In desperation to learn what potential accusers might have had on former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, one of Cuomo’s accusers was secretly recorded in a phone call.
The dirty trick was reported by the New York Post, which mined the vast array of documents released by the New York State Office of the Attorney General as part of its investigation into the allegations of sexual harassment against Cuomo. Cuomo resigned in August amid the multiple allegations against him.
This accuser, who is identified in the documents as Kaitlin, came to the attention of Cuomo’s team when she tweeted in support of Lindsey Boylan, the first woman to go public with Cuomo’s behavior. Kaitlin, at that point, was working for a state agency but had worked in Cuomo’s office in the past.
To find out what Kaitlin knew and what she might do with that knowledge, Melissa DeRosa, Cuomo’s top aide, contacted MTA communications director, Abbey Collins, to have Collins call Kaitlin on a pretext and interrogate her without Kaitlin being the wiser. Collins was picked because she and Kaitlin had worked together in the past.
What appears on the surface to be devious could also be illegal because Kaitlin was in Californa when she was called. California law requires two sides of a conversation to give consent for a recording to be legal.