Cuomo’s Top Aide Defends Her Boss and Herself: ‘I’m a Human Being’
- Melissa DeRosa says the pandemic has taken an emotional toll
- Aide is among a group of powerful women pushing Cuomo’s agenda
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On a ranking of New York power brokers last year, the most influential person after Donald Trump and Andrew Cuomo wasn’t the Assembly speaker or state Senate majority leader. It was Melissa DeRosa, one of the few people to pierce the governor’s fiercely guarded inner circle.
DeRosa’s unassuming title of secretary to the governor belies her clout as the three-term Democrat’s highest-ranking aide. With Cuomo facing calls to resign over claims of sexual harassment and accusations that his administration undercounted coronavirus deaths data, she has emerged as one of his chief defenders.