ALBANY, N.Y. — Democrats in the New York Legislature delivered a severe blow to Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Thursday, emerging from a lengthy private meeting with a promise to launch their own investigation into the governor’s behavior — the first step toward impeachment.
Speaker Carl Heastie, addressing Democratic Assembly colleagues in the roughly five-hour meeting, laid out the “potential paths forward” to removing the increasingly embattled governor from office, according to four lawmakers in attendance. Two described the meeting as tense.
By the time the closed-door debate officially wrapped around 5 p.m., a decision had been made: The Assembly would authorize the chamber’s Judiciary Committee to look into the allegations against Cuomo, arming the committee with subpoena power and likely the aid of outside legal counsel.