Gov. Andrew Cuomo submitted his letter of resignation Monday night, after more than a decade of control in Albany.
The 63-year-old kept it simple in his letter to Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie (D-Bronx) and state Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins (D-Yonkers), who is serving as temporary president of the chamber due to the elevation of Lt. Gov. Kathy Hochul to the governor’s office.
“I hereby tender my resignation for the office of Governor of the State of New York. This resignation will be effective at 12:00 a.m., August 24, 2021,” the soon-to-be-former governor wrote before concluding: “It has been my pleasure to serve with you both.”
Cuomo announced he would step down on Aug. 10, one week after an independent report commissioned by state Attorney General Letitia James detailed his sexual harassment of 11 women — including nine current or former state employees — in violation of federal law.
While the governor had sought in vain to rally Albany’s Democrats around him following the report’s release, the response from lawmakers made clear there was no hope for his political survival. Sources told The Post at the time of Cuomo’s resignation that if he had tried to cling to power, the Assembly had the votes to impeach him and the Senate had the votes to toss him from office after a trial.
Three days after Cuomo resigned, Heastie announced the impeachment probe into the governor would be suspended — a ruling that drew outrage from Cuomo’s critics. Three days later, Heastie announced that the state Assembly would release a public report into its investigation of the governor.
The probe was examining allegations that Cuomo used taxpayer resources to draft his $5 million COVID memoir “American Crisis,” misled the public about nursing home deaths during the pandemic and covered up safety issues at the new Mario M. Cuomo Bridge, which replaced the Tappan Zee.
Hochul was set to be sworn in at midnight Tuesday, becoming the 57th governor of the Empire State — and first woman to hold that office.