Chris Cuomo

Chris Cuomo

: Photo from Wikimedia Commons / Author of Photo: Senator Chris Coons

Overview

* Son of former New York State Governor Mario Cuomo
* Brother of former New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo
* Longtime TV news anchor with CNN
* Supports sanctuary cities, DACA, the DREAM Act, and amnesty for illegal aliens
* Opposes the construction of a wall along America’s southern border
* Supports the Green New Deal
* Supports unrestricted abortion rights
* Opposes Voter ID laws
* Characterized President Trump as “a virus”
* Praised Antifa for its commitment to “social justice”
* Was suspended and then fired by CNN in 2021 for inappropriate behavior


Born in Queens,  New York on August 9, 1970, Christopher Charles Cuomo is a licensed attorney and a television news anchor with CNN. He is the son of the late New York State Governor Mario Cuomo, and the brother of Andrew Cuomo.

Supporting Amnesty, Sanctuary Cities, & Lax Border Controls

Chris Cuomo strongly supported President Barack Obama‘s 2012 DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) executive action, which granted most DREAM Act-eligible individuals temporary legal status, work permits, access to social services, and protection from deportation. In a January 2018 interview with Republican Congressman Mario Diaz-Balart, Cuomo said that “Obama had to do that executive action, because it’s the only thing he could get done. You guys [Republicans] would do nothing, and this was the only protection those people could get.” That same month, Cuomo praised congressional Democrats for “saying that Dreamers [young-adult illegal aliens who first came to the U.S. as minors] don’t deserve to be treated like dogs and thrown out of the country.” In February 2018, Cuomo denounced the idea of spending billions of taxpayer dollars “for a [border] wall that isn’t necessary.”[1]

In a July 2015 interview with Michael Cohen, then-presidential candidate Donald Trump’s special counsel, Cuomo said that the term “sanctuary cities” was a “misnomer,” and that such locales were “not safe havens” for illegal aliens “the way you’re describing.” In February 2017 Cuomo lamented that “some families have been jeopardized and broken up by [immigration law] enforcement actions.” And in March 2018 he praised Pope Francis as someone who believed that “being pro-life means you don’t split up families in the name of immigration policy.”[2]

Opposing the Right of Businesses to Be True to Their Religious or Moral Values

During a February 2014 interview regarding a proposed state law designed to protect business owners in Arizona from being required to perform services that violated their religious or moral values – e.g., baking and decorating cakes for same-sex weddings – Cuomo accused the bill’s supporters of trying to “enforce intolerance.”[3]

Says That Americans’ Rights “Do Not Come from God,” They “Come From Man”

Cuomo rejects the principle that, as Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore articulated in a February 2015 interview, “our rights contained in the Bill of Rights do not come from the Constitution; they come from God.” “Our laws do not come from God,” Cuomo replied, “… and you know that. They come from man…. Our rights do not come from God.”[4]

Viewing Climate-Change Skeptics As Ignorant Flat Earthers

Cuomo – who in February 2015 said that “the Republican Party has a problem with science” – embraces the notion that the greenhouse-gas emissions associated with human industrial activity are major causes of potentially cataclysmic “climate change.” Those who hold a different view, says Cuomo, are akin to people who, in ages past, “thought the world was flat,” “thought blacks and whites shouldn’t marry,” and “thought blacks shouldn’t be equal. “It’s become a little bit of a pet for the right fringe of [the Republican] Party, playing with the realities of science,” Cuomo said in August 2017, adding that “most in the scientific community” say that “climate change is real” and that “human behavior is central to this incident.”[5]

Fears That People Will Wrongly Perceive Muslim Culture As a Rape Culture

In August 2015, Cuomo voiced concern that a new report on the rape culture of the Islamic terrorist group ISIS would “fee[d] the impression that these Muslims are animals, savages, and [that] their faith makes them that way.” In December 2016, he charged that “sixty percent” of Republicans “think all jihadis are Muslim.” As the Media Research Center subsequently pointed out: “Since jihad is a concept from the Islamic faith, a jihadi, by definition, would indeed be a Muslim waging a religious-based war for Islam.”[6]

Supporting Unlimited Abortion Rights & Deriding Opponents of Abortion

In a December 2015 interview with Republican presidential candidate Carly Fiorina – who had been highly critical of Planned Parenthood in the aftermath of the release of some undercover videos showing that the organization was engaged in the illegal sale of fetal organs and body parts – Cuomo claimed, without evidence, that those videos had been “edited” to make Planned Parenthood look bad. Citing a recent incident in which a self-identified evangelical Christian had murdered three people (and wounded nine others) in a Colorado Springs Planned Parenthood facility, Cuomo asked Fiorina: “Do you feel any sense of regret about how you characterized what was going on at Planned Parenthood,” given that the perpetrator “was influenced by some of the rhetoric that was coming out of you and others that painted a very ugly picture, an unfair one, about Planned Parenthood?”

In February 2018, Cuomo said that Republican presidential candidate Marco Rubio’s position that abortion should be illegal in all cases “seems very backward-looking in terms of the cultural mores that we have today.” Cuomo also said that “at the end of the day politically,” abortion is “all the [evangelical] community cares about.”

Boasting About a Gift That Fidel Castro Had Given to Mario Cuomo

While covering President Barack Obama’s visit to Cuba in March 2016, Cuomo informed his viewers that he was wearing his father’s guayabera shirt, which had been “given to him by Fidel Castro as a gift.”

Lauding Bernie Sanders

In an April 2016 interview with socialist presidential candidate Bernie Sanders, Cuomo asked Sanders how it felt for him “to be here tonight with tens of thousands of young people shouting your name, believing in you.”

Whitewashing Hillary Clinton’s Crimes & Unethical Behavior

In 2016, Cuomo insisted that Hillary Clinton “did not do anything illegal” by using a private server for all of her State Department email communications during her tenure as Secretary of State. Falsely claiming that “[no] classified information got sent” via that server, Cuomo conceded only that Clinton’s actions had been “poorly thought out.”[7]

In November 2017, Cuomo said that if the Justice Department were to appoint a special counsel to investigate Hillary Clinton‘s role in the “Uranium One” deal – a 2010 transaction that had placed 20% of all U.S. uranium reserves under Russian control while greatly enriching the Clinton Foundation – it would be nothing more than a “political spitball contest.” He also stated, without evidence, that the uranium in question was not “weapons grade stuff,” but rather, was “all for domestic use.”

Dismisses the Significance of Tim Kaine’s Former Ties to a Marxist Priest

In an October 2016 interview with Donald Trump’s press secretary, Sean Spicer, Cuomo dismissed the importance of reports that Democratic vice presidential candidate Tim Kaine had once had a close relationship with a Marxist priest in Honduras. “He was on mission,” Cuomo told Spicer, “and he was spending time with his Catholic priest who you guys are defining as a Marxist. I guess all priests are Marxists, in some way, I guess, if you wanted to say that. What’s the point of that criticism?”

Characterizing Donald Trump & His Supporters As Racists & Bigots

In December 2016, Cuomo explained that Donald Trump had won the recent presidential election on the strength of support from many white people who were feeling “victimized” by Islam, and who had the attitude that “now it’s our turn.” On a later occasion, Cuomo said that Trump’s campaign slogan, “Make America Great Again,” “was always a call to go back to times when you didn’t have the kind of progress you have, you didn’t have the inclusiveness you have, things were simpler and harsher.”[8]

Asserting that President Trump “sees diversity as a minus” and favors “a policy of exclusion,” Cuomo in January 2018 told White House deputy press secretary Raj Shah that the Trump administration was engaged in “a pretty intentional effort to make illegal immigrants – as you call them – monsters.” He also falsely stated that illegals “are incarcerated at lower rates than the rest of the population,” and he grossly misrepresented a DHS report as one “which fictionalizes the risk of terror that is represented by people who come into this country illegally,” “make[s] them all into villains,” and “says [that] basically three out of four of them may be terrorists.” “If you were really worried about who’s killing people in the name of terror in this country, you’d be focused on white supremacists,” added Cuomo. “That’s your biggest threat.”[9]

Transgender Rights

Cuomo has been outspoken on the issue of transgender rights. For example:

  • In April 2016, he suggested that conservatives “don’t like these transgender people getting what they want.”
  • During a March 2017 debate over efforts by the Texas legislature to require people in schools and public buildings to use public restrooms that correspond to their birth gender, Cuomo said: “It’s not a safety issue for the parents. It’s their idea of what they want their kid around. It’s about their tolerance level, not their safety.”
  • In February 2017, he mocked those who feared the possibility of girls having “genitals waved in their face” by men using women’s restrooms. “I’m saying, let the kids go [to the bathroom] where their want,” he stated, claiming that there had never been “a case of indecent exposure by a transgender person in a bathroom.” If transgender children were to be denied access to the bathroom of their choice, Cuomo added, “the only thing that you accomplish by doing what you say is traditional is that you scar these kids … and their rates of depression and suicide and non-acceptance go up.”

Opposes Free-Market-Based Healthcare System

In January 2017, Cuomo derided a Republican proposal to allow health insurance companies to compete for business in a free market that transcended state lines. “There is no proof — or even, really, a solid theory — that that would guarantee access for everyone,” said Cuomo.

Opposing Voter ID Laws

In 2017-18, Cuomo said that Voter ID laws were designed to “disenfranchise” nonwhites and poor people by creating a “chilling effect.”[10]

Supports Media Leaks About Trump Administration

In a February 2018 interview with Cuomo, former Trump presidential campaign adviser Michael Caputo complained that journalists were reporting, “like stenographers,” the many illegal leaks that were coming from special counsel Robert Mueller’s office, which was investigating the Trump presidential campaign. Cuomo, in turn, defended the leaks as “part of the currency of journalism.” On a separate occasion, he told Republican Congressman Jim Jordan that “if we didn’t rely on leaks, we would allow so much B.S. to get directly to the American people.”[11]

Opposed to Census Bureau Asking About Citizenship Status

When the Commerce Department announced in 2018 that the 2020 Census questionnaire would include a question asking participants whether or not they are U.S. citizens, Cuomo voiced concern that illegal immigrants “won’t want to come forward” and take part in the census at all, which might result in “underreporting” that would give Republicans an “advantage” with regard to congressional “redistricting.”[12]

Denying the Notion That Gun-Control Activists Wish to Repeal 2nd Amendment

In March 2018, Cuomo, a supporter of increased gun-control measures, claimed that “no one” wanted to repeal the Second Amendment, and he derided the “boogeyman” warnings of gun-rights activists. When former Senator Rick Santorum pointed out that former Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens had just published an op-ed exhorting gun-control advocates to explicitly “demand a repeal of the Second Amendment,” Cuomo dismissed the story because Stevens was “not a politician” and was “not the head of any kind of significant group.”

Claiming That President Trump Wants to “Assassinate” Drug Dealers

Deriding President Trump’s suggestion that drug dealers should be subject to capital punishment, Cuomo in March 2018 accused Trump of wanting to “assassinate” them.

Characterizing Donald Trump As “A Virus”

In a March 2018 interview with Cuomo, former White House communications director Anthony Scaramucci explained that President Trump’s effort to “drain” the proverbial “swamp” of Washington politics was a difficult task because “the immunological system around the swamp is so powerful that it will reject a disruptive move to change the system.” In response, Cuomo suggested that “maybe adding a virus into that system … wasn’t the … appropriate change mechanism.”

Comparing President Trump to a North Korean Dictator

Following President Trump’s March 2018 announcement that he wished to hold a military parade on Veterans’ Day to honor all the people who had ever served in the U.S. Armed Forces, Cuomo characterized the idea as one “that you usually see in North Korea.”

Possible Drunk-Driving Car Accident

On May 28, 2016, Cuomo’s wife, Cristina, hosted a party for her Beach magazine staffers at Jue Lan Club in Southampton, New York. That night, Mr. Cuomo crashed his 1969 Pontiac Firebird convertible into a parked Mercedes while drag racing with a friend. The collision caused the radiator in Cuomo’s car to crack and leak fluid. According to sources cited by PageSix.com, “They got him away from the scene fast. Everybody heard it. It was a full-blown drag race…. He was drinking, and I believe that’s why he was sent home. Everyone saw the state he was in. When he crashed, it got really quiet.”[13]

Praising Antifa

In May 2019, Cuomo, speaking about the radical anarchist/Marxist organization Antifa, said: “There are certainly aspects of them that are true to a cause, that is a good cause, they want social justice, they want whatever they want in that context.”[14]

Angry Confrontation with Heckler

In August 2019, Cuomo became involved in an angry confrontation with a man who referred to him as “Fredo,” a reference to the dimwitted middle brother of the Corleone sons in The Godfather. Shouting at the man, Cuomo claimed that “Fredo” was “an Italian aspersion” that was “like the ‘N word’ for us.” Initially unaware that he was being videotaped, the livid newsman told his adversary that he would “fu**ing ruin your sh**” and “fu**ing throw you down the stairs.” When a video of the altercation subsequently went viral on the Internet, critics began to note that the term “Fredo” had been used repeatedly on CNN to deride a Republican congressman as well as Donald Trump Jr. — including once on Cuomo’s own program. And on one occasion in January 2010, radio host Curtis Sliwa had interviewed Cuomo about whether the latter’s brother Andrew might run for governor of New York. Stating that he had dubbed the Cuomo family “la Cuomo Nostra,” Sliwa said: “There is a group of people — politicos — who always hint they might run, but not necessarily plunge all the way, and they are members of la Cuomo.” In reponse, Chris Cuomo asked humorously: “Who am I, then, Fredo?”[15] (For video of Cuomo’s August 2019 confrontation as well as several occasions when the word “Fredo” had been spoken on CNN, click here.)

Distinguishing Between Good & Bad Socialism

In September 2019, Cuomo interviewed former congressional candidate Elizabeth Heng, who had recently narrated an advertisement highlighting the dangers of socialism and criticizing the “ignorance” of the openly socialist U.S. Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Downplaying the role that socialism had played in the Cambodian genocide of the 1970s, Cuomo said: “You are so well-educated. You know that, you know, you can talk about socialism any way you want. Pol Pot was a brutal autocrat and dictator. That wasn’t about socialism. That was about him being an evil human being. You know, you can go to Scandinavia or Denmark, and see socialism. They’re not killing people. Why paint with that kind of brush against a set of ideas coming from a Democrat in your own country?” In her reply. Heng noted that “Pol Pot learned socialist ideologies in France and wanted to create this utopia. And … quickly, that evolved into the murderous regime … which it became…. Canada and Denmark and some of those other places … they have become capitalist nations.” Later in the interview, Cuomo told Heng: “People like your family and what you represent … your fight is with the President [Trump] that you support. He’s the one who talks about your parents like they’re ‘some other’ that shouldn’t be in this country.” Cuomo also accused Trump of “embracing dictators everywhere he finds them.”[16]

Cuomo Contracts Coronavirus & Has Angry Confrontation with a Man Who Notices Him Violating Mandatory Quarantine

On March 31, 2020, Cuomo announced on Twitter that he had just tested positive for coronavirus, the pandemic that had been wreaking havoc on the U.S. and other nations around the world for a number of weeks. “I have been exposed to people in recent days who have subsequently tested positive and I had fevers, chills and shortness of breath,” he wrote. “I just hope I didn’t give it to the kids and [Cuomo’s wife] Cristina. That would make me feel worse than this illness! I am quarantined in my basement…. I will do my shows from here. We will all beat this by being smart and tough and united.”

On April 20, 2020, Cuomo posted an Instagram video documenting what he called his “official reentry” from the basement of his family home in Southampton, New York, after three weeks in quarantine. Noting that he had finally been “cleared” by the Centers for Disease Control, Cuomo stepped onto the main floor of the house and said: “This is what I’ve been dreaming of. Literally for weeks.” The video showed him reuniting with his wife and children and saying: “This is the dream, just to be back up here doing normal things.” He then expressed gratitude to his children for having helped him during his quarantine: “Thank you for being so nice to me. Thank you for taking care of everything you had to. Thank you for taking care of me. Bella [a daughter], thank you for stepping up and now adding ‘family videographer’ to your resume.”

But the entire video was a charade. Because eight days earlier, on April 12, a 65-year-old bike-rider named David — a lifelong Democrat who had voted for Andrew Cuomo for governor — spotted Chris Cuomo on an East Hampton, New York property that the broadcaster had purchased in 2019 to serve as the site for a new house that he was planning to build. A report in the New York Post details what transpired next:

David said Cuomo was with his wife, another woman and three kids who were playing around on the property. The resident said he stopped and sat on his bike “well over a hundred feet” from the property. “I just looked and said, ‘Is that Chris Cuomo? Isn’t he supposed to be quarantined?’” […]

David said the woman who looked like Cuomo’s wife came over to him and said, “May I help you?” He said he replied, “I’m riding my bike” — then started asking why Cuomo was there out of quarantine and not social-distancing from the group. He said Cuomo then started toward him, coming to within about 40 feet.

“He [Cuomo] said, ‘Who the hell are you?! I can do what I want!’” David said. “He just ranted, screaming, ‘I’ll find out who you are!’

“I said to him, ‘Your brother is the coronavirus czar, and you’re not even following his rules — unnecessary travel,’” the resident said.

“He just began to boil more. He said, ‘This is not the end of this. You’ll deal with this later. We will meet again.’ If that’s not a threat, I don’t know what is,” David said.

The man said he waited ’til Monday afternoon to call East Hampton cops to report the incident. “I hate bullies,” David said.

After his confrontation with David, Cuomo launched into a tirade on his SiriusXM radio program in which he stated that he no longer enjoyed what he did for a living because his status as “a celebrity” made it impossible for him to be combative with people who annoyed him. “I don’t want some jackass, loser, fat-tire biker being able to pull over and get in my space and talk bulls–t to me, I don’t want to hear it,”  Cuomo raged. “I want to be able to tell you to go to hell, to shut your mouth … I don’t get that doing what I do for a living: me being able to tell you to shut your mouth or I will do you the way you guys do each other.”

Cuomo Supports Violent Rioters Protesting Police Brutality

In the aftermath of the May 25, 2020 death of George Floyd — a black man who died after being abused by a white police officer in Minneapolis — a number of U.S. cities were overrun by violent riots. On June 2, Cuomo said:

“Now too many see the protests as the problem. No, the problem is what forced your fellow citizens to take to the streets: persistent, poisonous inequities and injustice. And please, show me where it says protesters are supposed to be polite and peaceful. Because I can show you that outraged citizens are what made the country what she is and led to any major milestone. To be honest, this is not a tranquil time. […] Police are the ones required to be peaceful, to deescalate, to remain calm.”

With regard to Cuomo’s question about “where it says protesters are supposed to be polite and peaceful,” journalist John Nolte provided an answer: “It’s a little thing we like to call the First Amendment: ‘Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.’”

Cuomo Says Gun Violence Will Only Be Addressed if Whites Become the Principal Victims

On April 16, 2021 — in the wake of a few high-profile police shootings of black civilians — Cuomo stated that gun-law reform and police reform would not happen until whites were affected by gun violence in greater numbers. Said Cuomo:

“We refuse to address the violence. We refuse to address the shootings and the violence as a figurative disease. This is a disease…. You know what the answer is. You really do. You don’t like it. I don’t like [it]. It scares me. Shootings, gun laws, access to weapons? Oh, I know when they’ll change. Your kids start getting killed, [when] white people’s kids, start getting killed…. If it were people like me whose kids were getting shot by cops, this would have ended a long time ago.”

Cuomo Admits He Advised His Brother on Sexual Harassment Scandal & Apologizes to CNN

On May 20, 2021, Cuomo apologized on air for having advised his older brother, Governor Andrew Cuomo, on how he ought to handle his ongoing sexual harassment scandal. Said Chris Cuomo:

“If you’ll remember, I told you, back in the beginning of March, I can’t cover my brother’s troubles. It wouldn’t be fair. And you got it then, and I appreciate you understanding. Now today, there are stories out there about me offering my brother advice. Of course I do. This is no revelation. I have said it publicly and I certainly have never hidden it. I can be objective about just about any topic, but not about my family. Those of you who watch this show get it. Like you, I bet, my family means everything to me, and I am fiercely loyal to them. I am family first, job second.

“But being a journalist and a brother to a politician is unique and a unique challenge, and I have a unique responsibility to balance those roles. It’s not always easy. People can say and write what they want, but I want you to know the truth. How I helped my brother also matters. When my brother’s situation became turbulent, being looped into calls with other friends of his and advisers that did include some of his staff, I understand why that was a problem for CNN. It will not happen again. It was a mistake. Because I put my colleagues here, who I believe are the best in the business, in a bad spot. I never intended for that. I would never intend for that, and I am sorry for that. It’s also important for you to understand, not only do I not cover this here, I’ve never tried to influence this network’s coverage of my brother. In fact, I’ve been walled off from it.

“This is a unique and difficult situation, and that’s okay. I know where the line is. I can respect it and still be there for my family, which I must. I have to do that. I love my brother, I love my family, I love my job, and I love and respect my colleagues here at CNN. And again, to them, I am truly sorry.”

Accused of Sexual Harassment

On September 24, 2021, longtime television journalist Shelley Ross published an opinion piece in The New York Times in which she accused Cuomo of having sexually harassed her at a party in 2005, when the two worked together at ABC News.

“At the time, I was the executive producer of an ABC entertainment special, but I was Mr. Cuomo’s executive producer at ‘Primetime Live‘ just before that,” Ross said in her opinion piece. “I was at the party with my husband, who sat behind me on an ottoman sipping his Diet Coke as I spoke with work friends. When Mr. Cuomo entered the Upper West Side bar, he walked toward me and greeted me with a strong bear hug while lowering one hand to firmly grab and squeeze the cheek of my buttock.” Ross wrote that after Cuomo had told her, with a “kind of cocky arrogance,” that “I can do this now that you’re no longer my boss,” she scolded Cuomo in response: “‘No you can’t,’ I said, pushing him off me at the chest while stepping back, revealing my husband, who had seen the entire episode at close range. We quickly left.”

Ross further wrote that soon after the incident, she received an apologetic email from Cuomo with a subject line that read, “now that I think of it… I am ashamed…”

In the body of that email, Cuomo wrote: “[T]hough my hearty greeting was a function of being glad to see you … christian slater got arrested for a (kind of) similar act, (though borne of an alleged negative intent, unlike my own)…and as a husband I can empathize with not liking to see my wife patted as such. So pass along my apology to your very good and noble husband… and I apologize to you as well, for even putting you in such a position… next time, I will remember the lesson, no matter how happy I am to see you…”

Regarding Cuomo’s apology, Ross wrote: “Was he ashamed of what he did, or was he embarrassed because my husband saw it?” Noting that she did not wish to see Cuomo fired from his job, Ross expressed her hope that “this is an opportunity for him and his employer to show what accountability can look like in the #MeToo era.” “I’m not asking for Mr. Cuomo to become the next casualty in this continuing terrible story,” she added. “I hope he stays at CNN forever if he chooses. I would, however, like to see him journalistically repent: agree on air to study the impact of sexism, harassment and gender bias in the workplace, including his own, and then report on it.”

In response to Ross’s accusation, Cuomo said: “As Shelley acknowledges, our interaction was not sexual in nature. It happened 16 years ago in a public setting when she was a top executive at ABC. I apologized to her then and I meant it.”

“There Are Not Good People on Both Sides” of the Questions Regarding the 2020 Presidential Election

On October 11, 2021, Cuomo, asserting that Republicans were “all-in” on former President Trump’s claims that he had won the 2020 election, said: “We’ve never seen one party in this damnable two-party system that we insist on go all-in on a lie. So half of your political system is invested in a lie. That’s happening. It’s not just Trump. The whole party practically backs actively or passively, selling that the election was not legitimate.”

Regarding the fact that Democrats on multiple occasions had likewise claimed that the results of certain political elections were invalid, Cuomo said: “Questioning is different than finding no proof and then lying and refusing to certify. That’s what Trump and Company did. There are not good people on both sides of this argument. And I will be dammed if I sit by and don’t say this as plainly as possible because this will be remembered. There are not good people on both sides. This is not a good faith dispute. It is bad faith. They know the election was not rigged. They know it was legitimate. Anyone telling you with full knowledge that they have no proof and yet the election wasn’t legit is part of an effort that may lead us to an all-time low.”

Cuomo Is Suspended by CNN for His Inappropriate Involvement in Defending Andrew Cuomo Against Sexual Harassment Allegations

On November 30, 2021, CNN placed Cuomo on indefinite suspension after the New York Attorney General’s office released thousands of pages of new evidence – consisting of emails, text messages, and other communications — showing that the broadcaster had played a larger role than previously thought in defending his older brother, former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, against sexual-harassment allegations.

“The documents, which we were not privy to before their public release, raise serious questions,” said CNN in a statement. “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 [new] 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.”

Specifically, the younger Cuomo had been “actively in touch” with his brother’s top aide, Melissa DeRosa, on a frequent basis. He also had asked to be personally involved in the preparations for the governor’s defense against sexual harassment charges. “Please let me help with the prep,” Chris Cuomo had told DeRosa in one text.

Moreover, Chris Cuomo had made efforts to draft responses to pending articles in which various news outlets were planning to unveil further allegations against the governor. Some examples:

  • In early March 2021, The New York Times reported that Andrew Cuomo had once tried to kiss a woman, Anna Ruch, without her consent at a wedding reception. Three days later, Chris Cuomo texted DeRosa: “I have a lead on the wedding girl.”
  • In another text, Chris Cuomo sent DeRosa a fully written statement for the governor to recite publicly: “I will not resign, I cannot resign. I understand the political pressure I understand the stakes of political warfare, and that’s what this is… And I understand the conformity that can be forced by cancel culture.”
  • On another occasion, DeRosa texted Chris Cuomo: “Rumor going around from politico 1-2 more ppl coming out tomorrow [to accuse Andrew Cuomo of sexual harassment]. Can u check your sources?” The broadcaster replied with, “On it,” and subsequently followed up with, “No one has heard that yet.”
  • On March 14, 2021, Chris Cuomo and DeRosa exchanged text messages discussing an investigative story by New Yorker reporter Ronan Farrow, which was scheduled to be published four days later. “If ronan has nothing better than boylan thats a great sign,” said Cuomo in one of his texts. The reference was to former Andrew Cuomo aide Lindsey Boylan, who claimed that the governor had “harassed me for years.”

Cuomo Is Fired by CNN

On December 4, 2021, CNN announced that it had decided to change Cuomo’s status from an indefinite suspension to termination. Said a spokesperson for CNN in a statement: “Chris Cuomo was suspended earlier this week pending further evaluation of new information that came to light about his involvement with his brother’s defense. We retained a respected law firm to conduct the review, and have terminated him, effective immediately.”

In response to that announcement, Cuomo tweeted: “This is not how I want my time at CNN to end but I have already told you why and how I helped my brother. So let me now say as disappointing as this is, I could not be more proud of the team at ‘Cuomo Prime Time’ and the work we did as CNN’s #1 show in the most competitive time slot. I owe them all and will miss that group of special people who did really important work.”

Cuomo Sues CNN for $125 Million

On March 17, 2022, Cuomo filed a $125 million lawsuit against CNN, claiming that he had been unlawfully fired by the network “based on … false claims that Cuomo violated CNN’s standards and practices assisting his brother, Gov. Andrew Cuomo, during a time of personal and political crisis.” Some key excerpts from the lawsuit:

  • “As a result of Turner’s indefensible choice to unceremoniously fire him, Cuomo has been damaged in countless ways. Cuomo has had his journalistic integrity unjustifiably smeared, making it difficult if not impossible for Cuomo to find similar work in the future and damaging him in amounts exceeding $125 million, which includes not only the remaining salary owed under the Agreement, but future wages lost as a result of CNN’s efforts to destroy his reputation in violation of the Agreement. Cuomo now seeks to recover the full measure of his damages against Turner and CNN.”
  • “CNN has a long-established pattern and practice of selectively enforcing its policies based on cynical calculations of public perception. Indeed, CNN fostered a culture in which ‘exceptions’ to the network’s standards and practices were routinely sanctioned, and that culture began at the top with Zucker and Gollust. As long as CNN’s ratings would not be hurt, Zucker and Gollust were more than willing to overlook major transgressions by CNN personalities such as Don Lemon and Jake Tapper, or even to engage in blatant misconduct themselves.”
  • “In another troubling incident, Fox News reported on September 10, 2020 that CNN anchor Jake Tapper had repeatedly urged [Republican] Congressional candidate Sean Parnell not to run against Rep. Conor Lamb, but to run in a ‘safer,’ more heavily Republican district. Tapper reportedly repeated this advice in a phone call, text messages, and direct Twitter messages, one of which Fox News obtained and published. After the story broke, Tapper reportedly reached out to Parnell repeatedly asking him to make a joint statement to clear Tapper’s name of this obvious breach of journalistic ethics. CNN conducted no inquiry and imposed no disciplinary measures on Tapper.”
  • “[I]n November 2021, CNN anchor Don Lemon was widely criticized for a flagrant breach of journalistic ethics when actor Jussie Smollett testified at trial that Lemon had texted him to warn him that Chicago police did not believe Smollett’s allegations of suffering a racist, homophobic attack. Lemon had covered Smollett’s accusations and his subsequent investigation and prosecution, so intervening in the ongoing investigation by texting Smollett was an inexcusable breach of ethics. Yet CNN did nothing; Lemon was not disciplined in any way.”
  • “During the time when Gov. Cuomo’s appearances on [Chris] Cuomo’s program were creating significant value for the network, CNN, through executives [Jeff] Zucker and Zucker’s second-in-command, Allison Gollust (‘Gollust’), made a concerted effort to cement and strengthen the network’s ties to Gov. Cuomo and his administration and control his media presence for CNN’s exclusive benefit. CNN pushed Gov. Cuomo not to appear on other networks, intimating that not honoring CNN’s request might threaten [Chris] Cuomo’s professional standing with the network.”
  • “CNN, through Zucker and Gollust, also requested that Gov. Cuomo hold his daily COVID-19 press conference at a time that was most suitable for the network based on its program schedule and when its ratings were weakest.”
  • “Zucker and Gollust acted as advisors to Gov. Cuomo during this time by providing him with talking points and strategies for responding to statements made by then-President Donald Trump. There is no question that, given the ratings and value Gov. Cuomo was generating for CNN, protecting him and his reputation was in CNN’s best interests.”

Cuomo’s Wealth

As of May 2020, Cuomo had a net worth of approximately $12 million.

Footnotes:


  1. CNN Panel: ‘Erratic’ Trump ‘Created the Entire DACA Crisis in the First Place’” (Newsbusters.org, 3-6-2018); “Chris Cuomo: Obama ‘Had to’ Issue Executive Order Because GOP Did ‘Nothing’” (Newsbusters.org, 1-30-2018); “CNN’s Cuomo Pushes to Help Illegals Without Border Security First” (Newsbusters.org, 1-23-2018); “CNN’s Cuomo Acts as Cheerleader for DACA, Encourages Clean DACA Bill” (Newsbusters.org, 2-13-2018).
  2. CNN’s Chris Cuomo: Sanctuary Cities Are a ‘Misnomer’” (Newsbusters.org, 7-13-2015); “CNN’s Cuomo Ignores Facts on Immigration Debate” (Newsbusters.org, 2-21-2017); “CNN Uses Documentary Series ‘The Pope’ to Push for Open Borders” (Newsbusters.org, 3-8-2018).
  3. CNN’s Cuomo Rips Religious Freedom Activist For Trying to ‘Enforce Intolerance’” (Newsbusters.org, 2-24-2014).
  4. The Most Outrageous Liberal Outbursts from Town Hall Anchor Chris Cuomo” (Newsbusters.org, 1-25-2016).
  5. CNN’s Cuomo: GOP is ‘Always Pushing Back Against Science’; Hounds Ben Carson on Vaccines” (Newsbusters.org, 2-4-2015); “Chris Cuomo Gets Destroyed by Kellyanne Conway After Pushing Fake News on Climate Change” (Newsbusters.org, 8-31-2017); “Chris Cuomo Sneers: Climate Change Skepticism Like Opposing Interracial Marriage” (Newsbusters.org, 12-8-2016); “CNN’s Cuomo: Questioning Climate Hysteria a ‘Pet for the Right Fringe’ of GOP” (Newsbusters.org, 8-8-2017).
  6. Chris Cuomo Worries: ISIS Rapes Reinforce Negative ‘Impression’ of Islam” (Newsbusters.org, 8-14-2015); “CNN’s Cuomo Stumbles, Denies ‘All Jihadis are Muslim’” (Newsbusters.org, 12-16-2015).
  7. CNN’s Cuomo Insists Clinton ‘Did Not Do Anything Illegal’” (Newsbusters.org, 9-16-2016); “CNN’s Cuomo Claims Clinton Didn’t Send Classified E-Mails ‘And We All Know That’” (Newsbusters.org, 7-19-2016).
  8. CNN’s Cuomo Suggests Whites Think ‘Now It’s Our Turn’ to ‘Victimize’ Back at Muslims” (Newsbusters.org, 12-9-2016); “CNN Panel Slams Trump Rally: He ‘Flirts with Autocrats’” (Newsbusters.org, 3-12-2018).
  9. CNN’s Cuomo Argues President Trump’s Immigration Policy Proposal is Racist” (Newsbusters.org, 1-31-2018); “CNN’s Cuomo Claims Trump Admin Painting Illegals As ‘Monsters’” (Newsbusters.org, 1-18-2018). (In fact, the DHS report said that three-fourths of people who had been convicted on federal terrorism charges were foreign nationals.)
  10. Cuomo Dismisses GOP Calls for Clinton Investigation As ‘Political Spitball Contest’” (Newsbusters.org, 11-14-2017); “CNN’s Cuomo Frets ‘Chilling Effect’ of GOP Pushing Voter ID” (Newsbusters.org, 7-5-2017); “CNN Panel Pushes Liberal Spin on ‘Voter Disenfranchisement’” (Newsbusters.org, 1-4-2018).
  11. CNN’s Cuomo: ‘Leaks Are Part of the Currency of Journalism’” (Newsbusters.org, 1-20-2018); “CNN’s Cuomo: We Rely on Leaks So ‘B.S.’ Doesn’t ‘Get Directly to the American People’” (Newsbusters.org, 2-7-2018).
  12. CNN: Changes to Census Are ‘Designed to Drive Down Participation and Benefit Republicans Politically’” (Newsbusters.org, 3-28-2018).
  13. Chris Cuomo Was in ‘Full-Blown Drag Race’ Before Car Crash” (PageSix.com, 6-26-2016); “Chris Cuomo Spotted Boozing Before Drag Race” (PageSix.com, 6-28-2016).
  14. CNN’s Cuomo Forced to Explain Antifa Comment during Interview” (Fox News, 5-1-2-2019).
  15. CNN Declares ‘Fredo’ An ‘Ethnic Slur’; Here Are The Times It Was Used On CNN” (Daily Wire, 8-13-2019); “Chris Cuomo Once Referred to Himself As ‘Fredo’ in Radio Interview” (NY Post, 8-13-2019).
  16. Cuomo Fights with Anti-AOC Ad Star, Downplays Socialism in Cambodian Slaughter” (Newsbusters.org, 9-14-2019).

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