Bullied NY reporter thinks Andrew Cuomo's attempted return after resignation was 'the plan all along'

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Some media analysts and reporters are not thrilled that disgraced ex-New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, D., is attempting a political comeback, but thought it was "always" part of his plan from the day he announced his resignation.

Lindsay Nielsen, a former reporter for News10 ABC in Albany, quit her job last March amid what she called "threatening" behavior from Cuomo's office. In a statement posted on social media, she told her followers that she had routinely received "accusatory" and "threatening" messages from his staff, as well as "incessant bullying" to get her to stop pursuing certain stories.

"I wasn’t surprised," Nielsen told Fox News Digital of Cuomo's reported return. "I think this was the plan all along. If you think about it, it takes time to kind of plan this … I think he wouldn’t have stepped away unless he thought that was going to be part of it and that he would have a way to kind of try to repair his image."

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Despite opposition from leaders of his own party, Cuomo is reportedly considering a run against current Gov. Kathy Hochul, D, who was sworn into office last August following Cuomo's resignation after a string of sexual misconduct allegations. 

Cuomo denied wrongdoing, but a report from Attorney General Letitia James, D., found he had sexually harassed 11 women from 2013 to 2020. Former Gov. Cuomo released a new political ad in February suggesting he is the victim of political attacks regarding the sexual misconduct claims.    

 New York Governor Andrew Cuomo arrives to depart in his helicopter after announcing his resignation in Manhattan, New York City, U.S., August 10, 2021. REUTERS/Caitlin Ochs (REUTERS/Caitlin Ochs)

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Now, Cuomo's attempted return, just seven months after his resignation, has some media observers seething.

Nielsen wondered whether Cuomo was "really being truthful" when he said he was going to resign because he didn’t want to "distract" from the work that needed to be done in New York state.

FILE - Secretary to the Governor Melissa DeRosa, left, joins New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo as he speaks to reporters during a news conference on Sept. 14, 2018, in New York. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)

Columnist David Marcus also dated Cuomo’s attempted comeback to the day of his resignation.

"It’s insane," he told Fox News Digital. "It’s amazing. Although I think in retrospect, if you look at the resignation, the resignation really surprised a lot of Cuomo watchers who expected him to go down with a fight. That’s sort of his MO. And now it’s clear that resigning when he did, over that particular issue, was really the beginning of an attempt to rehabilitate him."

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo gives a thumbs on the stage at an event to discuss the minimum wage at the Javitz Convention Center in New York, September 10, 2015. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid (REUTERS/Brendan McDermid)

Both Nielsen and Marcus said Cuomo's "arrogance" or "hubris" could account for his apparent return.

"He clearly feels entitled to this position of power," Marcus maintained. "And I have no doubt that he believes that he was a fantastic governor."

Nielsen told Fox News Digital that she "absolutely" expects that the threatening office culture under Cuomo will continue should his resurrected political ambitions come to fruition.

"Absolutely," Nielsen said, saying Cuomo never truly faced accountability for his actions. "That’s my biggest issue that I’ve had with this, from the beginning." 

"It’s scary to think about in my opinion, just knowing the treatment that obviously these women received, that I myself received from that administration and a lot of other reporters I’ve spoken with – that some have decided to come forward, some have not," she continued. "I would be highly concerned that that culture would continue. I think he still has people working for him now that were part of that. So I do think there would be a lot of the same people onboard."

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Still, even with his tainted past, Cuomo is polling just four points behind Hochul among likely Democratic primary voters in New York, a survey released last week found.

Marcus said New Yorkers have long put up with corruption in leadership, arguing Cuomo has "got a good shot" in the Democratic primary.

"I think in the Democratic primary he’s got a good shot," Marcus said. "I think that New York voters in general are very transactional. New York voters will put up with a certain amount of corruption and scandal if the trains work."

Fox News contributor Karol Markowicz agreed that a win for the disgraced governor was "not out of the question."

"Andrew Cuomo is a man who was never told no," Markowicz told Fox News Digital. "It's obvious he will run and people should imagine he has a fairly good chance of winning. Enough people bought the media line of Andrew Cuomo as the conquering COVID hero, and his successor is so deeply out of touch with most of the state, that a win for him is not out of the question."

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Several other writers and pundits jumped into the debate over Cuomo, leaving little doubt they do not wish to see his face on the campaign trail again.

"I wrote on the [uselessness] of the Andrew Cuomo comeback and how little he has to offer the world," author and columnist Ross Barkan tweeted.

"Andrew Cuomo, New York’s disgraced former governor, is hoping to mount a political comeback," Barkan wrote in a Jacobin column. "But his posturing as a victim of ‘cancel culture’ can’t change the fact that his comeuppance was richly deserved."

Lindsay Boylan, the first woman to publicly accuse Cuomo of sexual harassment, agreed with Barkan's take.

"He has always had nothing to offer and nothing to say beyond brute force and intimidation," she wrote.

Cuomo avoided impeachment with his resignation, which could have led to him being prevented from holding state office again.

Fox News' Jon Brown contributed to this report.