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After facts emerged about how he assisted his brother, former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, in facing sexual harassment allegations earlier this year, CNN suspended anchor Chris Cuomo indefinitely on Tuesday.
Cuomo had a greater level of involvement in his brother’s activities than CNN executives previously knew, according to records revealed by New York’s attorney general on Monday.
“As a result, we have indefinitely suspended Chris awaiting further evaluation,” the network stated.
According to emails and a transcript of his testimony to investigators working for state Attorney General Letitia James, the CNN anchor pressed sources for information on his brother’s accusers and reported back to the governor’s staff, where he was active in helping craft their response to the charges. At least 11 women were sexually harassed by Andrew Cuomo, according to her office.
When his brother faced harassment accusations, Chris Cuomo admitted to communicating to him and offered counsel. However, the documents provided on Monday showed a lot more about Chris Cuomo’s actions. Andrew Cuomo resigned in August to escape the possibility of impeachment.
According to Nielsen, Cuomo’s show, which airs at 9 p.m. Eastern time on weeknights, had 1.3 million viewers on average, just beating out Anderson Cooper as CNN’s most popular show. Viewership has plummeted after a spike during the election year, as it has for many cable newscasts.
On Monday night, Cuomo appeared on his show and discussed COVID-19 and politics without addressing his own problems.
Cuomo and his lawyer, who represented him during his appearance last summer, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Cuomo interviewed his brother several times on the air during the first two months of the outbreak. It was a ratings hit, despite the fact that it went against CNN’s policy of not having Cuomo report on his brother, and it was a programming decision that has only become worse as more discoveries have come to light.
When Andrew Cuomo was contesting the charges last May, Chris Cuomo spoke with his brother’s aides regularly, often disagreeing with their counsel.
Cuomo testified to attorney general’s office investigators last July, saying, “This is my brother, and I’m trying to help my brother through a circumstance where he informed me he did nothing wrong.”
He claims he had no say in how the storey was covered by his own network.
Cuomo also said that he contacted other journalists to check if they were drafting pieces about his brother, specifically the New Yorker’s Ronan Farrow. He admitted that he didn’t notify CNN he was doing it, but that his activities were “normal” for a journalist.
Cuomo’s activities were deemed inappropriate by CNN when it was exposed by The Washington Post in May that he had conferred with his brother’s associates.
Cuomo, a lawyer, is 13 years younger than his best friend, Andrew Cuomo. They are Mario Cuomo’s sons, who served as governor of New York from 1982 to 1996.
