New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio calls sexual harassment allegations against Cuomo 'disgusting' and says 'he can no longer serve as governor'

• New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio called for Gov. Andrew Cuomo's resignation on Thursday.
• "It is disgusting to me, and he can no longer serve as governor," de Blasio said.
• Cuomo and de Blasio have long feuded during their Empire State overlap.

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio on Thursday blasted New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo over the string of sexual harassment allegations against him.

"It is disgusting to me, and he can no longer serve as governor," de Blasio said during a news conference. "It's as simple as that."

De Blasio's comments come after a sixth woman has accused Cuomo of sexual harassment. The Albany Times Union reported on Wednesday that an unnamed female staffer said Cuomo "aggressively groped her in a sexually charged manner" last year after she had been called to the Executive Mansion, his residence, to solve a technology issue. Once there, the governor allegedly closed the door, reached under her shirt and began to fondle her, a source with direct knowledge of the unnamed aide's claims told the The Albany Times Union.

"It's deeply troubling," de Blasio said. "The specific allegation that the governor called an employee of his - someone who he had power over - called them to a private place and then sexually assaulted her is absolutely unacceptable."

The women who have come forward in the past month have accused Cuomo of sexual harassment, inappropriate workplace behavior, and non-consensual advances while he has been governor and during his tenure as US Secretary of Housing and Urban Development under the Clinton administration.

Lawmakers across New York state have urged Cuomo to resign in light of the allegations, but the governor has said he will not step down. Fifty-nine New York Democrats released a joint letter on Thursday calling for his resignation.

In recent weeks Cuomo has also come under attack over his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic in nursing homes and safety issues on a billion-dollar bridge the governor named after his father.

Cuomo and de Blasio overlapped during their time at HUD in the Clinton years, but their relationship became publicly toxic over the course of the mayor's first term.

The Cuomo-de Blasio feud spilled over to New York's coronavirus response, with the governor often contradicting the mayor hours or even minutes after de Blasio would hold a press briefing.

The mayor also dug into Cuomo in mid-February as the governor's management style was coming under scrutiny, saying "bullying is nothing new" for Cuomo and that he had received threatening phone calls from him in the past.