The New York governor, Andrew Cuomo, has resigned following an investigation by the state attorney general that found he sexually harassed multiple women, most of whom worked for him, and also retaliated after some made complaints.

The Democratic governor had lost the support of the party establishment, with Joe Biden calling on Cuomo to resign and similar demands issued by House speaker Nancy Pelosi, both of New York’s US Senators – one of whom is Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer – two Democratic New York congressmen, New York City mayor Bill de Blasio and a host of Republicans in Washington DC.

Cuomo’s own No 2, the New York lieutenant governor, Kathy Hochul, had called his conduct “repulsive and unlawful”.

Cuomo had initially stood defiant on the day the New York attorney general, Letitia James, had announced the findings of a five-month investigation in which she concluded he had harassed 11 women and violated civil law against workplace misconduct.

The 63-year-old governor issued a video address shortly after James issued the report of the investigation, on Tuesday 3 August, in which he said: “I never touched anyone inappropriately or made inappropriate sexual advances” and added “It’s just not who I am.”

Campaigners against sexual harassment and assault were outraged.

But his political future was dangling by a thread amid moves to impeach the governor and force him from office by the New York legislative assembly in the state capital of Albany.

Within three days of the report being released, four district attorneys in different parts of New York, including in Albany where the governor is based, and Manhattan, announced they intended to review the evidence James had gathered to assess the likelihood of criminal prosecution. And one of the alleged victim, a former Cuomo aide, filed the first criminal complaint related to the allegations with police in Albany, accusing Cuomo of groping her breast.

James’s explosive 165-page report had delivered a mountain of damning and often graphic evidence against Cuomo, a leading political figure who served in Bill Clinton’s cabinet and rose to the governorship in the footsteps of his father, Mario Cuomo, a Democratic powerhouse who served three terms as New York governor.

Among the allegations was that Cuomo reached under the blouse of an executive assistant and grabbed her breast and that he ran his finger down the spine of a female state trooper assigned to protect him.

James had noted that was significant corroboration and other supporting evidence relating to the allegations against the governor.

“I believe these 11 women,” she said. James also accused Cuomo of creating a “toxic workplace” and having violated federal and state civil laws against workplace harassment and retaliation, noting that any criminal charges would be the purview of prosecutors, not her office.

Cuomo became a pandemic political star in 2020 through daily live television briefings in which he gave plain assessments of the grave situation and the need for more resources for hospitals to combat Covid-19, at a time when Donald Trump was dismissing the dangers and the nation’s needs from the White House.

Cuomo’s reputation for his deft handling of the coronavirus outbreak was later tarnished, however, by accusations that he misreported the numbers of deaths in nursing homes.

James’s office is still investigating whether Cuomo used public resources in writing a book that prematurely touted his success. The governor’s frequent TV interviews with his brother, Chris Cuomo, a CNN show host, at the height of the pandemic and amid revelations that the two discussed his responses to the sexual harassment allegations, raised further controversy.

A native New Yorker, born in the borough of Queens, Cuomograduated from Fordham University and Albany Law School and later became the attorney general of New York state, the position now held by James.

He started work as the campaign manager for his father, eventually becoming governor himself in 2011. He had been re-elected twice and had been discussed as a potential candidate for US president. Cuomo had been expected to run for a fourth term as governor next year.