How Cuomo and His Team Retaliated Against His Accusers

Governor Cuomo relied on a shrinking cadre of trusted advisers to guide strategy over sexual harassment allegations and to hit back at the women who accused him.

The governor’s inner circle was in a frenzy: A former state employee had just publicly accused Andrew M. Cuomo of a yearslong sexual harassment campaign against her. The group huddled in the State Capitol office of Melissa DeRosa, the governor’s top aide, and launched an effort to discredit the woman, Lindsey Boylan, collecting a box of personnel files filled with sensitive information that they thought would undermine her credibility. Before they could leak the files to reporters, some names had to be removed. One of the governor’s senior advisers hunted for Wite-Out with the help of an executive assistant — a woman who would later accuse Mr. Cuomo of groping her breast in the Executive Mansion.