Media Research Center President Brent Bozell on Friday said that CNN failed “ethics 101" when it comes to handling compromised host Chris Cuomo and his connection to scandal-plagued brother Governor Andrew Cuomo. Appearing on Fox Business’s Varney and Co., Bozell hammered the CNN journalist for advising his brother on how to dismiss sexual harassment claims.
The MRC President, explained, “This is not hard to do. This is ethics 101. And let's remember, this is the number one person at CNN, and [Chris Cuomo is] still there.” Bozell concluded, “He should have resigned.”
Here is Bozell’s tweet from Thursday calling for Chris Cuomo’s resignation:
A transcript is below. Click “expand” to read more.
Varney and Co.
8/6/2021
10:25
JACKIE DEANGELIS: Meantime, there's a new report out there that says executives at CNN offered host Chris Cuomo, quote, “a leave of absence” so he could advise his brother, Governor Andrew Cuomo, during his ongoing sexual harassment scandal. Brent Bozell, the President of the Media Research Center, joins me now. Brent, there is a serious credibility issue. Why are we not addressing the elephant in the room, the credibility issue?
BRENT BOZELL: Boy, hi, Jackie.
DEANGELIS: Hi.
BOZELL: When you think it can't get worse for CNN, something else breaks. CNN, you know, has had this problem where they have insulted conservatives, they've covered up the news, they've done all sorts of things, led by Chris Cuomo. And now you're finding that Chris Cuomo was advising his brother on how to smear people with allegations against him. And he is still on that network. It's not a question that CNN, the story being CNN suggested he might — he should have done it. This is ethics in journalism. He should have said from the start to CNN, “Look, I'm going to be helping my brother,” which is fine. “I'm going to be helping my brother. I'm stepping down and taking a leave of absence from CNN until this is over.” Or he should have said, “I'm going to recuse myself and not have anything to do with the story. But I'm not going to advise my brother while I'm on CNN.” This is not hard, Jackie. This is not hard to do. This is ethics 101. And let's remember, this is the number one person at CNN, and he's still there.
DEANGELIS: Brent, not only is he still there, when the I.G — when the AG report came out on Tuesday, he was on the air Tuesday night X. e ignored the whole situation altogether. This would have been the perfect time to say, “You know what? It's summertime. I'm going to let somebody handle it who can actually address it.” Pretending it wasn't happening is crazy to me.
BOZELL: Right, right. And go back to the nursing home scandal which is bigger because people died in that scandal. Look how he handled that. He refused to cover it.
DEANGELIS: Yeah.
BOZELL: He did a cover-up for his brother. Very quickly, Jackie, When it comes to a conservative on CNN, Jeffrey Lord, Corey Lewandowski, Scottie Nell Hughes, Ed Martin, Senator Rick Santorum, all of them were fired for there being the slightest allegation. But then you've got Jeffrey Toobin who's one of their darlings who was caught masturbating on a Zoom call, he's suspended and brought back.
DEANGELIS: Totally fine.
BOZELL: And now you’ve got Chris Cuomo who was caught doing this. He should have resigned.
DEANGELIS: I've got one word for you, hypocrisy. That's the word of the day.
BOZELL: Oh boy.
DEANGELIS: Great to see you.
