It took 24 hours for ABC News to finally give any sort of airtime to the sexual harassment claims against corrupt New York Governor Andrew Cuomo (D) on either of their major newscasts. On Thursday’s World News Tonight, when did they finally report on the claims, they took the accuser out of context and claimed Cuomo had “joked” about wanting to “play strip poker” with the female accuser.
And after only covering it that morning, CBS News and NBC News were done giving the story oxygen and ignored it on their evening newscasts. Instead of giving the sexual harassment claims any airtime, NBC Nightly News copied what ABC did the previous evening and talked about an airliner that reported a UFO. That meant the CBS Evening News and NBC Nightly News still haven't acknowledged the allegations.
Spending only 39 seconds on the harassment accusations, ABC correspondent Erielle Reshef bundled them in with an update on the Cuomo’s nursing home deaths scandal. “It comes amid new allegations of sexual harassment against Cuomo by former staffer Lindsey Boylan,” she told viewers.
Speaking about Boylan’s published account of that happened, Reshef appeared to mischaracterized what Boylan wrote and claimed she said the Governor was joking with one of his advances. She also touted the defense Cuomo was getting:
In a blog post, Boylan alleging several unsettling episodes including a 2017 flight where she says the Governor joked, “let's play strip poker.” Four staffers who were on the plane pushing back saying the conversation never happened. The governor's press secretary in a statement saying, “claims of inappropriate behavior are quite simply false.”
At no point in Boylan’s writing did she say Cuomo was joking, or even imply it. So, Reshef was lying when she claimed that's what Boylan said.
“I should have been shocked by the Governor’s crude comment, but I wasn’t,” she wrote. Boylan even seemed disappointed in how she responded at the time. “‘That’s exactly what I was thinking,’ I responded sarcastically and awkwardly. I tried to play it cool. But in that moment, I realized just how acquiescent I had become.”
It was also the first time since Cuomo’s February 15 press conference that ABC had said anything about the nursing home deaths scandal.
Ignoring the families of victims rallying against Cuomo, the federal investigation into his actions, and possible Congressional subpoena, Reshef downplayed the bipartisan effort to strip him of power. She simply said, “Lawmakers now considering stripping Cuomo of his COVID emergency powers after his aide admitted hiding nursing home deaths for fear it would be politicized by the Trump administration.”
Reshef ended her report by noting this wasn’t the first time Boylan has come forward with her allegations against Cuomo. “And, David, Lindsey Boylan is now running for office here in Manhattan. Governor Cuomo denied her allegations when she first tweeted them back in December,” she said.
Now the question is: Why didn’t you or ABC give airtime to allegations back then, Erielle?
Answer: They didn’t want to damage Cuomo’s already dingy reputation.
ABC’s misinformation about the sexual harassment allegations was made possible because of lucrative sponsorships from Allstate and Facebook. Their contact information is linked so you can tell them about the biased news they fund.
The transcript is below, click "expand" to read:
ABC’s World News Tonight
February 25, 2021
6:31:53 p.m. Eastern [Opening tease]DAVID MUIR: Governor Andrew Cuomo under fire, growing backlash tonight for his handling of COVID-related nursing home deaths, and now sexual harassment allegations from a former top aide. Fellow staff members defending the Governor tonight.
(…)
6:44:12 p.m. Eastern
MUIR: And we’re going to turn next here to New York Governor Andrew Cuomo facing a growing backlash over his handling of COVID-related nurses home deaths. And tonight, he also faces sexual harassment allegations from a former top aide. Here’s ABC’s Erielle Reshef.
[Cuts to video]
ERIELLE RESHEF: Tonight, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, once hailed for his leadership at the start of the pandemic, now under fire. Today, his office defending its decision last Spring to return COVID patients to nursing homes, which critics claim led to a high number of deaths. Cuomo saying he was following federal guidance.
DR. HOWARD ZUCKER (New York Health commissioner): All the data has shown not just New York but across the country that this is not what brought the infection into the nursing homes.
RESHEF: Lawmakers now considering stripping Cuomo of his COVID emergency powers after his aide admitted hiding nursing home deaths for fear it would be politicized by the Trump administration. New York's attorney general revealing those deaths were underreported by up to 50 percent, meaning that seniors who died in a hospital were counted in hospital tolls, not nursing homes.
GOV. ANDREW CUOMO (D-NY): We should have done a better job of providing as much as information as we could.
RESHEF: It comes amid new allegations of sexual harassment against Cuomo by former staffer Lindsey Boylan. In a blog post, Boylan alleging several unsettling episodes including a 2017 flight where she says the Governor joked, “let's play strip poker.” Four staffers who were on the plane pushing back saying the conversation never happened. The governor's press secretary in a statement saying, “claims of inappropriate behavior are quite simply false.”
[Cuts back to live]
And, David, Lindsey Boylan is now running for office here in Manhattan. Governor Cuomo denied her allegations when she first tweeted them back in December. David.
MUIR: Erielle Reshef reporting tonight. Ariel, thank you.
