Embattled CNN host Chris Cuomo, who’s been under fire this year for giving private counsel to his brother Andrew Cuomo during his sexual harassment scandal, testified this year his advice was also sought by his brother’s team on coronavirus messaging in 2020.
That advice came the same year then-New York Gov. Cuomo enjoyed glowing interviews on his brother Chris’ CNN program and nearly universal media praise for his handling of the pandemic, before revelations about his controversial nursing home directives and a suspected cover-up of COVID-19 deaths began to sink his career.
During his testimony to New York state investigators about then-Gov. Cuomo’s sexual harassment charges in July, Chris Cuomo said when he was passed information from inside his brother’s administration, it was as the brother of the governor, not a journalist, and he was “sometimes” being asked to provide advice or counsel.
“Can you give me an example of a situation prior to December of 2020 when your advice or counsel was sought by the staff of the executive chamber?” Cuomo was asked.
“Discussions about initiatives with the pandemic and messaging from the governor about different aspects of how he was handling the COVID crisis,” Cuomo said, adding “maybe” when asked if he was being looked to for his communications expertise.
He added he viewed his role as the “governor’s brother” and he “generally” provided counsel. Andrew Cuomo resigned in August over the harassment allegations as he faced near-certain impeachment from state lawmakers.
Chris Cuomo, who is a licensed attorney, gave many such evasive or hedging answers during his testimony, saying “I don’t remember” or that he didn’t “recall” dozens of times, often about specific queries concerning conversations with senior staffers.
As the coronavirus pandemic began to rage in 2020, then-Gov. Cuomo appeared on his brother’s CNN show “Cuomo Prime Time” for a series of friendly, lighthearted interviews – one briefly touched on the nursing home directive – that even included prop comedy with nasal swabs, jokes about their mother, and mutual expressions of brotherly love.
This is an excerpt from Fox News.
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