#Current Cuomo aide accuses governor of sexual harassment

A current aide to Gov. Andrew Cuomo accused him of trying to cover up the allegation that he groped one of her colleagues — while also sharing her own disturbing interactions with her boss, according to a report Friday.

Alyssa McGrath told the New York Times that the unidentified accuser told her how Cuomo touched her breast under her blouse inside the Executive Mansion.

“She froze when he started doing that stuff to her,” McGrath said.

Cuomo asked the woman not to discuss the alleged incident with McGrath, she said, adding that he knew they spoke and texted regularly.

“He told her specifically not to tell me,” McGrath reportedly said.

McGrath, 33, also detailed her own creepy encounters with Cuomo, 63, alleging that he looked down her blouse to compliment her on her necklace and told her, in Italian, that she’s beautiful.

In addition, McGrath said, Cuomo asked her about her lack of a wedding ring and the status of her divorce.

McGrath didn’t allege that Cuomo touched her but said she believed his actions amounted to sexual harassment.

“He has a way of making you feel very comfortable around him, almost like you’re his friend,” McGrath said.

“But then you walk away from the encounter or conversation, in your head going, ‘I can’t believe I just had that interaction with the governor of New York.’”

Friday’s report made McGrath the first current state employee to publicly accuse Cuomo of misconduct.

The woman who was allegedly groped relayed her account to other people, according to the Albany Times Union, which learned about it from a source familiar with what she told them.

A lawyer for Cuomo, Rita Glavin, told the New York Times that “the governor has greeted men and women with hugs and a kiss on the cheek, forehead, or hand. Yes, he has posed for photographs with his arm around them. Yes, he uses Italian phrases like ‘ciao bella.’”

Glavin added: “None of this is remarkable, although it may be old-fashioned. He has made clear that he has never made inappropriate advances or inappropriately touched anyone.”

McGrath’s lawyer, Mariann Wang, responded, “The governor’s deflections are not credible.”

“This was not just friendly banter. Ms. McGrath understands the common phrase ‘ciao Bella,’” Wang said.

“As she herself says: ‘I would not call my parents to find out what that phrase means. I know what that phrase means.’”