CNN went ahead and allowed Prime Time host Chris Cuomo to do his show Monday night under a darkening cloud of mistrust and scandal. The cause? New evidence released by the New York attorney general’s office exposed how intertwined Chris was with the executive office of his brother, former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo as he faced multiple accusations of sexual misconduct. And while he ignored the revelations, Chris had the nerve to scold others for similar transgressions.
At the top of his show, where one would expect him to address the scandal, he ignored it and instead chose to wish a “Happy Hanukah to my Jewish brothers and sisters. Enjoy night two of the festival of lights.”
“And I hope Thanksgiving was a reminder for everybody of the good people and the good things in your life. Lord knows we could use the help, right,” he added, possibly hinting at himself.
From there, he scolded the Biden administration saying they should be more transparent in releasing information about the new Omicron variant of Covid-19:
And just a note for the record. Let's hope they keep that same energy. And that it will be aided by the President and his emissaries, letting us know what they know when they know it. Don't continue this pattern of us having to catch there were things you knew that you could have told us and didn't. Please, let's do better.
Let’s do better indeed, Chris. How about you start by admitting to your viewers you lied to them about having a minor role in your brother’s defense?
According to text messages he sent to Andrew’s top aide, Melissa DeRosa, Chris was using his journalistic sources and connections in the media to snoop on other media organizations to get a heads up about new accusations and dig up dirt on at least one accuser. And he directed her to “delete” the evidence of their communication.
But that didn’t stop him from preaching out how “we are in the midst of a real virus of poisoned politics” and “we have to be extra careful” because “it is not just about accuracy it’s about the atmosphere.”
Chris didn’t address the scandal at any point during his show. But during the handoff, his close friend and fellow CNN host, Don Lemon had words of encouragement for him:
DON LEMON: It’s good to see you.
CUOMO: It’s good to see you brother.
LEMON: I know you had a great Thanksgiving. I hope you did. I missed you. I am grateful for your friendship and you’re love. I think you are fantastic, one of the kindest people I know on this planet. And there you go. I meant every word.
Cuomo also noted that it was the first Thanksgiving in his family’s new house. Likely the house he was having constructed when he was caught by a cyclist breaking his Covid quarantine, which he also lied about.
Just minutes into Chris’s show, CNN media journalists and misconduct apologist Brian Stelter defended the decision to not disclose the truth to viewers. “For what it's worth, when Chris Cuomo addressed his actions on the air back in August, he said ‘this will be my final word on it,’ and he hasn't addressed the matter on TV since,” he tweeted like the good company man he is.
For what it's worth, when Chris Cuomo addressed his actions on the air back in August, he said "this will be my final word on it," and he hasn't addressed the matter on TV since. https://t.co/rbaxBMNOhn
— Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) November 30, 2021
Hey Brian, do you know what else he said in his August comments? “I'm not an advisor. I'm a brother. I wasn't in control of anything. I was there to listen and offer my take and my advice to my brother was simple and consistent.”
In his so-called “Reliable Sources” newsletter later that night, Stelter repeated that argument and tried to take the edge off of Cuomo’s lies to viewers and the misconduct (Click “expand”):
Chris had generally acknowledged and defended advising his brother – but the scope of how the anchor aimed to help his brother was more considerable than previously known. And he was more intimately involved than anyone on the outside appreciated.
(…)
Monday's document dump included Chris Cuomo's sworn testimony to investigators. He acknowledged that he did attempt to learn more about a forthcoming story by Ronan Farrow and defended the practice as conventional: "The idea of one reporter calling another to find out about what's coming down the pipe is completely business-as-usual."
If something like this happened at Fox News, the entire network would be trying to get the person fired and they would be calling every advertiser to pressure them to drop not just the show but the network as well. They would also call it an attack on democracy and the Frist Amendment.
CNN has not responded to NewsBusters’ request for comment and to answer questions.
Mendacity. This is CNN.
The lack of accountability for Chris Cuomo’s journalistic malpractice was made possible because of lucrative sponsorships from Amazon, AT&T, and Panera Bread. Their contact information is linked so you can tell them about the biased news they fund.
The transcript is below, click "expand" to read:
CNN’s Cuomo Prime Time
November 29, 2021
9:01:37 p.m. EasternCHRIS CUOMO: All right. I'm Chris Cuomo. Welcome to primetime. Happy Hanukah to my Jewish brothers and sisters. Enjoy night two of the festival of lights. And I hope Thanksgiving was a reminder for everybody of the good people and the good things in your life. Lord knows we could use the help, right?
Now, I will take a little bit of a different take than a lot of other media. I don't know that it helped this Thanksgiving holiday to have the media blasting word of this new Covid variant Omicron. Of course the information is news. But the timing. The tone. The hype. Goes way beyond that which is justified by the urgency at this point.
(…)
9:04:00 p.m. Eastern
CUOMO: And just a note for the record. Let's hope they keep that same energy. And that it will be aided by the President and his emissaries, letting us know what they know when they know it. Don't continue this pattern of us having to catch there were things you knew that you could have told us and didn't. Please, let's do better.
So far, again, little to panic on based on the facts. Are there cases here? Maybe. They don't know. There are cases nearby in Canada and at least 17 other countries. There’s no good reason to believe it wouldn't come here. Again, it could be here. We just don't know. We have therefore no idea what this variant means for us here.
(…)
9:27:28 p.m. Eastern
CUOMO: And why do we have to be extra careful? It is not just about accuracy it’s about the atmosphere. We are in the midst of a real virus of poisoned politics. It was a call today between two members of Congress at odds after one of them equated the other to terrorists because she is Muslim. And that call went bad fast.
(…)
Don Lemon Tonight
10:01:03 p.m. EasternDON LEMON: It’s good to see you.
CUOMO: It’s good to see you brother.
LEMON: I know you had a great Thanksgiving. I hope you did. I missed you. I am grateful for your friendship and you’re love. I think you are fantastic, one of the kindest people I know on this planet. And there you go. I meant every word.
CUOMO: Well, I am thankful for you in my life. It was great to see you having a good time. I like the friends-giving tradition.
LEMON: Yes.
CUOMO: For us it was great to be in the house for the first time and was all good, man. One memory at a time. It's always better with you but good to know you were having fun where you were.
LEMON: I'm glad you got to be with your family. And you know I usually spend – I do friends-giving and do a big Christmas and New Year’s with my family before I head off and do the thing with Anderson and Andy.
(…)
