CNN’s Chris Cuomo Under Fire for Failing to Address Brother’s COVID Response Coverup

By Josue Monroy 

Early this week, CNN anchor Chris Cuomo was under fire for failing to report on New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s alleged mishandling and underreporting of COVID-19-related deaths in nursing homes in New York.

In an Op-ed for The Washington Post, Erik Wemple called out Chris for skipping over a press conference in which his brother finally addressed the bombshell report by New York Attorney General Letitia James detailing the mismanagement and eventual misrepresentation of the COVID response in long-term care facilities.

“That story — the hottest on the covid beat on Monday — didn’t make the cut on ‘Cuomo Prime Time.’ Perhaps that shouldn’t be a surprise: Chris Cuomo and Andrew Cuomo are brothers, and journalists can’t reliably cover their brothers,” wrote Wemple referring to the conflict of interest arising from their relationship.

In an interview with Fox and Friends, two sons of a New York nursing home patient that died after contracting the virus lambasted their governor and his brother for misleading the public.

“He’s consistently lied and gaslighted us and called us names from the beginning. In May, I asked on CNN for an apology. Today, [Gov. Cuomo] is still blaming us and deflecting. I’m asking CNN, Chris Cuomo, his brother, to interview us and learn what really happened,” said Daniel Arbeeny, one of the sons.  

Chris is the host of the weeknight news analysis show Cuomo Prime Time on CNN and the younger brother of Andrew. Over the past year, the younger Cuomo brother has had the governor on his show multiple times, often gushing with praise for his office’s response to the pandemic. 

“I’m wowed by how you did it. This was very hard. I know it’s not over, but obviously, I love you as a brother. Obviously, I’ll never be objective. Obviously, I think you’re the best politician in the country,”  said Chris addressing his brother on a June 2020 episode of Cuomo Prime Time.

Moments like this were played as heartwarming family banter in the media and the conflict resulting from the subjective coverage was not immediately addressed by CNN at the time. To his credit, Chris admitted his lack of objectivity plainly and acknowledged it was not sustainable. 

In response to the criticism, CNN stated that it had allowed Cuomo to break with policy and interview a family member only due to the “extraordinary times” citing the pandemic. 

The statement given by CNN even said that, “We felt that Chris speaking with his brother about the challenges of what millions of American families were struggling with was of significant human interest.”

When Cuomo joined the network as an anchor in 2013, he was barred from interviewing his sibling precisely to avoid a situation like the present. Now, the news channel has reverted back to its original position and has made it clear that it is covering the unfolding scandal in the New York Governor’s office objectively, even if Chris Cuomo is not partaking in reporting. 

CNN’s Jake Tapper and Erin Burnett began reporting on the story, but Cuomo has been side-stepping the accusations against his brother, instead opting to cover former-President Trump’s impeachment trial. Currently, the network has continued to cover the story in an objective manner as it develops. 

Governor Cuomo’s office has been overrun after news broke in early February that the New York Department of Health, which Cuomo oversees, underreported the number of COVID-related deaths at nursing homes by as much as 50 percent. A top aide for his office admitted that these numbers were covered up and the full count was not released as recently as August due to fears that then-President Trump would use them against Cuomo. 

Back in May, Cuomo was criticized for enacting a policy that would force nursing homes to take in Covid-stricken patients recently released from hospitals throughout the state. He reversed it, but not after the practice had been going on for months.

After days of silence on the matter, the governor finally addressed the accusations in a news conference on Monday. He stated that the health department had not prioritized the reporting of COVID data and instead was focusing on the immediate response to the pandemic, which caused a “void” of communication, in his words. He did not offer an apology for the controversy.

“The void allowed misinformation and conspiracy, and now people are left with the thought of, ‘Did my loved one have to die?’ And that is a brutal, brutal question to pose to a person,” Cuomo stated.  “And I want everyone to know everything was done. Everything was done by the best minds in the best interest.”

Allegations have also surfaced that Gov. Cuomo had threatened at least one New York lawmaker in attempts to control the fallout from the scandal. Assembly member Ron Kim has alleged that Cuomo called his office late last week and urged him to cover for an aide that spilled information to the press. The call ended with Cuomo threatening to destroy Kim’s career, according to his account of the conversation. He also said the governor’s aides had tried to contact him in the following days. 

Gov. Cuomo’s office has denied the allegations and characterized them as a bad faith smear. Cuomo is up for reelection this year, and his strong pandemic response catapulted him to the national spotlight as a model for other states. His job performance rating reached an all-time high of 71 percent in April 2020 as the pandemic took hold. As of this week, he has dropped to 51 percent after the nursing home deaths scandal went public, and down from 56 percent in January.

Josué Monroy is a 4th year International Relations major at UC Davis. He is from Santa Cruz, CA.