Chris Cuomo Returns To CNN, Reveals What He Told Brother Andrew Cuomo

The CNN host has been under fire for crossing ethical lines with his brother, the disgraced New York governor who resigned amid sexual harassment allegations.
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CNN’s Chris Cuomo is breaking his silence about his brother, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D), who resigned last week after a report by the state attorney general concluded he sexually harassed multiple women.

“I never covered my brother’s troubles because I have an obvious conflict,” he said on Monday night at the close of his show, his first broadcast since the resignation. “And there are rules at CNN about that.”

Cuomo disputed reports that he served as an adviser to his brother as the scandal grew.

“I’m not an adviser, I’m a brother,” he said. “I wasn’t in control of anything, I was there to listen and offer my take.”

The Washington Post reported in spring that the CNN host participated in phone calls with his brother’s senior staff discussing how to deal with the allegations, and urged him to “take a defiant position and not to resign from the governor’s office.”

In May, the TV anchor called it a “mistake” and said it wouldn’t happen again.

On Monday, Cuomo called it a “unique situation,” and admitted that he gave his brother another piece of advice more recently, which was reported last week by The New York Times.

“I did urge my brother to resign when the time came,” Cuomo said.

The CNN host came under fire for his ethically dubious interviews with his brother in the early days of the pandemic, when New York became one of the nation’s first hotspots.

CNN said earlier this year that the interviews were due to the “extraordinary” circumstances of the COVID-19 pandemic, and that Chris Cuomo would no longer interview his brother.

“It’s never easy being in this business and coming from a political family, especially now,” Cuomo said on Monday. “This situation is unlike anything I could have imagined.”

Andrew Cuomo’s resignation is effective on Aug. 24.

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