Earlier this month, CNN's Prime Time host Chris “Fredo” Cuomo told his viewers couldn’t talk about his brother, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo’s (D) nursing home deaths and sexual harassment scandals on ethical grounds because he’s family. But it’s difficult to see how that ban on Cuomo chatter could hold after a Wednesday bombshell report from the Albany Times-Union found Andrew had allegedly prioritized COVID-19 testing for his family, including Chris.
“High-level members of the state Department of Health were directed last year by Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo and Health Commissioner Dr. Howard Zucker to conduct prioritized coronavirus testing on the governor's relatives as well as influential people with ties to the administration, according to three people with direct knowledge of the matter,” said reporter Brendan J. Lyon.
According to the Times-Union’s sources, “Members of Cuomo's family including his brother, his mother and at least one of his sisters were also tested by top health department officials — some several times…”
Not only did the Cuomo family’s corruption move them to the front of the line, ahead of sick and scared New Yorkers, they also got special private testing by big-wigs in the state’s medical professional scene:
The medical officials enlisted to do the testing, which often took place at private residences, included Dr. Eleanor Adams, an epidemiologist who graduated from Harvard Medical School and in August became a special adviser to Zucker. Adams conducted testing on Cuomo's brother Chris at his residence on Long Island, according to the two people.
Further, “their samples moved to the front of the line at Wadsworth and be given priority. They were referred to as ‘critical samples.’”
Of course, the Cuomo administration denied the allegations.
The Times-Union also discovered that it was one of these “critical samples” that helped to diagnose Chris with COVID-19 and had him “quarantine” in his basement.
As NewsBusters previously documented, Chris refused to adhere to coronavirus safety protocols last Easter and took his family to observe a house he was having built (while he was still COVID positive). We know this because an elderly cyclist called him out, resulting in Cuomo screaming at him and threatening the man. Fredo had even made a reference to the encounter on his SiriusXM radio show. That's not to mention the ridiculous joke interviews the Cuomo brothers would engage.
Not long after the story broke, Washington Post media critic Erik Wemple obtained a statement from Matt Dornic, the head of CNN’s Strategic Communications that defended Chris’s exploitation of his family connection to the governor:
We generally do not get involved in the medical decisions of our employees. However, it is not surprising that in the earliest days of a once-in-a-century global pandemic, when Chris was showing symptoms and was concerned about possible spread, he turned to anyone he could for advice and assistance, as any human being would.
While this story broke before Prime Time normally aired, Chris was not on hand to speak about the scandal since he's currently on conveniently timed vacation this week.
