Democrats in the state Assembly are moving forward with an impeachment investigation of Gov. Andrew Cuomo that has drawn in virtually every controversy he has faced since the start of the new year.
But what constitutes impeachment in New York is an undefined concept in the state's constitution. Unlike the U.S. Constitution, there are no "high crimes and misdemeanors" for impeachment in New York.
The governor, however, continued to insist on Monday he did nothing wrong amid calls from prominent Democrats in New York that he resign from the office he's held since 2011.
"It's simpler than that," Cuomo said on Monday during a news conference in New York City. "I didn't do anything wrong, period."
Democrats in the state Assembly are investigating a variety of Cuomo-based controversies, including allegations of sexual harassment leveled against the governor by multiple women, the reporting of nursing home fatalities and where those residents died during the COVID-19 pandemic, the construction of the replacement for the Tappan Zee Bridge and the circumstances surrounding his memoir about the pandemic released last year.
The Assembly has hired an outside law firm to aid with the investigation.
A governor has only been impeached once in New York's history when William Sulzer was removed from office in 1913. An impeachment trial would be conducted in the Democratic-controlled state Senate if the impeachment is approved in the Assembly.