Chris Cuomo Says His CNN Suspension Is ‘Embarrassing, but I Understand It’

By Mollie Cahillane 

Following Chris Cuomo‘s indefinite suspension from CNN on Tuesday, the host of Cuomo Primetime addressed the situation for the first time Wednesday on his SiriusXM radio show, Let’s Get After It with Chris Cuomo.

“It hurts to even say it. It’s embarrassing, but I understand it,” said Cuomo. “And I understand why some people feel the way they do about what I did. I’ve apologized in the past. I mean it. It’s the last thing I ever wanted to do was compromise any of my colleagues. And do anything but help.”

Cuomo continued, “I know they have a process that they think is important. I respect that process. So I’m not going to talk about this anymore than that.”

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CNN suspended Cuomo after New York Attorney General Tish James released additional details—transcripts and exhibits—concerning Cuomo’s defense of his brother, former New York governor Andrew Cuomo, amid the state’s investigation into allegations of sexual misconduct.

The host previously said he wasn’t an official advisor to his brother, but did acknowledge that he counseled him and was one of the people who encouraged him to resign the New York State governorship in light of the misconduct allegations.

The newly-released details from the New York AG report include that Cuomo leveraged his journalistic sources to pursue information on the women who accused his brother of sexual misconduct. Chris Cuomo was also actively in touch with a top aide for then-Gov. Cuomo, Melissa DeRosa, concerning incoming media reports that detailed alleged sexual harassment by the then-governor, according to a transcript of his interview with state investigators. Chris Cuomo also tried to help the governor’s office by dictating statements for his older brother to use.

Anderson Cooper addressed the suspension at the end of his 8 p.m. hour last night, reading the CNN statement released earlier yesterday, accompanied by an on-screen graphic showing the statement.

AC 360 will run for two hours (8-10 p.m.) while Cuomo is suspended, matching the show’s format before Cuomo Primetime launched in the 9 p.m. hour in 2018.

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