NYT reporter reassigned from Cuomo beat after Melissa DeRosa accused him of inappropriate behavior: report

The New York Times’ former Albany bureau chief acted inappropriately to ex-Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s top aide Melissa DeRosa and was reassigned from the beat following an investigation into his behavior, DeRosa alleged in her forthcoming book. DeRosa accused Times reporter Jesse McKinley — who broke the story that Cuomo allegedly sexually harassed a young former aide — of inappropriate behavior when the two met in his backyard in order to clear the air after Cuomo and the journalist exchanged a fiery back-and-forth during a Q&A on May 20, 2020, the Washington Post reported. McKinley downed a bottle of wine himself while DeRosa said she had just two glasses, she wrote in her political memoir “What’s Left Unsaid: My Life at the Center of Power, Politics & Crisis.” As she got up to leave, DeRosa said McKinley asked her if her eyes were blue or green. DeRosa said she was frustrated with the Times’ investigation into her allegation. Union Square & Co. “Are you sure? I think they look green,” he replied. With the comment, DeRosa realized it was “absolutely time to go,” she wrote in the book, according to the Washington Post. But McKinley allegedly grabbed her wrist and pulled her toward him as he said: “Don’t go, Melissa. It’s still early. Stay longer,” according to DeRosa’s account. She accused the journalist of holding onto her arm for a few seconds longer until she yanked her arm away and “jetted” out of there, the newspaper’s media critic reported. The Times said it conducted an “independent, external investigation [that] did not substantiate Ms. DeRosa’s characterization of the events” in a statement to the Washington Post. DeRosa, left, served as a top aide to the former governor for years.Chad Rachman/New York Post “One thing is clear: the New York Times is holier than thou when it comes to everyone but themselves — it seems accountability is only something they preach when it doesn’t involve them,” a source close to DeRosa told The New York Post Tuesday. DeRosa criticized the paper’s investigation in her book and said its investigators failed to speak to five people to whom she had told what had happened immediately after the incident, the media columnist reported. Three of the former aide’s past colleagues and an Albany insider all told the Washington Post that DeRosa shared an account of what went down in McKinley’s yard shortly after it happened. All four also said they were never contacted by the Times. Less than a year later, McKinley became the lead reporter on the Times’ coverage of Cuomo’s sexual harassment scandal. “It’s not lost on me that the Times has Jesse McKinley driving the train,” DeRosa said she told another Times reporter and friend at the time. Jesse McKinley was taken off the Albany beat after the Times received an official complaint from DeRosa’s lawyers.Facebook The news publication later took McKinley off the Albany and Cuomo beat after DeRosa’s lawyers sent an official complaint on her behalf to the Times. “The Times and McKinley agreed that reassignment to a new beat was advisable,” the company told the Washington Post. The reporter then got the title of “roving upstate correspondent” and stopped all coverage of the Cuomo administration. McKinley’s alleged behavior towards the former Cuomo aide did not shock her associates, DeRosa wrote in her book. She claimed others told her that they saw him cross professional boundaries when drinking. DeRosa alleged that the journalist once got drunk and came onto a staffer in the governor’s office and apologized via email the next day during Cuomo’s first term. McKinley reportedly enrolled in a substance abuse program following his employer’s investigation into the allegation lobbed by DeRosa. The Times said it takes “all allegations very seriously” and is looking into any new accounts revealed in DeRosa’s book when reached by the Washington Post. McKinley did not respond to a request for comment from the New York Post or the Washington Post.