CNN fails to report scandal involving their anchor Chris Cuomo who was 'illegally given priority COVID test' by governor brother
CNN has not reported or covered the latest implications surrounding Gov. Andrew Cuomo getting priority testing for his family members, including for the network's star anchor and his brother, Chris Cuomo.
While the network released a statement Wednesday to the Washington Post about the host of Cuomo Prime Time getting special access to state-administered COVID-19 tests from his brother, CNN hadn't reported the story on-air or on its website as of Thursday evening.
CNN has been slammed for its 'lack of ethics' after a report claimed that the network's anchor, Chris Cuomo, abused his position as the brother of New York Gov Andrew Cuomo to get a priority COVID-19 test before thousands of others when the state was the epicenter of the pandemic last year.
According to a report from The Washington Post on Wednesday, Gov Cuomo gave family members, including his brother, Chris, special access to state-administered COVID-19 tests in the early days of the pandemic.
CNN has not reported on the latest Cuomo bombshell report that the governor gave his brother priority access to the state's COVID-19 tests as of Thursday evening
In response to the claims, Matt Dornic, the head of strategic communications for CNN, said in a statement on Wednesday: 'We generally do not get involved in the medical decisions of our employees'
CNN's statement drew ire from several people, including conservative writer A.G. Hamilton (tweet pictured)
In response to the claims, Matt Dornic, the head of strategic communications for CNN, said in a statement: 'We generally do not get involved in the medical decisions of our employees.'
'However, it is not surprising in the earliest days of a once-in-a-century global pandemic, when Chris was showing symptoms and was concerned about possible spread, he turned to anyone he could for advice and assistance, as any human being would,' Dornic said in the statement shared by Washington Post media critic Erik Wemple.
The Post, which cited three unnamed people with knowledge of the situation, reported that a top state doctor made house calls to some of the governor's family members or close associates, including his brother and mother, to administer the tests.
Testing on Cuomo's family members came at the height of the pandemic when ordinary New Yorkers struggled to get access to screenings. Cuomo and his mother in 2016
Andrew Cuomo receives a nasal swab Covid-19 test during a news conference in the Red Room of the New York State Capitol Building in Albany, New York, U.S., on Sunday, May 17, 2020
Chris tested positive for COVID-19 early in the pandemic.
Following CNN's statement, several people took to Twitter to blast the network.
'The lack of ethics here from CNN is incredible,' conservative writer A.G. Hamilton tweeted.
'It's not just that Andrew Cuomo abused his position to get friends and family (inc Chris) inaccessible and expedited tests, but that CNN then had Andrew Cuomo do weekly joke interviews with his brother knowing that abuse happened,' he added.
Former MSNBC host, Keith Olbermann shared: 'HOO boy who thought THIS would help?'
Several people blasted CNN for not admitting wrongdoing in the incident
'That is a very bad statement,' another tweeted.
Radio host, Derek Hunter, wrote: 'A long-winded version of 'Don't you know who I am?'
The claims add more fuel to the fire as Gov Cuomo is already facing calls to resign over accusations of sexual harassment or misconduct from at least eight women and disclosures that his administration under-reported nursing home deaths from the pandemic.
The 63-year-old third-term governor has denied the allegations and repeatedly said he would not resign from office.
In a statement, Gov Cuomo's spokesman Richard Azzopardi said: 'We should avoid insincere efforts to rewrite the past. In the early days of this pandemic, when there was a heavy emphasis on contact tracing, we were absolutely going above and beyond to get people testing.'
Those efforts included 'in some instances going to people's homes - and door to door in places like New Rochelle - to take samples from those believed to have been exposed to COVID in order to identify cases and prevent additional ones,' the statement added.
Among those assisted, 'were members of the general public, including legislators, reporters, state workers and their families who feared they had contracted the virus and had the capability to further spread it,' Azzopardi said.
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