli, who asked that James “investigate the alleged commission of any indictable offense or offenses” related to the book, “American Crisis: Leadership Lessons from the COVID-19 Pandemic.”
“We can confirm that we have received this referral, but we won’t comment further on an ongoing investigation at this time,” James’s spokesperson said.
In his letter, DiNapoli sa𒁃id the probe should address the potential “use of property, services or resources of the state for personal purposes, private business purposes or other compensated non-governmental purposes by the Executive Chamber.”
DiNapo🍃li said the scope of the investigation should include “the drafting🔯, editing, sale and promotion of the Governor’s book and any related financial or business transactions.”
“I further confer to you the authority to prosecute the person or pers🦄ons believed to have committed the same and any crime or offense arising out of such inv🌊estigation or prosecution, or both,” he wrote.
DiNapoli said he made his request under terms of Section 63 of the state Executive Law and in furtherance of his “broad constitutional and statutory duty to…superintend the fiscal concerns of the state.”
“In accordance with our long-standing partnership with your office, we stand ready to partner with you in this investigation and provide any assistance necessary,” he added.
In a prepared statement, a Cuomo spokesman called the situation “Albany politics at its worst” and claimed that both James and DiNapoli “have spoken to people about running for Governor and it is unethical to wield criminal referral authority to further political self-interest.”
Spokesman Rich Azzopardi also said that “the idea there was criminality involved here is patently absurd on its face and is just the furthering of a political pile-on.”
“Any state official who volunteered to assist on this project did so on his or her own time and without the use of state resources. To the extent a document was printed, it was incidental,” he added.
DiNapoli’s letter, dated Tuesday, was first , which last month revealed that Cuomo allegedly used staffers to help with the manuscript, for which he was reportedly offered more than $4 million.
Last month, James hired outside lawyers to conduct an independent examination of sexual harassment allegations against Cuomo that have since grown to include an accusation that he groped a female aide in his official residence, Albany’s Executive Mansion, in November.
Those allegations are part of an impeachment probe by the state Assembly’s Judiciary Committee, which is also investigating Cuomo’s book and his administration’s cover-up of nursing home deaths from COVID-༺19.
Cuomo has denied any wrongdoing.
During a virtual news conference Monday morning, Cuomo refused to say how much he was paid to write the book, telling the reporter who asked, “you will see everything you want to see” when Cuomo releases his income tax return.
Cuomo also said, “On the book, some people volunteered to review the book.”
“Some people were mentioned in the book. I wanted to make sure they were OK with the mention. I wanted to make sure it represented what they did and the facts correctly,” he said.