A devastating cache of documents from the sexual harassment probe that forced Andrew Cuomo from office reveals how extensively his brother, CNN host Chris Cuomo, was involved in efforts to stanch the bleeding from a sitting governor’s scandal.
The newly revealed trove of text messages and investigative interview transcripts, made public Monday by Attorney General Letitia James, also appeared to put the younger Cuomo’s high-profile cable TV job in peril.
The materials show how Chris Cuomo desperately scrambled to assist his big brother — even by reaching out to “sources” in the news industry for information — despite publicly claiming that all he did was “listen” and “offer my take.”
Late Monday afternoon, CNN finally broke its silence on the matter, with the left-leaning network saying it was reviewing the documents and suggesting the “Cuomo Prime Time” host’s future hung in the balance.
“The thousands of pages of additional transcripts and exhibits that were released today by the NY Attorney General deserve a thorough review and consideration,” the statement said.
“We will be having conversations and seeking additional clarity about their significance as they relate to CNN over the next several days.”
Last year, Chris Cuomo, 51, told listeners of his Sirius XM show that he’d renewed his CNN contract, which the Celebrity Net Worth website says is worth $6 million a year.
Among other things, the evidence compiled by James shows that Chris Cuomo — who’s come under fire for advising his brother, 63, amid the scandal — told investigators that he tried to keep Alec Baldwin from advocating on Andrew Cuomo’s behalf.
Dozens of text messages also show Chris Cuomo and Melissa DeRosa, then Andrew Cuomo’s top aide, discussing how to respond to the mounting allegations and his brother’s accusers.
At one point — on March 7, just a week after Andrew Cuomo authorized James to commission an outside probe — DeRosa wrote, “Rumor going around from politico 1-2 more ppl coming out tomorrow.”
“Can u check your sources,” she added.
“On it,” Chris Cuomo responded.
Later that day, he texted her: “No resign. No resign. No resign.”
She responded, “No resign.”
During a July 15 interview with investigators hired by James, Chris Cuomo described contacting “another journalist” about a planned New Yorker magazine article about his brother by Ronan Farrow, who won a Pulitzer Prize for helping expose sexual misconduct by Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein.
“And did you tell anyone at CNN that you were contacting journalists about whether the Ronan Farrow piece about your brother would be coming out?” lawyer Jennifer Kennedy Park asked.
“No, not specifically,” Chris Cuomo answered.
Kennedy Park then asked if it was “out of the ordinary” for him “to make calls on behalf of the executive chamber or behalf of your brother.”
“Well, I didn’t see it that way,” he said.
Chris Cuomo further claimed that “the idea of one reporter calling another to find out about what’s coming down the pipe is completely business-as-usual.”
The documents also show the younger Cuomo on March 1 critiqued a statement his brother issued a day earlier and sent DeRosa what he thought should have been the response to harassment allegations by former aide Charlotte Bennett.
“Here’s what he should have said. ‘I have carefully considered Ms. Bennett’s statement and my own conduct. I don’t dispute that our conversation was as she reports,’” Chris Cuomo testified.
“‘I also do not dispute that my words and supervisory position may have created a hostile work environment. I apologize to Ms. Bennett and will promptly seek to personally communicate my apology to her. I also apologize to the people of New York State who have a right to better conduct for their governor. This will not happen again.’”
In a March 10 text to DeRosa, he also apparently invoked the names of political consultant Lis Smith and pollster Jefrey Pollock while saying, “You need to trust me lis and jeff more. Not these other people. We are making mistakes we cant afford.”
And in another text later that day, he mentioned an unnamed woman who “has problems with story” and about whom someone “may want to talk.”
“And I know this. Delete thread now,” he added seconds later.
Chris Cuomo testified that he got involved because “My brother asked me to be in the loop. And so from time to time, I would be contacted by Melissa or another member more frequently.”
But during her own testimony on July 6, DeRosa said, “Chris sends me a lot of things a lot of the time.”
“Half of it I don’t engage in. He gives unsolicited advice,” she added.
The Aug. 3 sexual harassment report issued against Andrew Cuomo by James revealed that Chris Cuomo got “confidential and often privileged information about state operations” while helping strategize his brother’s response to the allegations against him.
That detail sparked outrage among CNN employees, one of whom told BuzzFeed it was a “disgrace to journalism” that the younger Cuomo “wasn’t fired over his inappropriate conflict of interest.”
It was later revealed that while on vacation amid the scandal, Chris Cuomo told his brother to resign as governor, just days before Andrew finally pulled the plug on Aug. 10.
When he returned from vacation, on Aug. 16, Chris Cuomo used his 9 p.m. weeknight show to claim that network rules prohibited him from covering the blockbuster event — and tried to downplay his role in helping his brother.
“I never reported on the scandal. And when it happened, I tried to be there for my brother. I’m not an adviser, I’m a brother. I wasn’t in control of anything. I was there to listen, offer my take,” he said.
During his July 15 interview, Chris Cuomo testified that both he and his brother know Baldwin and that an unidentified “very good friend” called and told him, “Alec wants to talk about cancel culture or political correctness.”
“I asked him not to. I said, ‘Tell him to stay out of it. It’s not necessary,’” Chris Cuomo said.
When asked why he didn’t want help from the former “30 Rock” star, Chris Cuomo said, “I wasn’t in favor of it happening because I didn’t think that Alec Baldwin weighing in on this one way or the other was necessarily helpful or respectful to the situation.”
But Baldwin — now embroiled in controversy over the fatal shooting on the set of his movie “Rust” — ignored the younger Cuomo’s request and in early March posted a nearly 15-minute video on Instagram that appeared to reference the AG’s probe.
James, who’s seeking the Democratic nomination to run for governor next year, has said she’s releasing the material “to provide full transparency to the people of New York” in the wake of the misdemeanor charge filed against Andrew Cuomo last month.
The former governor is accused of groping an aide, Brittany Commisso, 33, inside Albany’s Executive Mansion last year.
