In addition to breaking the news Tuesday night that disgraced former CNN host Chris Cuomo’s TV career was getting resurrected on their network, NewsNation’s Dan Abrams Live featured the lesser Cuomo attempting to rewrite history in terms of the media’s criticism of his interviews with his disgraced brother Andrew Cuomo when he was still governor of New York. “They should have said it at the time if they really felt it,” he chided.
In one of his early questions, Abrams asked his admitted long-time friend about how articles refer to him as “disgraced anchor Chris Cuomo” and “how does that feel?” Cuomo says it feels “terrible” but he was raised to be a tough guy and shakes it off. “But your kids, your loved ones, they have to wear that badge as well,” he added.
Abrams noted the “controversy started” with his interviews with Andrew during the early months of COVID. But Cuomo pushed back with revisionist history claiming “the media was pretty quiet when Andrew was first coming on the show.”
Despite now admitting “there's a conflict of interest,” Cuomo insisted “people got that” and “nobody thought I was interviewing my brother the way I interview other people. That wasn’t the point of purpose of those things.”
Cuomo was rhetorically flailing as he lashed out at the critics in the media and accused them of applying an unfair “purity test” retroactively:
And I even said at the time and people are like “you don't need to say that” the time will come when he can't come on the show anymore. There will be a time for accountability. There always is in crisis and I can't cover him about that.
People got that. The media should have gotten it. They should have seen it for what it was. And I believe that there was a purity test that was applied to that. That wasn't really fair given the context and circumstances as people understood them.
But that’s ridiculous. Even if he didn’t want to include criticism from right-wing outlets like NewsBusters, there was plenty of unease and questions about the journalistic ethics of the arraignment from more left-wing outlets from the start.
Washington Post media critic Erik Wemple had penned pieces raising criticisms about “Cuomo-on-Cuomo” interviews dating back to 2013 and a train derailment. He even appeared on CNN’s Reliable Sources and called out the Cuomo “love-a-thons” during COVID.
“I don't like the convenience of that opinion becoming stronger and stronger the farther we got from that moment and when my brother was in trouble,” Cuomo whined. He also suggested they were too scared to speak out because “too many of us in this business that say the right thing only at the right time and not when it's going to be unpopular. Not when you're going to be flying in the face of public sentiment.”
He did have some positive things to say about the media. When asked if he saw his now-dead CNN show as an “opinion show or a new show,” he called it “a meaningless and weaponized distinction” and praised the media for the work they’re doing:
It's the fringes I worry about, not the mainstream media. We have the best media I've ever been around in the world. The resources the men and women, the resolve. They are honest now … Our media is good. It is strong.
He also lashed out at the media’s critics by suggesting those “indicting the media” are only doing it “for personal gain.”
And even though he was interviewing his friend (which he was honest about), Abrams did press Cuomo on allegations of abusing his connections as a journalist to benefit his brother, allegations of intimidating at least one of his brother’s accusers, allegations of lying to CNN about his actions, and allegations of his own sexual misconduct. All of which Cuomo denies.
The transcript is below, click "expand" to read:
NewsNation’s Dan Abrams Live
July 26, 2022
9:02: 42 p.m. Eastern(…)
DAN ABRAMS: You and I were talking before about the fact that when you read articles. The articles describe you as “disgraced anchor Chris Cuomo.”
CHRIS CUOMO: Yeah, that's nice.
ABRAMS: How does that feel?
CUOMO: Terrible. For me? No. You don’t grow up the way I did and do this many years in this ugly business and not get a skin nor real hide. But your kids, your loved ones, they have to wear that badge as well.
That's a double-edged sword for me because, you know, growing up that way with my father. And then my brother. I had always told myself. I'm not going to do it this way. I never wanted to be in politics, but I want to let my kids be their own people. And then he ran. And there's regret that goes along with that.
(…)
9:05:02 p.m. Eastern
ABRAMS: Let's talk about some of the specifics here. It started really the controversy started with regard to your brother when you started interviewing him during COVID.
CUOMO: Right.
ABRAMS: Do you regret that?
CUOMO: No. But I think it's more fair to say – subject to your own counter – that the media was pretty quiet when Andrew was first coming on the show. Why? Because people – it resonated with people in a way that nothing – I've won almost every award that the TV journalism business has to offer mostly because I work with the best teams that TV journalism has to offer.
I've never had people thank me for what they saw as the help that they got during my reporting when I was sick with COVID, about the people around us who are in charge of COVID, and the interviews with my brother. Which my – everything I know about the situation tells me that, of course, there's a conflict of interest, but people got that, Dan. Nobody thought I was interviewing my brother the way I interview other people. That wasn’t the point of purpose of those things.
And I even said at the time and people are like “you don't need to say that” the time will come when he can't come on the show anymore. There will be a time for accountability. There always is in crisis and I can't cover him about that.
People got that. The media should have gotten it. They should have seen it for what it was. And I believe that there was a purity test that was applied to that. That wasn't really fair given the context and circumstances as people understood them.
That said. You are correct. That was something that was going to come back to haunt me. It was just a question of when.
ABRAMS: And look – and I publicly stated I agree with your position with regard to those interviews during COVID. But as you know, there were people in the journalism community who said, “he can characterize it however he wants. He can say, oh, just about getting information out there. The bottom line is his brother was the governor of New York. He's a Democrat. He's a politician. And he's coming on a program that's supposed to be doing journalism.” And that was the argument.
CUOMO: It's a good argument. And I think on the written test you get an “A.” But life isn't a written test, it's a practical test and you have to take the circumstances as they are. And I will say this. I don't like the convenience of that opinion becoming stronger and stronger the farther we got from that moment and when my brother was in trouble.
They should have said it at the time if they really felt it. But they didn't. Why? Because people appreciated the interviews and there too many of us in this business that say the right thing only at the right time and not when it's going to be unpopular. Not when you're going to be flying in the face of public sentiment. And I think that's important here also.
Do I regret interviewing my brother? Selfishly? I'd be a fool. If I didn't want to try to do some retrospective course correction to save me some of the travails. But that’s not how life works.
(…)
9:44:57 p.m. Eastern
ABRAMS: When you were doing your CNN show, did you view it as an opinion show or a new show?
CUOMO: No. I think it's – I think that's a meaningless and weaponized distinction to be honest. And it's not – by the way, transparent is different than honest.
I am not indicting the media. That is done gratuitously and for personal gain. It's the fringes I worry about, not the mainstream media. We have the best media I've ever been around in the world. The resources the men and women, the resolve. They are honest now.
Now, is everybody honest? No. Anyplace you find a system, you're going to find a range of personal accountability and, you know, aptitude in whatever the business is. So, that's not a fair basis. Our media is good. It is strong. There are problems. The problems are getting worse. But that’s not—
ABRAMS: The public doesn't trust it.
CUOMO: But look, the public doesn't trust anything.
(…)
