Almost one year ago, women began to tell their stories about New York’s Governor Andrew Cuomo. Cuomo had been a powerful figure in New York politics for years, and he had abused his power for years too, especially when it came to female subordinates and random women he met at parties and government functions. He was too handsy and he often crossed the line into sexual harassment, intimidation and abuse. By August of this year, the New York attorney general had concluded the state’s investigation and surprise, there were eleven women with credible claims against Cuomo. He ended up resigning within days of the AG’s report. This week, the AG released depositions and details from the Cuomo investigation and surprise, Andrew Cuomo’s brother, CNN anchor Chris Cuomo, used his position in the media to help the governor target and harass victims. CNN finally suspended Chris Cuomo.
Chris Cuomo will be suspended indefinitely from CNN, the network said on Tuesday.
“The New York Attorney General’s office released transcripts and exhibits Monday that shed new light on Chris Cuomo’s involvement in his brother’s defense,” a spokesperson for CNN tells PEOPLE. “The documents, which we were not privy to before their public release, raise serious questions. When Chris admitted to us that he had offered advice to his brother’s staff, he broke our rules and we acknowledged that publicly. But we also appreciated the unique position he was in and understood his need to put family first and job second. However, these documents point to a greater level of involvement in his brother’s efforts than we previously knew. As a result, we have suspended Chris indefinitely, pending further evaluation.”
On Monday, the New York Attorney General released new records, which consisted of texts, emails, and transcripts from the 51-year-old Cuomo Prime Time host’s testimony amid sexual harassment allegations against his brother Andrew, former governor of New York.
The documents revealed that Chris played a much larger role in the defense strategy of his brother, 63. It was also revealed that the CNN news anchor was in constant contact with Melissa DeRosa, one of Andrew’s former top aides, and that Chris had rewritten his brother’s original statement pertaining to the sexual harassment claims from one of Andrew’s former aides, Charlotte Bennett.
The records show that Chris used his media sources to try and get information on other women who accused Andrew of sexual harassment, including Anna Ruch, who told The New York Times that the former governor made an unwanted advance on her at a wedding. Days after the NYT report was published, Chris texted DeRosa, 38, that he “had a lead on the wedding girl.”
“I would — when asked, I would reach out to sources, other journalists, to see if they had heard of anybody else coming out,” Chris admitted to investigators in his deposition. “I was frequently in contact when we would hear word that there were other people coming out. Or there was more to be learned about somebody, I would talk to other journalists to hear what they had heard.”
In light of Chris’ suspension from CNN, Anderson Cooper will anchor the 9 P.M. slot on the network, CNN senior media reporter Oliver Darcy wrote on Twitter.
What’s completely bonkers to me is that CNN never asked Chris Cuomo to construct a Chinese wall between his work at CNN and his family. Even before the Gov. Cuomo’s first victims came out, it was clear that Chris Cuomo needed to be sidelined when it came to reporting on his brother and anything involving New York state politics. Why didn’t CNN deal with the Cuomos then? By failing to set boundaries, CNN allowed this to happen. Imagine how unsafe Andrew Cuomo’s victims feel now and felt at the time, knowing they were going on the record about what Gov. Cuomo (arguably the most powerful man in New York, and one of the most powerful men in the Democratic Party at the time) had done to them, only to have your personal information disseminated by the governor’s CNN-employed brother? While the Cuomos are utter trash, CNN needs to change their own professional ethics policies. I’m really disgusted that the Cuomos’ victims were treated this way. It’s appalling.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.
Chris also interviewed Andrew a lot about NYCs COVID response, which was a huge conflict of interest. CNN dropped the ball here in a major way but what’s astounding is how long it went on.
Yes, and CNN completely missed the whole, Cuomo sending COVID patients to long-term care facilities (with the most vulnerable populations and directly causing deaths) and not places like the Javitz Center to make it seem like he was great at handling COVID. There was no journalism happening it was a PR fest.
Yep. It was the Cuomo Brothers Comedy Hour and allowed Andrew to avoid anything but softball questions in a (literally) deadly serious situation. It was shameful.
CNN knew exactly what they were doing. They should have instituted boundaries between the Cuomos but then they wouldn’t have had then bantering about their fake feud and their mom during the early days of the pandemic.
It was a gross ratings grab that cost victims and they should feel horrible about it.
Good. And may we never hear from him and his trash brother again.
I get needing and wanting to help your sibling through a crisis. But take time off work to do so and DON’T IMPLICATE YOUR EMPLOYER BY USING YOUR JOB CONTACTS TO DIG INTO ALLEGED VICTIMS!
He also compromised his own journalistic integrity by not being impartial and steering clear altogether. “He also compromised his own journalistic integrity by not being impartial and steering clear.” — Airplane! joke
The worst part of this is the way it redounds to the thousands of responsible journalists out there who keep their heads down and do their jobs with integrity. Trash like this creep, Brian Williams, Jayson Blair, Lara Logan and their Ilk make their jobs harder.
I agree except I wouldn’t include Brian. He exaggerated a story while on talk shows not in his reporting. He deserved criticism and punishment, which he got, severely, when he lost the evening news. He did keep his head down and took a demotion to 11 pm on msnbc and spent these years doing solid work. I’d add the Tucker Carlsons who lie every damn day and actually cause damage but are only rewarded. But the ‘lame stream’ media actually punishes its reporters and analysts unlike Fox.
Finally these two a**holes are taken down a notch, or more. Both gross, entitled, privileged, rich, out of touch white dudes who pretended to care about the struggles of others. I’m glad I won’t have to hear Chris’ phony devil’s advocate bs nonsense anymore. Good riddance to both.
How far both the Cuomo brothers have fallen. And literally last year, people were singing their praises (myself included so I’m not going to judge anyone who did. Unless you’re still doing it)
Yeah. I was just thinking that.
At the beginning the pandemic your choices for covid briefings were Cuomo or Trump. Both bad options but at least Cuomo wasn’t telling us to shine lights up our butts.
This isn’t entirely true. Gavin Newsom and Jay Inslee were both doing regular briefings but those were covered more by local media and less by national media. There’s a strong East Coast (and NYC, in specific) bias in news coverage.
Well, as Mr. Lahy from Trailer Park Boys would say, “The sh!+ apple doesn’t fall far from the sh!+ Tree”. OF COURSE CNN knew exactly what he was doing, this attempted CYA is pathetic and transparent. Let me guess, though: no consequences for them allowing this harassment to go on, using THEIR platform and resources to make this happen. 😖😖 #WhyWomenDontSpeakUp
People were saying for a long time that he shouldn’t be allowed to interview his brother on TV but some of those interviews went viral and CNN loved it. It was unethical and should have never happened.
Their father, who was by all accounts a decent man, must be rolling over in his grave at the actions of these two entitled sleaze-balls.
This feels like so much CYA from CNN. They were already on shaky ethical ground having had Chris cover/interview Andrew. It wasn’t a good idea then, but CNN let it happen for ratings. Now they want to dissociate themselves from the reality of that decision. It seems willfully stupid to pretend “oh well we didn’t know about THIS and that’s a bridge too far.”
I doubt this will long-term derail Chris’ career. CNN is just putting him in time out for appearance’s sake and then, when they think they can get away with it, they’ll quietly slide him back on air. It never should have happened in the first place and yes, Chris abused his position but CNN should not get to walk away free and easy when they were only too happy to reap the benefits.
I absolutely loved Mario Cuomo and still do.
Two words for his “indefinite suspension”. Jeffrey Toobin.
I wonder what this means for the whole Don Lemon bromance and podcast. The two of them always play off of each other and seem to have such a great bond – but maybe that’s just for show? The whole keeping Chris on prime time and having him completely avoid any reporting on his brother (obviously) was already bonkers…but what does this mean for Lemon? The whole thing is so gross. I can admit to feeling such comfort when COVID first began, with Chris in his basement, and him having reassuring conversations with Andrew that felt human. This house of cards has tumbled down so hard and fast.