Chris Cuomo Accused Of Sexual Misconduct Days Before Firing

Former CNN anchor Chris Cuomo, whom the network suspended indefinitely and then fired for backchanneling information to aid in the defense of his brother, ex-New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D), who resigned last summer over allegations of sexual misconduct, now faces similar accusations of his own.

Attorney Debra Katz said that last Wednesday, she had filed a complaint with CNN that the younger Cuomo had harassed her client, who wished to remain anonymous.

“By Friday, I was in discussions with CNN about providing documentary evidence of my client’s allegations and making my client available for an interview with CNN’s outside counsel. CNN acted promptly on my client’s complaint and fired Mr. Cuomo,” Katz told Newsweek.

She said that her client was “disgusted” by Cuomo’s duplicitous behavior, which New York Attorney General Letitia James publicly revealed last month included secretly communicating with people inside his brother’s circle in order to discredit the former governor’s victims, or at the very least, get ahead of their stories.

“In the wake of public sexual harassment allegations against former Governor Andrew Cuomo, Chris Cuomo looked directly into the camera and told viewers of Cuomo Prime Time, ‘I have always cared very deeply about these issues and profoundly so. I just wanted to tell you that,'” Katz said.

“Subsequently, the Attorney General released jaw-dropping documentary evidence demonstrating that Chris Cuomo played an active role in attempting to smear women whom the Attorney General concluded had made serious allegations of sexual harassment and sexual misconduct against the Governor,” said Katz. “Hearing the hypocrisy of Chris Cuomo’s on-air words and disgusted by his efforts to try to discredit these women, my client retained counsel to report his serious sexual misconduct against her to CNN.”

Cuomo has denied any wrongdoing.

A spokesperson for CNN said that “based on the report we received regarding Chris’s conduct with his brother’s defense, we had cause to terminate. When new allegations came to us this week, we took them seriously, and saw no reason to delay taking immediate action.”