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(Trends Wide) — Trends Wide said Saturday that host Chris Cuomo has been “fired” by the network, “with immediate effect.”
The announcement came after an outside law firm was hired to review information on exactly how Cuomo helped his brother, former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, when the then-governor had a sexual harassment lawsuit.
Trends Wide said in a statement: “Chris Cuomo was suspended earlier this week pending further evaluation of new information that came to light about his involvement in his brother’s defense. We hired a respected law firm to conduct the review and we fired him, effective immediately. “
“During the process of that review, additional information has come to light,” the Trends Wide statement added. “Despite termination, we will investigate as appropriate.”
While the outlines of Chris Cuomo’s involvement with the governor’s office were reported several months ago, the details were honed in in a massive document dump Monday. The documents – released by New York Attorney General Letitia James after an investigation into the governor – showed that Chris Cuomo, while working as one of Trends Wide’s top anchors, was also effectively working as an unpaid aide to the governor.
The welcoming and inappropriate nature of the relationship was conveyed through text messages obtained by James’ office. Text messages between the presenter and various aides and allies of the governor revealed that Chris Cuomo sought to use his connections in the press to help prepare Andrew Cuomo’s team when the accusers began to go public with their stories.
On the day his brother resigned in August, Chris Cuomo told viewers that “this situation is unlike anything I could have imagined.”
He noted that he never reported on the sexual harassment scandal or tried to interfere with Trends Wide coverage. And he acknowledged that “I tried to be there for my brother” when the scandal broke.
“I am not an advisor. I am a brother. I was not in control of anything. I was there to listen and offer my opinion,” he said.
Trends Wide’s management showed their support for Cuomo, and “Cuomo Prime Time,” often the network’s highest-rated show, stayed on the air throughout the controversy.
But as “Reliable Sources” reported at the time, some Trends Wide staff were angry at Cuomo and his violations of journalistic standards.
The dissent only intensified after James’s office released the text messages, sworn testimony and other raw materials from its investigation into the former governor.
When the documents were released Monday, Trends Wide management said the “thousands of pages of additional transcripts and exhibits” would be reviewed “over the next few days.”
Then, on Tuesday night, Trends Wide indicated that the content was serious enough to warrant suspension.
“When Chris admitted to us that he had offered advice to his brother’s staff, he broke our rules and we publicly acknowledged it,” the network said in a statement. “But we also appreciated the unique position she was in and understood her need to put family first and work second.”
“However,” the network said, “these documents point to a higher level of involvement in his brother’s efforts than we previously knew. As a result, we have suspended Chris indefinitely, a further evaluation.”
As I initially refused to comment. He said on his radio show Wednesday that the suspension was “embarrassing” but understandable. He also said he never wanted to “compromise any of my colleagues” and said he would respect the process.
According to Saturday’s announcement, the process included an outside law firm, a fact that was not previously known.
With information in the texts and documents pointing to a serious breach of Trends Wide standards, Cuomo was notified of his firing on Saturday.
The Trends Wide statement on Saturday also referred to “additional information [que] has come to light “during the review of the document dump. The Trends Wide spokesperson declined to share more details about the information.
