A former top aide for disgraced former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo is denying a report that she was spotted "making out" with the governor and is accusing the New York state trooper who made the claim of extortion.
"As a young woman who has worked at the highest levels of government and politics, I’m used to people making up and spreading rumors about me," former Cuomo aide Melissa DeRosa, 39, tweeted on Friday. "However, it is absolutely beyond the pale for this trooper, who by her own admission I barely knew - who has already attempted to extort me for money - to make these accusations based on false rumors and for them to be printed in a newspaper. Not only is this ludicrous, it’s hurtful, and potentially actionable."
THUMB VERSION - Melissa DeRosa (right), a top aide to New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, resigned on Sunday, Aug. 8 2021. (CUOMO (REUTERS)/DeRosa (AP))
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The New York Post reported on Friday that a state police bodyguard testified that she witnessed Cuomo and DeRosa, who has been married for the past five years, "making out on the sidewalk like high schoolers."
"Roughly 1 month ago, trooper #1’s lawyer emailed to say she would sue me if I didn’t pay her off privately — this despite the fact that she said we only ever said ‘hi’ and ‘goodbye’ I refused to pay her," DeRosa added. "Now, this."
In this image taken from video provided by Office of the NY Governor, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo makes a statement on a pre-recorded video released, Tuesday, Aug. 3, 2021, in New York. An investigation into New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo has found that he sexually harassed multiple current and former state government employees. State Attorney General Letitia James announced the findings Tuesday. (Office of the NY Governor via AP )
DeRosa is not specifically named in the testimony from the state trooper, who is one of the several women who accused Cuomo of sexual misconduct against her, but three sources told the Post that an individual known as "Senior Staffer #1" in the testimony is her.
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The trooper told authorities that she did not witness the pair making out but that she heard about it from others and said, "I think everyone kind of like assumes or thinks that there’s something going on between them."
The New York Post reported in October that DeRosa and her husband were getting divorced with a source telling the paper, "They simply grew apart, and they have been living apart for a year."
Cuomo, who has been single since 2019, was asked in a July interview if he ever kissed "Senior Staffer #1" on the lips and he said that he didn’t "recall" doing that but it "may have" happened.
"Am I Senior Staffer #1? I have no idea — you’d have to ask the AG’s office, but the things this person says is flat-out false," DeRosa said.
FILE — In this Sept. 14, 2018 file photo, Secretary to the Governor Melissa DeRosa, is joined by New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo as she speaks to reporters during a news conference, in New York. De Rosa, Cuomo's top aide, told top Democrats frustrated with the administration's long-delayed release of data about nursing home deaths that the administration "froze" over worries about what information was "going to be used against us," according to a Democratic lawmaker who attended the Wednesday, Feb. 10, 2021 meeting and a partial transcript provided by the governor's office. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer, File)
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Cuomo spokesperson Rich Azzopardi said, "The fact that Tish James included these completely false bottom-of-the-barrel rumors in her selectively released, partially redacted transcripts says more about her character and motivations than anything else."
The office of New York Attorney General Letitia James did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital.
Cuomo resigned from his post as governor in August amid a sexual harassment probe following accusations brought by 11 women who worked for him.
The New York Post reported this week that Cuomo is interested in running for attorney general of New York which is a post he held from 2007 to 2010.
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