Newsman: CNN has terminated its ‘Cuomo prime time’ anchor Chris Cuomo. CNN suspended Cuomo “indefinitely” on Tuesday. following Cuomo’s termination from CNN, an allegation of sexual misconduct came to light. Anchor Chris Cuomo has denied an allegation of sexual misconduct after he was fired from CNN
Cuomo, one of the network’s star anchors, was the subject of an investigation, unrelated to the misconduct allegations, by the New York attorney general which concluded that Cuomo had helped his brother, former Governor of New York Andrew Cuomo, defend himself against sexual misconduct allegations.
CNN said that anchor Chris Cuomo has been “terminated” by the network, “effective immediately.”
The announcement came after an outside law firm was retained to review information about exactly how Cuomo aided his brother, former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, when the then-governor was accused of sexual harassment.
In a statement made by CNN after Cuomo was terminated, the network said: “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.”
The law firm retained by the network submitted its findings on Friday, and CNN Worldwide president Jeff Zucker fired Cuomo on Saturday, according to a source with knowledge of the matter as told to USA today.
The producers and other staffers who work on “Cuomo Prime Time” will remain in place. Michael Smerconish, Cuomo’s regular substitute, will host the 9 p.m. Eastern hour next week.
CNN said Saturday 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.”
“While in the process of that review, additional information has come to light,” CNN’s statement added. “Despite the termination, we will investigate as appropriate.”
In a statement of his own Saturday, Chris Cuomo said, “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.”
A few hours after CNN’s announcement, the New York Times reported that a lawyer, Debra Katz, had on Wednesday told CNN of an allegation of sexual misconduct made against Chris Cuomo by a client of hers. According to the Times, the client is “a former junior colleague [of Cuomo’s] at another network.”
A CNN spokesperson said in a statement, “Based on the report we received regarding Chris’s conduct with his brother’s defense, we had cause to terminate. When new allegations came to us this week, we took them seriously, and saw no reason to delay taking immediate action.”
While the contours of Chris Cuomo’s involvement with the governor’s office were reported several months ago, the specifics were detailed in a massive document dump on Monday. The documents — released by New York Attorney General Letitia James after an investigation into the governor — showed that Chris Cuomo, while working as one of CNN’s top anchors, was also effectively working as an unpaid aide to the governor.
The cozy and improper nature of the relationship was conveyed through text messages obtained by James’ office. The texts between the anchor and several aides and allies of the governor revealed that Chris Cuomo sought to use his connections in the press to help prepare Andrew Cuomo’s team as accusers started to make their stories public.
On the day his brother resigned, back in August, Chris Cuomo told viewers that “this situation is unlike anything I could have imagined.”
He pointed out that he never reported on the sexual harassment scandal or tried to interfere in CNN’s coverage. And he acknowledged that he “tried to be there for my brother” when the scandal erupted.
“I’m not an adviser. I’m a brother. I wasn’t in control of anything. I was there to listen and offer my take,” he said.
The dissent only intensified after James’ office released the text messages, sworn testimony and other raw materials from her investigation into the ex-governor.
When the documents were released on Monday, CNN management said the “thousands of pages of additional transcripts and exhibits” would be reviewed “over the next several days.”
Then on Tuesday evening, CNN indicated that the contents were serious enough to merit a suspension.
“When Chris admitted to us that he had offered advice to his brother’s staff, he broke our rules and we acknowledged that publicly,” the network said in a statement. “But we also appreciated the unique position he was in and understood his need to put family first and job second.”
“However,” the network said, “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 initially declined to comment. He said on his radio show on Wednesday that the suspension was “embarrassing” but understandable. He also said he never wanted to “compromise any of my colleagues” and said he would respect the process.
According to Saturday’s announcement, the process included an outside law firm, a fact that was not previously known.
With information in the texts and documents pointing to a serious breach of CNN standards, Cuomo was notified of his termination on Saturday.
Following his termination on Saturday, Cuomo denied the sexual misconduct allegation that had this time been made against him. The allegation was first reported by The New York Times.
“These apparently anonymous allegations are not true. To the extent that they were sent to CNN to negate what Chris Cuomo told his audience, he fully stands by his on-air statements about his connection to these issues, both professionally and in a profoundly personal way,” a statement from Cuomo’s representative Steven Goldberg reads.
“If the goal in making these false and unvetted accusations was to see Mr. Cuomo punished by CNN, that may explain his unwarranted termination.”
The allegations were submitted to CNN on Wednesday by attorney Debra S. Katz, who represents the unnamed accuser. Katz said on Saturday that her client is a former junior colleague of Cuomo and that the situation is unrelated to the former Governor of New York, the Times reported.
The unnamed accuser came forward after hearing Cuomo’s on-air statements in response to the allegations made against his brother, in which Cuomo said he “always cared very deeply about these issues, and profoundly so. I just wanted to tell you that,” according to a statement from Katz.
In that statement obtained by NBC News, Katz said when her client heard “the hypocrisy of Chris Cuomo’s on-air words and disgusted by his efforts to try to discredit these women, my client retained counsel to report his serious sexual misconduct against her to CNN.”
Katz said that CNN “acted promptly” after hearing the allegations and fired Cuomo.
“My client came forward at this time because she felt in sharing her story and related documentation; she could help protect other women. She will continue to cooperate with CNN’s investigation into her allegations,” Katz said.
She added that her client had decided to stay anonymous due to the nature of her allegations.
CNN did not immediately respond to a request for comment made by NBC News, but in a statement obtained by The Washington Post, the network said it had “retained a respected law firm” and would “investigate as appropriate.”
Although Katz stated that CNN “acted promptly” after the allegations, the network said it already has “cause to terminate” due to Cuomo’s conduct with his brother. However, “when new allegations came to us this week, we took them seriously, and saw no reason to delay taking immediate action.” It did not clarify what the specific allegations were, according to the Post.
The Times reported that Katz also represents Charlotte Bennett, a former aide to Andrew Cuomo, who also made accusations of sexual harassment.
The youngerCuomo, who has hosted “Cuomo Prime Time” since 2017, has previously said that advising his brother was a family matter and that it was appropriate because he was not directly reporting on the situation at the time.
Documents released Monday revealed that Cuomo offered to help the former governor find out how many women were accusing him of sexual harassment.
Andrew Cuomo, who was facing the possibility of impeachment, resigned in August. He has denied any wrongdoing.
