Top Democrats call for Cuomo's resignation—including Mayor de Blasio and AOC

The New York State Assembly made their first move towards impeaching their embattled Democratic Governor Andrew Cuomo on Thursday, with Fox News reporting that the Assembly has opened up an investigation with full subpoena power.

More than half of state lawmakers in New York have called upon the Governor to resign or to be impeached in the wake of the scandals, and many other politicians in the state such as Democratic New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio have joined the calls.

Two Congressional Representatives from the state of New York, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Rep. Jamaal Bowman, have also called upon Governor Cuomo to resign. Both Representatives defeated incumbents supported by Cuomo in the primary elections for their seats.

The investigation comes as the governor faces two simultaneous scandals. On one end, the governor has been accused of sexually harassing and assaulting at least six women since the coronavirus pandemic began. Most of the women are former aides of his, with many of the alleged incidents taking place in state offices and one in the governor's mansion.

Cuomo also faces accusations from the New York Attorney General's office that his administration intentionally suppressed the number of coronavirus deaths in nursing homes in order to prevent the issue from becoming a political football for the Republicans during the 2020 presidential election. Cuomo had been heavily criticized by Republicans for forcing elderly coronavirus patients back into nursing homes after they had tested positive, which many believe contributed to the high death toll in the homes.

According to a former aide, the state government lied about and covered up the number of nursing home deaths, with official information released by the state reporting as little as 50 percent of the actual number.

"The Democratic Conference is taking the first step toward impeachment by opening an investigation with full subpoena power to obtain facts and testimonies under oath," said Democratic Assemblyman Ron Kim. Kim has been calling out the Cuomo administration on their disastrous nursing home plans since May.

"Some members, including myself, argued that we had enough admission to proceed with impeachment today but the conference is leaning toward setting up the process and structure toward impeachment," Kim continued.

The US Attorney's Office in Brooklyn and the FBI are currently investigating the nursing home deaths as New York Attorney General Letitia James investigates the sexual assaults. It was an investigation from her office that found that Cuomo had underreported deaths in nursing homes by up to 50 percent. Cuomo has denied any wrongdoing in both cases.

If lawmakers are successful, Cuomo would be the second Governor in New York history to be impeached, and the first since 1913 when Governor William Sulzer falsified sworn statements regarding his campaign finance expenditures.