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Eric Adams stands by AG Letitia James as harass scandal spirals

Mayor Eric Adams offered a full-throated endorsement of embattled state Attorney General Letitia James on Thursday in the wake of her former aide’s claim that she covered up sexual harassment allegations against a top staffer while running for reelection.

“I don’t think I know a better advocate to fight on behalf of women than Tish James,” Adams said during an unrelated news conference at City Hall. “Tish James is, you know, a real voice of women in leadership, and I think she’s extremely capable of investigating.”

In response to a question from The Post, the mayor also said, “Any my understanding is she had an outside entity that investigated — and once the report was released, she turned it over.

“But I think Tish is a real advocate,” he added of his fellow Brooklyn Democrat.

James has come under fire since it was revealed last week that her chief of staff, Ibrahim Khan, had resigned over sexual harassment allegations that James kept under wraps during the run-up to last month’s elections, in which she won a second term.

James refused to debate her Republican challenger, Michael Henry, who this week said she “spent weeks in hiding” because “she probably feared that somehow the sexual harassment scandal she worked so hard to cover up would come to light.”

In a report published Wednesday by The New York Times, former James aide Sofia Quintanar, 33, said she was among the women whose accusations led to Khan’s resignation.

Mayor Adams supported New York Attorney General Letitia James amid sexual harassment allegations against her former chief of staff.
Mayor Adams supported New York Attorney General Letitia James amid sexual harassment allegations against her former chief of staff.
Stephen Yang

Quintanar said Khan grabbed her and “forced his tongue down my throat” outside a Brooklyn bar in November 2021.

The Times also said Khan was accused of groping and kissing a former colleague of Quintanar’s, citing two people familiar with that woman’s accusations.

Quintanar reportedly accused James of withholding the allegations against Khan in a bid to let him resign with his reputation intact and compared that to James’ sexual harassment probe that forced former Gov. Andrew Cuomo to resign in disgrace last year, even though he denies any wrongdoing.

Adams called James a "real advocate" for women.
Adams called James a “real advocate” for women.
Paul Martinka
Ibrahim Khan resigned after being accused of sexual harassment by other staffers.
Ibrahim Khan resigned after being accused of sexual harassment by other staffers.
Albany.edu

“I find it just appalling to see how the office handled this publicly,” Quintanar said of her complaint.

Henry has demanded that Gov. Kathy Hochul appoint a special prosecutor to investigate James, a call that the governor rejected on Wednesday, saying: “We must be clear in condemning sexual harassment, wherever it arises. There needs to be accountability and my understanding is that steps were taken toward that.”

James made her first public comments on the scandal when The Post confronted her outside her Brooklyn brownstone Wednesday morning, denying that she covered up the allegations against Khan for political benefit and defending her decision not to contact the cops.

Accuser Sofia Quintanar called James' office's handling of the complaints against Khan "appalling."
Accuser Sofia Quintanar called James’ office’s handling of the complaints against Khan “appalling.”

“We’re protecting the rights of individuals and it’s important to understand this was a private investigation, which is separate and apart from the investigation we did into the former governor — which was a governmental investigation and a lawful investigation pursuant to a referral,” she said.

Hours later, however, she appeared on NY1 and said she “will consider the possibility of a referral” for a criminal probe of Khan.

James also said she was “angry” and “deeply disappointed” over Khan’s alleged actions, saying that “there’s no excuse for his behavior at all. None whatsoever.”

Khan’s lawyer, Fran Hoffinger, told the Times, “We deny allegations of wrongdoing and we are not litigating this in the press.”

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