NEW YORK — After nearly five months, independent investigators appointed by the Attorney General concluded that Gov. Cuomo did sexually harass multiple women.
New York State Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie said Tuesday, the Governor has lost the confidence of the Assembly Democratic majority and said he can no longer remain in office.
With an impeachment investigation imminent, 2 On Your Side looked into New York's impeachment process.
What's involved in New York's impeachment process?
2 On Your Side Legal Analyst and Defense Attorney Barry Covert said the impeachment process is actually very simple and said it will start with the New York State Assembly passing an impeachment resolution.
"The assembly would have to introduce and pass by a majority so 76 out of 150 members of the assembly would have to pass an impeachment resolution, very similar to the federal system," said Covert.
University at Buffalo Law Professor Jim Gardner said after the resolution is passed and the sitting governor is impeached, the Lieutenant Governor will serve as governor.
"If the governor is impeached he then ceases to serve as governor pending the outcome of his impeachment trial," said Gardner. "So that's very different than the federal level where the president can be impeached and continue to act as president. What would happen is the lieutenant governor would then serve as governor until the impeachment trial is finished."
The resolution is then sent over to the Senate where there will be an impeachment trial with NYS Senators acting as jurors, alongside the State court of appeals judges, who Cuomo appointed.
"If a two-thirds vote for impeachment then the governor would be out of office," Covert explained.
Another important thing to note is that there really is no precedent here.
"The main thing that people need to know is that we don't really know much about what it's like to impeach a governor because it's not something that has been done in this state in over a century," said Gardner. "Impeachment is not really a live political tool in this state and so we don't really know exactly what form it will take if it is revived."