CNN Suspends Chris Cuomo After Details Emerge on the Help He Gave His Brother

“As a result, we have suspended Chris indefinitely, pending further evaluation,” the network said.

In scores of emails and text messages between the television host and his brother’s inner circle, Chris Cuomo repeatedly offered advice — “Please let me help with the prep,” he texted a senior aide in March — and made efforts to track down the status of pending articles at other news outlets, including Politico and The New Yorker, that concerned allegations of sexual harassment by Andrew Cuomo.

At one point, Andrew Cuomo’s former top aide, Melissa DeRosa, asked the anchor if he could check his “sources” about a rumor that Politico was working on a story that included additional accusations. “On it,” Chris Cuomo responded.

Chris Cuomo’s entanglement with the last 18 months of his brother’s governorship has proved a slow-moving headache for CNN, which had stood by its top-rated anchor even as a drip of uncomfortable revelations raised questions about the network’s adherence to journalistic standards.

Jeff Zucker, CNN’s president, supported Mr. Cuomo for months, declining to discipline him even after reports showed that the anchor had conferred in strategy sessions with his brother’s political team, a breach of basic reportorial conduct.

But this week presented a harsher set of facts for Mr. Zucker as he weighed the fate of his 9 p.m. host.

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/30/business/media/chris-cuomo-cnn.html