CNN has “indefinitely” suspended anchor Chris Cuomo after damning texts revealed he worked behind the scenes to smooth over his brother’s sex scandal.
CNN has “indefinitely” suspended anchor Chris Cuomo after damning texts revealed he worked behind the scenes to smooth over his brother Andrew Cuomo’s sex scandal.
The move comes after New York Attorney-General Letitia James on Monday released a trove of new documents from her investigation into the former Governor, including texts that suggested Chris Cuomo was attempting to use his journalistic “sources” to gain advance information on his older brother’s accusers.
Andrew Cuomo resigned as Governor in August following a wave of sexual harassment allegations.
In a statement on Tuesday evening, CNN confirmed Cuomo Prime Time host was being stood down.
“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,” the statement said.
“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.”
Cuomo had previously claimed publicly that all he did was “listen” and “offer my take” to his older brother.
On Monday, the network had indicated Cuomo’s job was on the line.
“The thousands of pages of additional transcripts and exhibits that were released today by the NY Attorney-General deserve a thorough review and consideration,” CNN’s statement said.
“We will be having conversations and seeking additional clarity about their significance as they relate to CNN over the next several days.”
Last year, the 51-year-old told listeners of his Sirius XM show that he’d renewed his CNN contract, which the Celebrity Net Worth website says is worth $US6 million ($8.4 million) a year.
Cuomo hosted his show on Monday night, making no mention of the growing scandal.
The trove of subpoenaed records released by the AG’s office included dozens of text messages that showed Chris Cuomo and Melissa DeRosa, then Andrew Cuomo’s top aide, discussing how to respond to the mounting allegations and his brother’s accusers.
At one point — on March 7, just a week after Andrew Cuomo authorised Ms James to commission an outside probe — Ms DeRosa wrote, “Rumor going around from politico 1-2 more ppl coming out tomorrow. Can u check your sources.”
“On it,” Chris Cuomo responded.
Later that day, he texted her, “No resign. No resign. No resign.”
She responded, “No resign.”
It was also revealed Chris Cuomo had attempted to convince Alec Baldwin not to speak up in his brother’s defence, after “very good friend” called and told him, “Alec wants to talk about cancel culture or political correctness.”
“I asked him not to,” Cuomo said in a July 15 interview with investigators hired by Ms James.
“I said, ‘Tell him to stay out of it. It’s not necessary.’”
Baldwin apparently ignored the younger Cuomo’s advice, posting a lengthy video on Instagram decrying “cancel culture”.
In August, the CNN star acknowledged in an on-air statement his mistake in contacting members of his brother’s staff during the scandal, but insisted he never used his position to influence the network’s coverage.
“I never covered my brother’s troubles because I obviously have a conflict, and there are rules at CNN about that,” he said.
“I said last year that his appearances on this show would be short-lived, and they were. The last was over a year ago, long before any kind of scandal. I also said back then that a day would come when he would have to be held to account and I can’t do that.
“I said point blank, I can’t be objective when it comes to my family, so I never reported on the scandal and when it happened, I tried to be there for my brother.
“I never misled anyone about the information I was delivering or not delivering on this program.”
During the height of the pandemic in 2020, Governor Cuomo was a frequent guest on his brother’s program, where the two often shared playful banter.
In one infamous segment, Chris Cuomo produced a giant cotton swab to tease his brother about the size of his nose.
— with NY Post
Originally published as CNN ‘indefinitely’ suspends Chris Cuomo after damning texts revealed
Credit: Source link
