{"id":1410197,"date":"2022-03-30T13:01:48","date_gmt":"2022-03-30T17:01:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1410197"},"modified":"2022-03-30T13:02:09","modified_gmt":"2022-03-30T17:02:09","slug":"the-7-most-underreported-cnn-scandals-in-chris-cuomos-legal-complaint","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/the-7-most-underreported-cnn-scandals-in-chris-cuomos-legal-complaint\/","title":{"rendered":"The 7 Most Underreported CNN Scandals In Chris Cuomo\u2019s Legal Complaint"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">22<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fthe-7-most-underreported-cnn-scandals-in-chris-cuomos-legal-complaint%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1410197&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/dw-wp-production.imgix.net\/2022\/03\/CNN.jpg?w=1200&#038;h=800&#038;ixlib=react-9.3.0\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\" alt=\"image\" \/><\/div>\n<p>Chris Cuomo, who spent years as the highest-rated anchor on low-rated CNN\u2019s prime time roster, has filed a bombshell legal complaint, exposing numerous previously unknown scandals involving his former employer.<\/p>\n<p>If Cuomo\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/news\/chris-cuomo-demands-125-million-from-cnn-cuomos-journalistic-integrity-unjustifiably-smeared\">$125 million<\/a> arbitration request is to be believed, even the most cynical view of how CNN executives deliberately skewed the network\u2019s political coverage against Republicans and in favor of Democrats, flouted journalistic ethics, and cozied up to powerful politicos for their own benefit is too kind.<\/p>\n<p>Here are a few of the most damning allegations Chris Cuomo makes in his latest legal filings, which were obtained and <a href=\"https:\/\/deadline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/Cuomo-CNN-Arbitration-Demand-1.pdf\">published<\/a> by Deadline.<\/p>\n<p><strong>1. CNN\u2019s leaders advised then-Governor Andrew Cuomo \u2014 and gave him advice on \u2018responding\u2019 to Trump\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Chris Cuomo first encountered real turbulence with CNN leaders when The Washington Post reported that he advised his brother,\u00a0then New York Governor Andrew Cuomo (D), on how to handle numerous allegations of sexual harassment. The network later suspended him on the grounds that his role exceeded anything he disclosed. But Cuomo maintains not only that the network knew all about his role in helping his brother, but that the network brass advised Governor Cuomo themselves.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cUntil May 2021, CNN never asked Cuomo to stop or curtail his efforts to assist his brother through the sexual harassment allegations, despite being fully aware of Cuomo\u2019s role assisting him,\u201d the filing says \u2014 an allegation it makes numerous times.<\/p>\n<p>But then comes a new wrinkle according to Cuomo\u2019s filing: Then-CNN President Jeff Zucker and his paramour Allison Gollust \u2014 Governor Cuomo\u2019s former communications director \u2014 gave Governor Cuomo advice regarding his handling of COVID-19.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cZucker and Gollust acted as advisors to Gov. Cuomo during this time by providing him with talking points and strategies for responding to statements made by then-President Donald Trump,\u201d says Chris Cuomo\u2019s legal brief.<\/p>\n<p>Furthermore, Cuomo alleges that Gollust also gave advice to the governor about how to respond to the sexual harassment allegations. He cited a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wsj.com\/articles\/cnn-probe-finds-allison-gollust-assisted-chris-cuomo-in-his-efforts-to-help-andrew-cuomo-11645829880\">Wall Street Journal article<\/a> that notes Gollust \u201csent Chris Cuomo a sentence she said she would have added to a statement that Andrew Cuomo had issued earlier that day in February of last year, after an accuser went public.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Gollust also asked Cuomo \u201cwhether one of Gov. Cuomo\u2019s accusers had ever said publicly that Gov. Cuomo had never touched her, saying that CNN should report on such a statement if it had been made,\u201d Cuomo\u2019s legal complaint says.<\/p>\n<p>Gollust strongly denied the charges through spokeswoman Risa Heller. \u201cAllison Gollust never offered advice or counsel to Andrew Cuomo. Period,\u201d Heller told WSJ. \u201cIf she wanted to advise the governor, she could have called or texted him directly (she didn\u2019t).\u201d Heller went on to call Gollust\u2019s texts \u201cmundane\u201d and \u201cinnocuous\u201d while dismissing the accusations as \u201cfarfetched.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>2. CNN arranged the questions Andrew Cuomo would be asked on the air <\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Allison Gollust \u201cagreed to pre-arrange questions for Gov. Cuomo in advance of interviews,\u201d Chris Cuomo states. Then-Governor Cuomo had a longstanding relationship with Gollust, whom he\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/media\/former-cnn-exec-gollust-gleefully-texted-andrew-cuomo-trump\">hired<\/a> as his communications director between her stints working with Zucker at NBC and CNN (October 2012 until March 2013). The New York Times <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2022\/02\/18\/business\/media\/allison-gollust-cnn-cuomo.html\">reported<\/a> that before a March 2020 CNN interview:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p><em>Governor Cuomo had told a senior CNN executive, Allison Gollust, about subjects that he\u2019d like to be asked about on air, according to several people familiar with the matter. Ms. Gollust, CNN\u2019s longtime chief of communications and marketing and a former top aide of the governor, passed along the topics to CNN producers and then reported back to the governor.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>\u201cDone,\u201d she wrote.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>The newspaper of record noted it is \u201cunusual\u201d for a senior producer to be involved in this stage of the interview process, especially one involving a former employer. Even Gollust seemed to find the arrangement unusual, texting the governor, \u201cI\u2019m pretty sure I stopped being your publicist 8 years ago, but apparently I still am.\u201d But Rolling Stone reported that Gollust praised Governor Cuomo after a CNN interview, \u201cWell done\u2009.\u2009.\u2009.\u2009Cuomo-W. Trump-L.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The interlude adds fuel to the notion that Gollust and Governor Cuomo\u2019s relationship amounted to a never-ending <em>quid pro quo<\/em>. For instance, Gollust\u2019s spokeswoman acknowledges that Gollust asked the governor to help a friend get past bureaucratic red tape in order to open a business.<\/p>\n<p>Gollust once texted Cuomo, \u201cI never ask you for favors, but\u2009.\u2009.\u2009.\u201d Cuomo replied, \u201cYes, u do ask me for favors, and that\u2019s okay. It\u2019s mutual.\u201d That favoritism apparently extended to CNN interviews. \u201cThe network brass\u2019s interactions with the governor represented <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/news\/cnn-perpetrated-the-worst-kind-of-journalistic-lapse-in-bashing-trump-promoting-andrew-cuomo-experts\">the worst kind of journalistic lapse<\/a>,\u201d wrote journalist Tatiana Siegel.<\/p>\n<p><strong>3. CNN told Chris Cuomo to conduct his \u2018comedic\u2019 interviews with his brother<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>One of Chris Cuomo\u2019s most controversial on-air interactions came during a series of interviews he conducted with his brother during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. It was also the height of Governor Cuomo\u2019s popularity, as the media built him up as a competent Democratic alternative to President Donald Trump. But Chris Cuomo says he never wanted to perform any of the interviews; he and his brother were forced.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDespite Cuomo\u2019s and Gov. Cuomo\u2019s expressed reservations, CNN demanded through its leadership that Cuomo interview Gov. Cuomo frequently.\u201d That request came from Allison Gollust, who \u201ccommunicated directly with Gov. Cuomo to tell him how \u2018important\u2019 it was to Zucker that Gov. Cuomo appear on Cuomo\u2019s show,\u201d alleges Chris Cuomo.<\/p>\n<p>The younger Cuomo says he and his brother dutifully complied with the network\u2019s order to appear together on camera as frequently as possible. \u201cIndeed, between March 19, 2020 and June 24, 2020, Gov. Cuomo appeared on Cuomo\u2019s program nine times. These interviews became wildly popular among viewers, and CNN benefited enormously from the resulting ratings bonanza,\u201d the complaint says.<\/p>\n<p>The two brothers gave CNN viewers a rehash of the classic <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=MuyLbp1kQxY\">Smothers Brothers\u2019 sibling rivalry act<\/a> from the 1960s. Chris also engaged in prop comedy with multiple oversized Q-tips supposedly being used to test his brother for COVID-19. For his part, the governor yucked it up, calling himself \u201ca cool dude in a loose mood.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>A <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2020\/04\/05\/business\/media\/brothers-cuomo-andrew-chris.html?smid=emshare.\">New York Times article<\/a> of that era described Zucker as moving news in the direction of \u201creality television.\u201d But NowThis News at the time <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=vHGhAIEqJcg\">called<\/a> the brothers \u201cAmerica\u2019s Favorite TV Family.\u201d<\/p>\n[embedded content]\n<p><strong>4. CNN brass hinted they would fire Chris Cuomo if Andrew Cuomo appeared on other networks<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Jeffrey Zucker and Allison Gollust supposedly used Chris Cuomo\u2019s employment as a bargaining chip to keep Governor Andrew Cuomo from appearing on other networks \u2014 and to maximize the then-popular governor\u2019s appearances on CNN. \u201cCNN, through executives Zucker and Zucker\u2019s second-in- command, Allison Gollust \u2026 made a concerted effort to cement and strengthen the network\u2019s ties to Gov. Cuomo and his administration and control his media presence for CNN\u2019s exclusive benefit. CNN pushed Gov. Cuomo not to appear on other networks, intimating that not honoring CNN\u2019s request might threaten [Chris] Cuomo\u2019s professional standing with the network,\u201d the legal complaint says.<\/p>\n<p>The network also allegedly \u201crequested that Gov. Cuomo hold his daily COVID-19 press conference at a time that was most suitable for the network based on its program schedule and when its ratings were weakest.\u201d The time when CNN\u2019s \u201cratings were weakest\u201d should have given Governor Cuomo a significant range of time to choose from.<\/p>\n<p><strong>5. CNN execs used their relationship with Governor Cuomo to get COVID-19 tests<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>An early Chris Cuomo scandal occurred when he was accused of gaining access to highly sought-after COVID-19 rapid tests thanks to his family connections to the governor. It later emerged that Chris Cuomo was offered\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/news\/chris-cuomo-was-offered-early-access-to-covid-19-treatment\">human blood<\/a> plasma from a donor who had recovered from COVID-19, an experimental treatment before the vaccine became available. But Chris Cuomo\u2019s legal filings say CNN network executives exploited their proximity to Governor Andrew Cuomo for the same purpose. \u201cNotably, for years CNN did not discipline Gollust or Zucker for their egregious violations of CNN policy, including both Gollust and Zucker using their privileged access to Gov. Cuomo to secure COVID tests,\u201d Cuomo says.<\/p>\n<p><strong>6. CNN has no journalistic ethics<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Chris Cuomo\u2019s arbitration complaint establishes numerous allegations that CNN had no real journalistic code of ethics. Zucker selectively applied rules to shield favored commentators and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/news\/cnn-fires-rick-santorum-after-he-claimed-founding-fathers-birthed-a-nation-from-nothing\">punish disfavored employees<\/a> (especially <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/news\/rick-santorums-firing-proves-cnn-doesnt-want-to-hear-anyone-who-sounds-like-you\">political conservatives<\/a>):<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p><em>CNN has a long-established pattern and practice of selectively enforcing its policies based on cynical calculations of public perception. Indeed, CNN fostered a culture in which \u2018exceptions\u2019 to the network\u2019s standards and practices were routinely sanctioned, and that culture began at the top with Zucker and Gollust. As long as CNN\u2019s ratings would not be hurt, Zucker and Gollust were more than willing to overlook major transgressions by CNN personalities such as Don Lemon and Jake Tapper, or even to engage in blatant misconduct themselves.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Cuomo notes that actor Jussie Smollett said during his trial that CNN\u2019s Don Lemon told him that Chicago police did not believe his tale that angry men attacked him and threw a noose around his neck as they shouted, \u201cThis is MAGA country!\u201d Cuomo mentions CNN legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin\u2019s restoration at the network following his \u201csordid act of sexual harassment.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Interestingly, Chris Cuomo cites Fox News as a \u2014 to coin a phrase \u2014 <em>reliable source<\/em> when it comes to the activities of his former CNN colleagues. \u201cFox News reported on September 10, 2020 that CNN anchor Jake Tapper had repeatedly urged Congressional candidate Sean Parnell not to run against Rep. Conor Lamb, but to run in a \u2018safer,\u2019 more heavily Republican district,\u201d Cuomo\u2019s complaint notes, adding that the network took no action against Tapper.<\/p>\n<p>This author reported allegations that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/news\/former-cnn-employee-says-outlet-has-no-real-ethical-code\">CNN has no real ethical code<\/a> and tilted its journalistic ethics as it saw fit. \u201cYou won\u2019t see any rules that are etched in stone so that a violation could be a firing offense,\u201d said Steve Holmes, who spent a decade at CNN before retiring during Zucker\u2019s tenure at CNN. \u201cThey can\u2019t say that [Cuomo]\u2019s violated any written policies because there aren\u2019t any, period.\u201d Cuomo essentially endorsed that view, saying, \u201cCNN fostered a culture in which the network\u2019s standards and practices were a constantly moving target, modified at CNN executives\u2019 discretion as they saw fit.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>7. Chris Cuomo thinks he has journalistic integrity<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Chris Cuomo\u2019s phenomenal $125 million figure comes, because he\u2019s seeking the remaining $15 million due to him under the terms of his contract, plus $110 million in damages against CNN. The reason? From now on, no one will take him seriously as a journalist.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cCuomo has had <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/news\/chris-cuomo-demands-125-million-from-cnn-cuomos-journalistic-integrity-unjustifiably-smeared\">his journalistic integrity unjustifiably smeared<\/a>,\u201d his legal complaint stated. \u201cAs a direct result of CNN\u2019s calculated efforts to tar and feather him, Cuomo is now untouchable in the world of broadcast journalism, effectively bringing his storied career to a premature end and costing him decades of earnings, exceeding $125 million in consequential damages.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The use of the word \u201cuntouchable\u201d may be ironic. But so, too, are his claims of journalism. In 2020, Tucker Carlson released a tape of Chris Cuomo coaching Donald Trump\u2019s former lawyer Michael Cohen on how to answer questions at the network. The Daily Wire <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/news\/tucker-carlson-releases-bombshell-tape-of-cuomo-coaching-cohen-on-how-to-answer-interview-questions\">reported<\/a> Carlson\u2019s summary of the tape:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p><em>\u201cMichael Cohen was worried about doing the interview because he knew he\u2019d get questions about the payments he made to Stormy Daniels. He wanted Chris Cuomo to tell him what to say,\u201d Carlson continued. \u201cNow on TV, Cuomo might\u2019ve launched into a lecture about how it\u2019s wrong to send money to strippers, but in private, he skipped that lecture.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>\u201c\u2018You will be asked that,\u2019 Chris Cuomo told Michael Cohen, and you can say, \u2018I did it for him, for Donald Trump. My relationship has always been for him. I\u2019ve always said I don\u2019t speak for the campaign, I speak for him as his attorney,\u2019\u201d Carlson continued. \u201cCuomo went on to elaborate, \u2018And to the question of motive,\u2019 he told Cohen, \u2018the response would have to be, you can speculate as to why you think I did it all day long, but the only answer is my answer, and I just told you why I did it. You don\u2019t get to speculate because if you can\u2019t prove that I got paid back by Trump or the campaign, it is slander and defamation for you to say that I did.\u2019\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n[embedded content]\n<p><strong>Reflections<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>All of the foregoing is offered with the caveat that this comes from Chris Cuomo\u2019s legal complaint. It may well be false; given Cuomo\u2019s journalistic standards, one would hardly be surprised. But this reporter has included the few responses the subjects have offered; for the most part, they have refused public comment. And the discerning viewer needed no internal document to know something was rotten during Zucker\u2019s highly contentious tenure as network president, which saw the fall of CNN\u2019s ratings eclipsed only by its journalistic integrity, balance, and reliability \u2014 a fall Cuomo\u2019s legal brief confirms in every particular.<\/p>\n<p><em>The Daily Wire is one of America\u2019s fastest-growing conservative media companies and counter-cultural outlets for news, opinion, and entertainment. Get inside access to The Daily Wire by becoming a\u00a0<\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/subscribe\"><em>member<\/em><\/a><em>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Chris Cuomo, who spent years as the highest-rated anchor on low-rated CNN\u2019s prime time roster, has filed a bombshell legal complaint, exposing numerous previously unknown scandals involving his former employer.If<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":76,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1410197","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1410197","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/76"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1410197"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1410197\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1410197"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1410197"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1410197"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}