I have a column today in the New York Post on Andrew Cuomo, Zohran Mamdani, and the “sexual harassment” accusations Mamdani played an under-recognized role in amplifying a few years ago, which eventually forced Cuomo’s ouster as governor. The column was prompted by Mamdani bringing along a woman named Charlotte Bennett in his entourage to the final mayoral debate last week, and my incredulity that still no one would accurately report on how mendacious the stunt was.
(You can also read the column in today’s edition of the physical newspaper! How retro!)
In December 2024, Charlotte Bennett suddenly and unceremoniously dropped the federal lawsuit she had brought against Cuomo more than two years earlier. Her ostensible explanation for this reversal was “I desperately need to live my life. That’s the choice I am making today.” Somehow, the law firm of Debra Katz, which had represented Bennett ever since she became Cuomo’s foremost “accuser,” managed to spin the voluntary dismissal of her own lawsuit as an act of healing and self-empowerment.
Unmentioned was that Bennett had been on the verge of finally having to sit for a deposition, in which she was to be confronted with a bevy of evidence demonstrating that the claims she had initially made against Cuomo — such as that she was “groomed” by him as a 25-year-old government operative — were flatly ridiculous, and by no reasonable definition could constitute “sexual harassment.” She had never made any claims of physical wrongdoing by Cuomo, but of course was happy for it to be vaguely assumed that Cuomo had done something physical to her, given the witless media coverage her seedy scheme engendered.
Among the evidence that Bennett was finally about to be confronted with in December 2024 was that just a few years prior to the Cuomo affair, she had contrived yet another phony PR campaign against a fellow student at Hamilton College, falsely accusing him of sexual misconduct, badgering others to back up her claims, and employing eerily similar emotional manipulation tactics — then successfully achieving the student’s wrongful expulsion from campus. She eventually had to withdraw her complaint against the male student, after exculpatory evidence was uncovered showing she made up the original accusations. Yet another amazing parallel with her role in the Cuomo saga.
Cuomo strenuously objected to the termination of the lawsuit that Bennett filed against him. He did not settle with her, nor did he pay her any monetary damages; he instead demanded that her case be brought to trial, because he was adamant that he would be exonerated by a full airing of the evidence. But then Bennett withdrew her own lawsuit, on the eve of her deposition, claiming that the legal process she initiated had grievously victimized her — because she’d been required to produce discovery materials bearing on the truth or falsity of the allegations she’d made.
The first person Bennett originally coordinated with was Lindsey Boylan, who had posted a Twitter thread in December 2020 whining that she’d been victimized by a “toxic” work environment while employed by Cuomo some years earlier. Boylan made no suggestion of any “sexual” wrongdoing until she came into contact with Bennett, with whom she then colluded, and the accusations escalated accordingly. Boylan ended up conjuring a story that she had been “sexually harassed” by the existence of a cigar box that Cuomo once displayed to her, because this cigar box had been given to him by Bill Clinton; Boylan claims she inferred that this must’ve been a reference to Clinton’s liaison with Monica Lewinsky. What these women fundamentally did was introduce a novel interpretive paradigm, whereby they could retroactively claim that otherwise innocuous and unremarkable conduct was sexually predatory. And Charlotte Bennett in particular had done it before, almost to a tee, in her flamboyant activist crusade as a self-described “womxn’s health, safety & justice advocate.”
Longtime readers of this Substack will remember that I’m the one who first found the Hamilton College information, back in 2021, when the rest of the media was refusing to report on it. (This especially enraged the NYC press corps.) Please read, to refresh your memory.
Here’s another item I wrote for Tablet magazine.
Here’s another Substack I wrote, after Letitia James (now a big Mamdani supporter) tried to use the scurrilous hit-job she orchestrated on Cuomo as a launchpad for her abortive gubernatorial campaign — proving Cuomo’s contention that the putsch was obviously political.
Here’s an NY Daily News column I wrote on James’ brazen abuse of power, later borne out by her absurd tactics against Trump — which have now predictably boomeranged, with Trump’s DOJ bringing clearly vendetta-fueled charges against her.
Here’s what Erik Wemple of the Washington Post wrote in January 2022 about the Charlotte Bennett / Hamilton College lawsuit, which was utterly fatal to her credibility as Cuomo’s chief accuser, but which 99% of the media was steadfastly determined to ignore, and continues to ignore to this day!
It’s one thing to refrain from running a story on the lawsuit, another to not even inquire about it. Miltenberg says not a single major outlet contacted him about the case during the scandal. The only inquiry, says Miltenberg, came from an online journalist in August. Substack writer Michael Tracey published a piece critiquing coverage of Cuomo following his August resignation announcement under the headline, “What The Media Hasn’t Told You About The Cuomo Debacle.”
I even convinced Tucker Carlson that Cuomo had been railroaded, in an August 2021 appearance on his long-form Fox Nation show, although I can’t find the full episode at the moment.
While she dropped her lawsuit against Cuomo individually, Bennett and Katz forced a settlement with New York State in April 2025; they had also sued the Executive Office of the Governor, since occupied by the hapless Kathy Hochul. Bennett managed to extract $100,000 for herself, along with another $350,000 for her extortionist lawyers. All for a bunch of baloney.
Of course, Mamdani is banking on no one knowing the real details about any of this. I somehow doubt he has ever even looked into the real details. But for the entire NYC political and media class to go resolutely mute on the matter, with just days to go before the mayoral election, is so preposterous that I felt no choice but to re-engage.
On October 30, 2025, Unherd held a debate on the NYC mayoral election in their Manhattan office. I was present, having written for Unherd many times, including as recently as this week, with my review of the new “memoir” by Virginia Roberts Giuffre. The proposition was, “should we fear Mayor Mamdani?” My answer to this question was “no,” because I regard Zohran Mamdani mostly as a sly political operator who figured out an innovative strategy to win a Democratic mayoral primary in NYC, and has assiduously ingratiated himself with the “establishment” ever since (to use an annoyingly over-used cliche). I don’t believe Mamdani’s election would bring the downfall of Western Civilization or anything dumb like that. However, I do believe that he has employed incredibly sleazy political tactics that haven’t gotten anywhere near enough scrutiny — crystallized by him parading out Charlotte Bennett to the final NYC mayoral debate last week, as though she were a beleaguered “victim” who continues to be brutally hounded by Cuomo. Please read the NY Post column for more details.
Representing the pro-Mamdani side of the Unherd debate was Lindsey Boylan, one of the farcical ring-leaders of Cuomo’s removal, who was running for Manhattan Borough President at the time she debuted her nonsense accusations. So, I thought I’d ask her a nice question.
Yeah, I’ll admit that I came in a little “hot,” because I genuinely found it outrageous that this person could be a surrogate for Mamdani at a public political debate, having garnered her current profile through little more than the discredited “sexual harassment” claims she colluded to fabricate. Still, I stand 100% by the substance of what I said. And as you’ll see, all this woman could do was the standard obnoxious troll retort of insulting my appearance, suggesting I had unresolved “mommy” issues, etc.
She also slinked out the door right afterwards, obviously not wanting to continue the discussion, or even be in the room with me any longer. Which is all well and good, because she probably would’ve ended up concocting some more fake accusations.
As it happens, Meagan O’Rourke and I did an interview with Cuomo yesterday afternoon, October 31. It was very substantive (no undue ass-kissing, I promise!) and she’s currently editing it; I will post here when ready. Meagan conducted the actual interview, and did a great job.
I’m not necessarily inclined to barnstorm around New York City telling people to vote for Cuomo. Much of what he said in our interview I object to on the merits. However, here is what I will say: anyone who is inclined to vote for Cuomo, but has hesitated on the grounds of his demonstrably bogus “sexual harassment scandal,” should at least learn the real facts, so they can make a reality-based voting decision — rather than one based on moronic media credulity, charlatan political tactics, and the like. Because irrespective of Cuomo, allowing such a sham to perpetuate un-countered is bad for everybody.
Well, maybe Mandami figured that if Cuomo can make inferences that he’s some kind of jihaddist and use images of 911, anything is fair game.
M. Tracey has worked a near miracle: he has made me sympathize with that reptile Cuomo!