ALBANY, N.Y. (WRGB) — While the video of Chris Cuomo's testimony was just released Thursday, his involvement in trying to mitigate his brother's fall from grace has already cost him dearly.
The news broadcaster was fired by CNN in December when a transcript of his statements was released. Thursday's release of the video shows him explaining his role and the advice he gave his older brother Andrew.
Chris Cuomo admitted to investigators that he participated in conversations with Andrew Cuomo's team about how the governor would respond publicly to accuser Lindsey Boylan's charges made on twitter and in an online blog post.
The former governor's brother told investigators he was a willing participant in strategy sessions, saying he was,"... willing to listen to anything he wanted me to."
The younger Cuomo denied being involved in any discussions about Boylan's personnel file, which was leaked to the press. He testified that he remembered his brother very much wanting to respond to Boylan's accusations and he said while he advised Cuomo to get out in front of it and tell the truth, others were more deliberate. And he said he and his brother discussed the impact of the cancel culture phenomenon on Andrew Cuomo's situation. "I advised him that you cannot ignore these..." he said. "It's not going to go away-- not in our society. Not in our media culture. Not in your party. They're going to come on this and you have to be aware of that, and that's why you can't go after your accusers. It's not right. It's not allowed. The only path is process...
Andrew Cuomo's younger brother added that the then-governor believed the sexual harassment claims against him were quote "...an entire string theory of people coming out to get him head to toe, soup to nuts." And he said in Andrew Cuomo's mind, all those people were working together against him.
Chris Cuomo also told investigators that, when asked, he would reach out to other sources and other journalists to see if they had heard of anybody else coming out but claimed he did not try to influence coverage of his brother. He said he was trying to help his brother by advising him.