Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced Tuesday night that a special prosecutor is launching an investigation into former State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, who officially resigned from his position Tuesday, a day after four women accused him of physical violence in accounts published by The New Yorker.

The special prosecutor

Nassau District Attorney Madeline Singas, the former head of the Special Victims' Bureau at the Nassau County district attorney's office, is leading the investigation into the allegations. As the special prosecutor, she will outweigh Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance's possible role in the case.

Late Monday evening, Vance's office said it has opened an investigation into the allegations against Schneiderman. But Schneiderman had been tasked with investigating Vance over his handling of a 2015 sexual abuse allegation against movie mogul Harvey Weinstein.

Cuomo said he didn't want an appearance of a conflict of interest in the Schneiderman investigation.

Replacing Schneiderman

Solicitor General Barbara Underwood has taken over as the acting attorney general. She has been solicitor general since 2007, had previously held executive positions in the Queens and Brooklyn District Attorneys' offices, and served as a trial attorney in the Manhattan District Attorney's office

Schneiderman was expected to secure the Democratic nomination for his re-election run later this month.

Earlier Tuesday, state Assembly Democrats met in a closed-door conference but emerged two hours later without any kind of consensus. The legislature is charged with picking Schneiderman's replacement.

"We didn't discuss candidates — talking about the legislature's authority. It was really around the legislature's authority and the options of what can happen," State Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie said. "We don't have any definitive answer, direction."

By law, the Assembly and state Senate must meet in a rare joint session to vote on the attorney general's successor. But the Senate is controlled by Republicans, and the Assembly by Democrats, making a consensus candidate more difficult.

Democrats, who overall greatly outnumber the Republicans, could convene without Senate Republicans, but it appears as though Heastie would like to avoid that for now.

"This should be a decision made by the residents and the taxpayers of New York," state Senate Majority Leader John Flanagan said. "I'll work with Speaker Heastie, and we should act and govern appropriately. But I don't think anyone should be handpicked. Shouldn't be picked by Republicans or Democrats."

Sources say lawmakers are drawing up a commission consisting of three Democrats and three Republicans to vet candidates. Interested candidates are to submit names for consideration by Friday. Democrats feel strongly that it should be someone who increases diversity.

"I've learned a lot in this process, and I think we all have, and we have to see that we need diversity," said Rockland County State Sen. David Carlucci, a Democrat. "We need to start at the top. We need to have a top-to-bottom change in our culture in the way that we govern."

Democrats say there doesn't appear to be a hurry to pick a candidate; in about two weeks, the state Democratic and GOP Parties are slated to hold political conventions. Members of the state committees in each party could choose their candidates, then.

No matter what happens, it appears there will be a competitive primary for attorney general on at least the Democratic side.

Schneiderman's resignation and fallout

"In the last several hours, serious allegations, which I strongly contest, have been made against me. While these allegations are unrelated to my professional conduct or the operations of the office, they will effectively prevent me from leading the office's work at this critical time," Schneiderman  said in his announcement Monday night.

Sources say this weekend, it became clear to Schneiderman's inner circle that they had a very serious problem. Both the New York Times and The New Yorker magazine were chasing stories about inappropriate behavior, but when The New Yorker piece actually hit the web Monday night, even Schneiderman's most ardent supporters were shocked. Schneiderman was not even in the office when the story was posted.

Sources tell NY1 that the attorney general huddled with his ex-wife, political consultant Jennifer Cunningham, and Stu Loeser, a former press secretary to Mayor Bloomberg, who was brought in to handle crisis communications.

But in the end, there wasn't much of argument to be made; they debated whether to include the fact that Schneiderman is likely headed to substance abuse treatment, but they opted to leave that detail out of his resignation statement.

Schneiderman's announced resignation Monday night came less than two hours after New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said he would ask for a criminal investigation into Schneiderman, and called on him to resign.

Speaking Tuesday, both Cuomo and New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said the women should have their day in court.

A sea of media has been gathered outside Schneiderman's Upper West Side apartment since the news broke Monday night.

The allegations

It was all the fallout of four women who have had romantic relationships with Schneiderman — whose office has taken on a high-profile role in the fight against sexual misconduct — accusing him of physically abusing them.

Two of the women spoke on record to The New Yorker, which published their claims against Schneiderman on Monday around 6:50 p.m.

Those women said Schneiderman repeatedly hit them during the course of their relationships with him in recent years, and never with their consent. Neither woman filed any police complaints, but both said they sought out medical attention and confided in people close to them about the abuse. The NYPD said it has no complaints on-file but would investigate thoroughly if it receives any.

A third woman who also was involved with him told her story to the other two women, but said she was too frightened to come forward. A fourth woman said Schneiderman slapped her when she rebuffed him, but also asked to remain unidentified. The New Yorker said it vetted the third woman's allegations, and saw a photo of what the fourth woman said was her injury.

The two women who spoke on the record, Michelle Manning Barish and Tanya Selvaratnam, both said the physical abuse escalated over time, including choking and hitting, and that Schneiderman also was a heavy drinker. The Associated Press and Spectrum News are identifying the women because they agreed to tell their stories publicly.

Manning Barish said she was involved with Schneiderman from mid-2013 through the end of 2014; Selvaratnam said she was involved with him from the summer of 2016 until fall 2017.

Manning Barish said Schneiderman started getting violent a few weeks after they began dating, slapping her one night after an evening out and escalating to choking her. She said she confided in friends, including novelist Salman Rushdie.

Selvaratnam said Schneiderman warned her he could have her followed or her phones tapped. Both said he threatened to kill them if they broke up with him.

Asked for comment before he announced he would resign, Schneiderman, a Democrat, issued a statement saying, "In the privacy of intimate relationships, I have engaged in role-playing and other consensual sexual activity. I have not assaulted anyone. I have never engaged in non-consensual sex, which is a line I would not cross.''

Schneiderman has been a vocal supporter of the #MeToo movement. He filed a lawsuit in February against movie producer Harvey Weinstein and the Weinstein Co. following an investigation into allegations of sexual misconduct, saying the company broke New York law by failing to protect employees from "pervasive sexual harassment, intimidation and discrimination.''

He launched a civil rights probe into the New York City-based company in October after The New York Times and The New Yorker exposed allegations of sexual assault and harassment spanning decades. The company later fired Weinstein.

The women accusing him said seeing him speak out on sexual misconduct issues was part of the impetus in them coming forward.

"This is a man who has staked his entire career, his personal narrative, on being a champion for women publicly,'' Selvaratnam said. "But he abuses them privately. He needs to be called out.''

Schneiderman, who won a state Senate seat representing a Manhattan district in 1998, became attorney general in 2010 and is running for re-election this year. He has a history of recognition for activism on behalf of women's causes, including reproductive rights.

The 63-year-old also has been a longtime critic of President Donald Trump, and had been part of several efforts to push back against some of his actions in the White House, like the rescinding of protection for immigrants brought to the U.S. illegally as children.

Last month, he urged state lawmakers to close a loophole that he said could be used to fight state charges by anyone who has received a federal pardon for similar federal charges.