Disgraced former NY Governor Andrew Cuomo 's top aide Melissa DeRosa used an MTA official to secretly record his sexual harassment a...
Disgraced former NY Governor Andrew Cuomo's top aide Melissa DeRosa used an MTA official to secretly record his sexual harassment accuser, a report published by the state Attorney General has revealed.
DeRosa allegedly recruited MTA Communications Director Abbey Collins to spy during a secretly-recorded phone call with an ex-staffer by the name of 'Kaitlin' - who was one of Cuomo's sexual assault accusers - in an attempt to discredit her claims against the governor.
The scheme was revealed by transcripts from Attorney General Letitia James' office and was confirmed by anonymous sources to the New York Post.
During the call between DeRosa and Collins - who shared the same office with Kaitlin during her stint as Cuomo's press secretary from 2015 to 2018 - DeRosa asked Collins to reach out to Kaitlin and secretly record their conversation to find out if she was allied with Lindsey Boylan and Sen Alessandra Biaggi, according to James' office, which released more findings from the investigation on November 29.
Cuomo's top aide Melissa DeRosa (pictured together) allegedly recruited Collins to spy on a secretly-recorded phone conversation with an ex-staffer by the name of 'Kaitlin' - who was one of Cuomo's sexual assault accusers
A transcript of the phone call was published in Volume II of III in New York Attorney General Letitia James' (pictured) damning 168-page report published on August 3, 2021, detailing Cuomo's abusive behavior with the 11 women who made sexual assault allegations against the former governor
DeRosa admitted to employing Collins to execute the phone call (transcript pictured) and told investigators that she did not object when asked her to spy on Kaitlin
Boylan, a former state economic development official, was the first person to make allegations against Cuomo, 63, in winter 2019.
Kaitlin, who worked as a member of Cuomo's executive chamber before leaving for another state agency, tweeted in support of Boylan when DeRosa employed Collins to set her up, according to The Post.
Biaggi, a Democratic New York State Senator, was a fierce critic of the then-governor's interactions with his female staffers.
In the secretly recorded call, Collins, as instructed, said: 'It's definitely a tough place to work. Expectations are really high.'
She went on to add: 'But, I really, you know, have never seen anything like sexual harassment.'
Kaitlin, who's identified as 'Speaker 1' on the transcript, did not respond to the statement and continued by asking Collins - who's name has been redacted and substituted with 'Staffer #6' - if she has heard from any reporters following Boylan's tweets.
On December 13, 2020, Boylan confirmed in a post: 'Yes, @NYGovCuomo sexually harassed me for years. Many saw it, and watched.'
According to the transcript, Collins lied to Kaitlin later in the phone conversation and said that reporters had reached out to her and others close to the then-governor regarding Boylan's tweets.
'Yeah, folks have definitely reached out, like the Times Union, other reporters as well,' Collins said at DeRosa's suggestion.
The wave of sexual harassment claims came after Lindsey Boylan (pictured attending impeachment rally in March), a former aid, first came out as a victim in the winter of 2019
However, Collins and DeRosa later admitted that reporters did not reach out about the tweets, the Post reported.
And during her interview with the attorney general's investigators, Kaitlin said she was suspicious and therefore played 'dumb' during the phone call and pretended not to know how a journalist would be able to find her Twitter account and reach out.
She told investigators that she felt like Collins was spying for team Cuomo.
'But how would they find my account? Like I – nobody followed me. You know? I didn’t tag anybody,' Kaitlin asked during the conversation, which she didn't know was being recorded.
Unbeknownst to DeRosa and Collins at the time, they could face prosecution because their scheme could be deemed illegal since Kaitlin was in California when she made the call.
As per the West Coast state's law, all parties in a conversation need to give their consent before it's recorded.
Kaitlin's lawyer Zoe Salzman told The Post: 'This secret recording is shocking and we do believe it was illegal.'
Meanwhile, DeRosa insists the call didn't break any laws because she got permission to record from Cuomo's former legal counsel Alphonso David, who was the then-executive director of the Human Rights Campaign.
When asked if she can record the call, DeRosa recalled: 'He [David] said, "Yes. And assume she is recording it too."'
Newly-released texts from CNN host Chris Cuomo (right) reveal he helped strategize brother Andrew Cuomo's (left) response to the sexual harassment scandal earlier this year. He has since been banned from the network indefinitely
Collins said on the matter: 'My understanding was that Melissa and Alphonso had had that conversation and decided it was okay to tape record the conversation.'
She also insisted that Kaitlin was in New York while on the other end of the phone call.
'My cell phone records show that she was in New York, and I also believed her to be in New York because she worked for a New York State agency,' Collins said.
According to The Post, DeRosa admitted to employing Collins for the scheme and she did not object when asked her to spy on Kaitlin.
Collins even texted DeRosa after hanging up the phone. 'Did you listen to it? Let’s just take it to the grave because I think it just proves we’re both crazy,' the message read, according to The Post.
Collins reportedly later admitted to investigators that she regretted spying on a former colleague. 'It just seemed to me that recording a conversation with a former colleague was not something I should have done,' Collins said.
Yet this phone call wasn't the first Collins made to try and challenge Boylan's accusations, according to The Post.
In March, Boylan herself accused Collins of calling staffers about her and Kaitlin's tweet in support of the alleged victim shook DeRosa, who said she tried to call Kaitlin to 'find out what was going on'.
'Keep talking, Lindsey. Men like him should not be in positions of power,' Kaitlin tweeted.
In response, DeRosa said: 'I thought that there was a politically calculated movement afoot that was being driven by Biaggi and Boylan, and that Kaitlin was part of it.'
Collins' LinkedIn page details her time working for Cuomo, as his press secretary, before becoming the chief communications officer for MTA for nearly two years. Since July 2021 she has been the vice president of corporate communications for Goldman Sachs.
On Thursday the US Department of Justice (DOJ) began looking into the sexual harassments claims put forth by 11 women against the former governor
Cuomo has been charged with one count of misdemeanor forcible touching for allegedly groping the breast of Brittany Commisso (pictured), a former aide
Contracts provided by the State Comptroller's office confirmed the DOJ's investigation
The transcript was 'Exhibit 69' in Volume II of III in James' damning 168-page report published on August 3, 2021, detailing Cuomo's abusive behavior with the 11 women who made sexual assault allegations against the former governor.
The revelations forced Cuomo to resign or otherwise face impeachment and also led to the indefinite suspension of the former governor's brother and CNN primetime hose Chris Cuomo.
Weeks before Cuomo stepped down as governor back in August, DeRosa - who her boss once dubbed a 'mean girl' - resigned from her $200,000-plus-a-year position as the former governor's secretary, citing how 'emotionally and mentally trying' her job was.
A month later the 39-year-old confirmed her split from her Uber executive husband Matthew Wing.
Most recently, the Department of Justice (DOJ) opened a federal investigation probing the sexual harassment claims levied against Cuomo.
The federal investigation reportedly began as part of its investigation over the disgraced Democrat's handling of the Covid-19 pandemic, which involved an alleged coverup of the number of deaths inside New York's nursing homes.
However, it has grown to include bombshell allegations against Cuomo. 'DOJ has also undertaken an inquiry related to sexual harassment claims made against the then Governor,' contract notes obtained by The Post stated.
Rich Azzopardi, a spokesman for Cuomo, told the Post that the DOJ's probe involves potential violations of civil statutes and was launched by the feds after James filed the sex pest report.
James is now one of the frontrunners in next year's governor's race.
'Our understanding is that the Civil Division opened an inquiry in August based upon the AG's politically motivated sham report and we have heard nothing since,' Azzopardi said.
Cuomo has been charged with one count of misdemeanor forcible touching for allegedly groping the breast of Brittany Commisso, a former aide and one of the ten women in James's report. He is due in court in January in Albany.
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