Democrat strategist on advising Andrew Cuomo on sexual assault allegations: ‘My loyalty had been abused’ – Fox News

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Democrat strategist Lis Smith, who worked for Pete Buttigieg's 2020 presidential campaign, recalled how she felt while helping disgraced former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo respond to sexual assault allegations during an interview with the Washington Posts's Jonathan Capehart on Tuesday.

Smith also served as an aide to former New York Mayor Bill de Blasio and has recently appeared on several shows to discuss her new book "Any Given Tuesday: A Political Love Story."

Smith told Capehart that she had never heard a "whisper" of any sort of sexual behavior coming from Cuomo.

"So I went to advise him, and he swore. He looked us each in the eye when we met with him, and he just said, Nothing else will come out. There is nothing else that will come out," Smith told the Washington Post writer and MSNBC host.

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Former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo speaks during the daily media briefing at the Office of the Governor of the State of New York on June 12, 2020 in New York City. (Photo by Jeenah Moon/Getty Images)

"And I found myself in a situation that it felt like a little bit like quicksand, that I was, like, getting pulled in over my head, and there's no way for me to get out. But I trusted him. You know, you have to understand, this was someone that I really did believe in, and so it was really hard for me to grapple with the fact that maybe he wasn't being truthful to me," Smith said.

She said loyalty was important to her and that while working in politics she had come across many politicians that were quick to "disappear" at the first sign of trouble.

Smith added that she never wanted to be that person.

"But, ultimately, it was by the time the AG report came out and there were new allegations in there that he, one week prior to the report dropping, had looked us all in the eye and said there's going to be nothing new in, even though he knew that it would be in there, it was beyond clear to me that, you know, my loyalty had been abused."

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio blasted "disgraced" now-former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo. (John Lamparski/Getty Images; Lev Radin/Pacific Press/LightRocket via Getty Images)

NY GOV. CUOMO RESIGNS AMID SEXUAL HARASSMENT SCANDAL

"I felt like my gender had been weaponized and been used sort of to provide him cover as an advisor. I mean, I was really a behind the scenes advisor. I wasn't really going out in the press and talking that much to reporters. It was mostly helping to prep him for stuff, but I did still feel like my gender had been weaponized," Smith told the Post.

She said that she learned to not conflate loyalty with integrity and added that she was "employing blind loyalty" towards Cuomo at the time.

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Former New York state Gov. Andrew Cuomo (C), former New York City Mayor Bill DeBlasio (R) and New York state Department of Health Commissioner Howard Zucker hold a news conference on the first confirmed case of COVID-19 in New York on March 2, 2020 in New York City. (David Dee Delgado/Getty Images)

Smith called de Blasio "childish" and "annoyingly condescending" in her new book, and said the former New York City mayor was also "intellectually lazy."

During an appearance on MSNBC, Smith compared de Blasio to an "unshowered" college student who believed he was smart because "hed read one line of a Communism for Dummies book."

Hanna Panreck is an associate editor at Fox News.

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Democrat strategist on advising Andrew Cuomo on sexual assault allegations: 'My loyalty had been abused' - Fox News