but then last week tish james reported her finding. she dropped the report that w included -- that contained the findings of her investigation - into governor cuomo's conduct. it was a bombshell. she found during his time in office governor cuomo had sexually harassed at least 11 women. according tish james' investigation, the governor broke both federal and state laws and, in fact, created a workplace culture of harassment and fear.at five different prosecutors, five different district attorneys ff have since requested the underlying evidence from tish james investigation to ees potentially conduct criminal inquiries into governor cuomo's behavior. there are at least two criminal inquiries already under way.ats at least one woman identified in the report has already filed a criminal complaint with one county sheriff's office. and now today in a stilted, oddly staged difficult to watchd rollout, governor andrew cuomo of new york resigned saying his resignation is effective two weeks from today. he's still adamantly denies thal he knowi

tish james implied without saying it, she is not pursuing criminal charges. statistically, we're not likely to see criminal charges and here is why. every year, thousands upon thousands of sexual harassment claims and lawsuits are filed alleging violations of title vii, federal law. it is alleged that governor cuomo violated. a tiny fraction of those civil lawsuits are accompanied by criminal investigations and prosecutions, and i expect just statistically speaking, even if there was groping and physical contact that could arguably fit into a criminal statute, there's a big difference between meeting the preponderance of evidence and beyond a reasonable doubt standard. that's a real challenge to a prosecutor to take this on as a criminal case. >> let's move to the politics now. donna edwards, you get to put that hat on, if you will. i want to play a quote from the governor because it sounds to me like at least the framework of how he believes he could politically survive this. take a listen. sot 2, guys. >> today we are living in a super heated if not toxic p

one, he wanted to demonstrate he wasn't going to be cowed by how dmning the report was from tish james and her outside invest investigators. he wanted to show he was committed to staying at the job he's in. but he also gave away how deadly serious he sees this to his political future, because of how controlled his response was. the prerecorded nature, the no press questions. that indicates to me the governor wanted to script this to the nth degree because he understands the political peril he finds himself in. to your point, about that narrated slide show. laura referenced when the governor said that his opponents are trying to weaponize everyday interactions or i don't know if he was referring to the actual claimants in the case or his political opponents. he went on and showed this slide show of the famous political people as well as not famous new yorkers of every stripe. that he kisses and greets everyone warmly. you have to step back and sort of remember that this is one of the most storied names in american politics. in the last two and a half hours has just been a bomb shell nat

and, again, tish james has just sort of laid it out there line by line for the beginning of many what i think will be many legal cases here. >> right. these 11 women made it clear at the very least that it was inappropriate to them, that they felt violated. investigators of the governor gave them an 11-hour interview. he admitted to certain allegations but had different interpretations of what happened. if charges are one day filed, would that interview likely be used against him? >> so, absolutely they can use the statements that he made during that interview. it was under oath. the office's charge was to conduct this investigation not to bring charges. and the office actually brought in two very high-level attorneys, one of whom is the former united states attorney for the southern district of new york to conduct this really fulsome investigation. what i think is interesting is that they have really made the case for these victims. they could literally lift pages out of this report and put them on a complaint that they could then file in court. so, absolutely all of this evidence is

what the movement is about is tish james taking them seriously, digging in and investigating so we canave a fair and balanced outcome are to me this day is cathartic i'm sure for a lot of survivors around the world. >> if, in fact, this is a teachable moment for our nation, what changes do you want to see happen in our society? >> if this is a teachable moment, i want america who's watching, people who are watching around the world, to know that there is power in the collective voices of survivors. and we can move the needle when we speak together. >> tarana burke, thank you so much. >> thank you. >>> coming up, meet the skaters charting a new course for inclusivity. is struggling to manage your type 2 diabetes knocking you out of your zone? lowering your a1c with once-wckn it. oh, oh, oh, ozempic®! my zone... lowering my a1c, cv risk, and losing some weight... now, back to the game! ozempic® is proven to lower a1c. most people who took ozempic® reached an a1c under 7 and maintained it. and you may lose weight. adults lost on average up to 12 pounds. in adults also with known heart dis

various parts of the state -- manhattan and westchester, looking that the evidence that's compiled b tish james' team, to see if other supervisions -- investigations ll go forward. yamiche: now his legacy is in tatters. talk about how his handling of this reveals his character and who the governor is. josh: he's been incredibly pugilistic in refusing to resign. biden, pelosi, the chair of the democratic state party that he appointed, even his lieutenant governor criticizing him. there's no one left in democratic pol twhoix have defended him and he's stayed ensconced in his mansion refusing to resign, thinking he can fight back and fend off impeachment. the governor is always engendered a brutal work force, a toxic, tough place to work and he's always believed in his own willingness, ability to maneuver out of tough situations and his own ability to convince people he's right and here you have really an unparalleled situation for governor cuomo, who, as you said, at the height of last spring, was kind of the national elixir to many democrats of covid and the contrast to trump and now it's totall

getting a statement from attorney general tish james saying in part, today closes a sad chapter for all of new york, but it is an important step towards justice. we know, tom, the attorney general herself cannot bring criminal charges against the outgoing governor, but what does this mean for those criminal investigations happening throughout new york state? >> it doesn't change anything really. given governor cuomo's long-term ambitions prior to this coming out, from a legal perspective everything is the same as it was this morning, which is that the governor has some serious legal hurdles and criminal hurdles ahead of him. when you look at this today, the albany county district attorney's office, the albany county sheriff's office is looking into a serious complaint of groping and fondling by the governor of one of his executive assistants, who's now come forward. on top of that the westchester county district attorney's office is looking for information to see if there's any criminality involving trooper one. westchester county is looking into that because some of those allegations a

this was a remarkable document that tish james's office put together. it was 170 pages, there was something like 70,000 primary sources. they interviewed so many people and it was so thorough. it was absolutely implausible that you could simply deny it, although of course the governor did tonight today over and over again. so, yes it was sort of like you couldn't argue with this document. it is so vastly well put together and reported and it came out of the attorney generals office. it was that investigation that people are always calling for that gets put in a different category from the journalism, which if done was also thorough investigation. >> yes it is, and katie, i'm trying to walk a tightrope i want to acknowledge the democratic party got together and push this guy out, on the other hand, the democratic party enabled him for many years. there is an argument that many top officials knew would cuomo was like, and let him get away with it for a long time, kept endorsing him every time an election came by. >> i think there is an inherent tendency t

what they're arguing has to be a conspiracy theory that all of these women are somehow lying, that tish james' office has an ax to grind. and you saw little threads there throughout of this big conspiracy theory, everybody's against governor cuomo. i thought it fell really flat, and i don't think it's going to work. >> elie, why would the new york attorney general withhold the full transcripts of the interviews in this investigation? why aren't we seeing more, and what is your view of the overall defense? >> yeah, pam. so the first takeaway is governor cuomo is not going without a fight here. there was some speculation will he be resigning, is this going to be dragged out? he is going to fight this tooth and nail all the way till the end. the first argument is a process argument. i don't think we should be dismissive of their process arguments. governor cuomo's attorneys, this is a one-sided fight so far. the investigators, and i know joon kim, he's an excellent lawyer, but they have not turned over really if many materials. process matters. that said, on thged incident. that completely misst

also say that the party has a very deep bench in new york, the aforementioned attorney general tish james the incoming governor, lieutenant governor, where andrew cuomo eschewed retail politics she has been a force for it. we have a primary in june. we will see what happens and who gets into it. i assume it is a lot of folks. >> yeah. >> but i think in the short term, i think it really is a breath of fresh air for so many in the state. >> donna edwards, obviously your thoughts on anything we have already discussed, but let me put up for our viewers more information about the biography of new york's first woman governor, kathy hochul. has been the lieutenant governor since 2015. she denounced cuomo's behavior, alleged behavior as repulsive and unlawful. she was a congresswoman, spent time in washington, 2011 through 2013, and was the erie county clerk, 2007 to 2011. her statement today made clear she has worked in government at all levels, traveling around the state. makes clear that she is going to govern for the whole state, not a sort of new york city centric world view. i wonder your t

andrew cuomo resign now and more so for the speech that he gave afterwards when attorney general tish jamesclaimed cultural immunity. that it was in his dna. because he's italian american. he saw this in his father, mario. liar. he saw this in his mother, matilda, liar. i've also coupled this with chris cuomo and said chris, now is the time to speak out to defend the honor of your father that is no longer with us and your mother, thankfully, who is alive and well at 89.he's blamed his groping and his perverted ways on being taught this through the italian american culture through his dna? in the streets of brooklyn where i was raised, we call that a -- >> neil: there's a lot we tonight know and you're right about that. what he was trying to say, people mistake his actions for being a teachy feely person. i understand that. certainly these 11 women that have changed him with harassment and much worse disagree. this is quite different. i curious where you see this going. let's say he keeps fighting this. you become mayor. he could still technically be governor. you have to work with the gover

the attorney general tish james is the first black woman to be attorney general in the state of new yorkends up happening with the governor and if he indeed either is impeached or resigns. but women are certainly at the forefront of leading this investigation and also, as you mentioned, you know, his potential successor in albany. jill, this is when we put a pin in it, so i'm out of time. if you're not following jill wine-banks on twitter, you are missing out. especially when it comes to her pin. thank you both. >>> next, a new warning for folks in afghanistan who helped america and its allies -- get out now. >>> plus, the vaccine divide. how the debate over shots is now weighing down personal connections. how do you talk to people you love who refuse to get a shot? with downy infusions, let the scent set the mood. feel the difference with downy. he looked after his community. she built an empire. fought for his people. protected this nation. they are the heroes in my family. who are the heroes in yours? age before beauty? why not both? visibly diminish wrinkled skin in... crepe correcto

tish james and her team have found that governor cuomo sexually harassed multiple women in violation of state and federal law. it is long past time for him to resign and face consequences for his actions. if he refuses, the assembly should impeach. the state senator is here with me now. senator, thank you very much for being here. what were your thoughts when you heard what the attorney general, the findings of this five-month investigation? >> well, alisyn, thank you. i was furious when i heard this because you have now the highest law enforcement officer in new york state after an exhaustive, months-long investigation by dedicated investigators as your panel reported, interviewing dozens of people, you know, countless people. they have found that the governor of the state of new york is a serial sexual harasser, that he broke state and federal sexual harassment laws, and we should not be comfortable as elected officials and as new yorkers having somebody like this lead the state. >> he is not resigning. so now what? >> that's what he says. so i think, as i said in my statement, i t

the attorney general, tish james, is the first black attorney general in the state of new york.seen what ends up happening with the governor and if he indeed either is impeached or resigns. but women are certainly at the forefront of leading this investigation and also, as you mentioned, his potential successor in albany. >> julianne, thank you so much. jill, this is normally when we do put a pin in it but i'm told we're out of time, so if you're not following jill wine-banks on twitter, you're missing out, and she'll tell you about her pin that she chose to wear tonight. thank you both. >>> next, the advice to people who helped america and its allies in afghanistan, get out now. >>> and how the debate over shots is weighing down personal connections. how do you talk to people you love who refuse to get a shot? it takes a certain kind of person to change the world. my great-great-grandmother, my great-grandfather, great-great-grandfather was that kind of person. he looked after his community. she built an empire. he protected this nation. they lived their lives in extraordinary

allegations which, you know, i take exception to because the investigation was done by attorney general tish jamesgrity and expertise in her work so it's almost like you're pushing back against a woman and a woman of color in your denial. i'll say is i used to work in education for 20 years. the first thing you teach your students is to take responsibility for your actions. and the governor needs to take responsibility for his actions, if he cares about the state of new york. the voters have lost trust in his leadership and it's time for him to resign. >> you write that he wanted to -- his defense, you suggest is he who plants his lips on everyone by default violates no one. as an italian-american yourself, the governor seems determined to drag italian-americans as a whole down with him, seemingly implying that the sexual harassment he's accused of personally is actually cultural. >> yes. i mean, i'm a second generation italian-american. i saw the way my fathers and uncles fought against that stereotype that we saw from rudy valentino of italian men being very unable to control themselves. i was t

but i think tish james, the attorney general is kind of put where we're going here next.she said what happens next is up to the governor. everything we know about andrew cuomo is he's not likely to resign his office over this in any way. he's made that pretty clear. he's also indicated he really intends to run for reelection next year. then she said, it's up to the assembly. meaning potential impeachment process underway. i don't think we have evidence yet at all from the new york state assembly legislature overall that removing governor cuomo from office is an assured thing here. and she finally said it's going to be up to the voters. and i have a feeling that is where this is going to end up politically is that voters are going to come to a determination if everything they heard today, if everything they read in this report is information that says to them that andrew cuomo does not deserve to be governor anymore, that will become clearer, i would imagine, pretty quickly. it's already a tall task for cuomo to ask the voters to send them back for a fourth term. that's al

leaving office tonight following the publication of a scathing report by new york's attorney general, tish jameshave we been able to get this up on screen yet? we just got this moments ago. yes. this reportedly is andrew cuomo's resignation letter, and it sure does look authentic. we received this just moments ago. soon-to-be former governor cuomo continues to deny the allegations against him even as he leaves office but in anticipation of her taking over the top job tonight, kathy hochul already appointing two women to two top posts in her cabinet. as if this all wasn't dramatic enough, it will all become official at a minute past midnight tonight. a midnight swearing in. that does it for us tonight. i will see you again tomorrow. now, it's time for the last word with lawrence o'donnell. >> good evening, lawrence. >> evening, rachel. i know there is a lot of news today and a lot of stuff to cover and the networks didn't cover this. but i watched andrew cuomo's

leaving office tonight following the publication of a scathing report by new york's attorney general, tish jamesa report that accused him of sexually harassing 11 women. have we been able to get this up on screen yet? we just got this moments ago. yes. this reportedly is andrew cuomo's resignation letter, and it sure does look authentic. we received this just moments ago. soon-to-be former governor cuomo continues to deny the allegations against him even as he leaves office, but in anticipation of her taking over the top job tonight, kathy hochul already appointing two women to two top posts in her cabinet. as if this all wasn't dramatic enough, it will all become official at a minute past midnight tonight. a midnight swearing in. that does it for us tonight. i will see you again tomorrow. "way "way >>> this morning, president biden is facing mounting pressure from congress and the international community to extend evacuation efforts in afghanistan. but with the taliban warning of consequences if the u.s. exit is delayed, the question is will the president keep troops in kabul past august? >>> p

leaving office tonight following the publication of a scathing report by new york's attorney general, tish james. a report that accused him of sexually harassing 11 women. have we been able to get this up on screen yet? we just got this moments ago. yes. this reportedly is andrew cuomo's resignation letter, and it sure does look authentic. we received this just moments ago. soon-to-be former governor cuomo continues to deny the allegations against him even as he leaves office but in anticipation of her taking over the top job tonight, kathy hochul already appointing two women to two top posts in her cabinet. as if this all wasn't dramatic enough, it will all become official at a minute past midnight tonight. a midnight swearing in. that does it for us tonight. i will see you again tomorrow. now, it's time for the last word with lawrence o'donnell. >> good evening, lawrence. >> evening, rachel. i know there is a lot of news today and a lot of stuff to cover and the networks didn't cover this. but i watched andrew cuomo's farewell speech today, which if you came in late, if you missed the part whe

judiciary met for the first time since the bombshell report out of the office of attorney general tish jamesting 11 cases of misconduct by the governor. >> cuomo and his attorneys have repeatedly criticized the report as biased and incomplete deeply disturbing and the committee almost immediately went into a 3 and a half hour closed door session to review the ages materials with impeachment. investigators from the law firm of davis polk. they discussed not just the misconduct allegations but also the governor's handling of nursing homes during the pandemic and other possible abuses of power like whoa, most 5 million dollar book deal. there will be 2 more executive sessions in the next 2 weeks before the committee moves to public hearings. lawmakers were asked repeatedly. why not just move forward now following the a g s report as a survivor. i know that there is nothing more important than actually getting them. the justice that they deserve the judiciary committee is investigating variety of different issues for months now and now those issues are important if not by the end of sometime in

albany county sheriff's office by one of his accusers, other das in new york are looking at it, tish jamesrofiting from the coverup and the lies, so there's a lot on andy cuomo's plate in the months to come. maria: yeah. congresswoman, claudia. >> i think he's probably working on negotiation in the next two weeks on all of those issues. but look, something that the doj, the coverup of the nursing home scandal is something that i inquired about as early as april of last year and that's just concerning for me, that would be important evidence for the case. hopefully we'll get a chance to see that. maria: real quick before you go, the 1 and a quarter infrastructure bill passing if the senate yesterday, congresswoman, 19 republican senators voted with the democrats. the spending spree doesn't stop there. overnight the senate passed the 3 and-a-half trillion dollar blueprint along party lines. it looks like the ball is now in your court on these spending package as this comes to the house. your thoughts here? and i would like to know why the republicans continue to get rolled over, not even an

missed the memo that we are in the post-me, too era and to discount the thorough investigation that tish jamesment, and to write these women off as he did in his prerecorded statements on tuesday and having heard things that he simply didn't say, i have to tell you that really struck a chord with me because there is a really particular -- particularly odious kind of sexism and misogyny that tries to dismiss inconvenient women as crazy and that's what he's saying as that statement. >> not only did he discredit those accusers and all the evidence that backs up their claims, he suggested that their misinformation or misunderstanding of these situations again, that there is evidence to back up actually happened, he suggested that these women are discrediting real victims of sexual harassment. >> its gaslighting. its deflection. it makes one wonder how it was that governor cuomo came to be surrounded by a staff of such complete incompetence. these women who he was trusting, executive assistants, you know, the state trooper tasked with protecting him and her accounting was so graphic and painful to

. >> i want you and our viewers to listen to the attorney general of new york, le tish sha james, address the next steps now that they have released this report. listen to this. >> our work is concluded. and the document is now public, and the matter is civil in nature and is not -- does not have any criminal consequences. >> explain why she isn't referring all of this evidence for criminal prosecution. >> laura points out she herself and the attorney general's office probably does not have the authority to make a criminal prosecution. as laura also pointed out, you have the albany county district attorney who would have jurisdiction as the local prosecutor, has a road map with respect to temperatcertain of t allegations. certain of the things alleged in the report are not criminal. they might constitute unlawful sexual harassment under title vii. but there is potential assault prosecution. i assume that's what they might be looking at. >> the governor has lost the support of so many prominent democrats, including the president of the united states. as i said, the house speaker nancy pelo

that andrew cuomo resign now, and more so for the speech he gave afterwards when attorney general tish james he claimed cultural immunity, that it was in his dna because he's italian-american. he saw this in his father mario -- liar. he saw this in his mother matilda -- liar. i've coupled with this chris cuomo and said, chris, now is the time you need to speak out to defend the honor of your father, who is no longer with us, and your mother, thankfully, matilda who's alive and living at 89. he's blamed his groping on being taught by the italian-american culture, his dna? in the streets of brooklyn where i was raised, we call that -- [speaking italian] neil: you're quite right about that, i think what he's trying to say is people mistake his actions for being a touchy-feely person. certainly, these 11 women who have charged him with harassment and much worse disagree, this is quite different. but i am curious about where you see this going. i mean, let's say he keeps fighting this. you become mayor, he could still technically be governor. you have to work with the governor whether it's going

tish james report comes out no, i didn't do that. i didn't do that. we need to hear more than that. here is what happened. we didn't get that. i think that led to sort of the snowball effect that it is. you know, i want to say this as someone who again knows chris cuomo very well. you know chris i think made a mistake in helping his brother but his brother put him in a really bad position. i mean this is, i mean he put him in a position that you know, if he did some of this stuff and then he asked his brother who is public person to support him at a media company, man, that is really, really bad, because he put chris in a very bad situation right here. this is -- neil: we don't know that. we know chris cuomo gets a lot of grief but i think it is your own brother. it is very hard to -- outside of that what he should do. >> i know. neil: he is a good man, all tha, it is what it is. i want to pick your brain here before we go to a break, charlie. the lieutenant governor in 14 days to complete roughly the year and four months of the governor's term. in 2022, it is not a given she will b

the report by new york state attorney general, will he tish a james, says he harassed 11 women, retaliatede forward with her own harassment allegations. the report depicts his office as hostile work environment, core owed by fear and intimidation. >> governor cuomo harassed currents and former employees in violation of federal and state laws. the independent investigation found governor cuomo sexually harassed multiple women, many of

leticia james attorney general report on 11 and counting incidents of sexual harassment but also tish jameshing how horrible all liberals are at jobs inability to stand up for women, and our dead elderly in new york state. >> cuomo's legal team came out swinged over the weekend liz they came up with lots of technical reasons, why they need more time. the governor wants time. >> [laughter], this is over -- he will boe lucky if he doesn't get time maria, or serve time. this has gone on too long dagen is right, by the way, no one talks about this but the government of new york state is at a standstill nothing is getting done. the office of the governor is in total chaos, by the way, has been the case for months and months no appointments being made, no issues, being resolved, et cetera, people deserve better the idea would not run again a trade is completely idiotic who is going to vote for governor cuomo he lost all credibility, and i think when you when you govern as a tyrant as a bully you have no friends, and i think that is really what is at the end of the day will do him in, now that he

james corden is next. good night. ( cheers and applause ) ( band playing ) captioning sponsored by cbs captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org >> the paul decart knob. the but-tish