Media top headlines August 3
In media news today, CNN's Jake Tapper defends Nancy Pelosi after Sen. Susan Collins knocks speaker for 'partisan' Jan. 6 committee, PBS' Yamiche Alcindor lobbies Biden to extend eviction moratorium, and the Washingtonian attempts to cover for DC Mayor Muriel Bowser's photo scandal
Mainstream journalists reacted with shock and disgust Tuesday to former media darling New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo's, D., reported harassment and groping of 11 women that was laid out in stunning detail by state investigators.
"This press conference and the report are way, way, way more detailed and damning [than] many in press and … Dem operatives expected," New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman tweeted.
During a searing press conference, New York Attorney General Letitia James, D., and state investigators said Cuomo had violated state and federal harassment laws, retaliated against an accuser, and led a workplace culture that allowed harassment to persist.
CUOMO SEXUALLY HARASSED MULTIPLE WOMEN IN VIOLATION OF STATE AND FEDERAL LAW, NY AG FINDS
Details included that he groped female state troopers who were in charge of protecting him and engaged in unwanted kissing and touching with former and current state employees. James' probe included interviews with 179 people and corroborated the allegations, some of which hadn't come to light until Tuesday.
"These details are disturbing," CBS reporter Kathryn Watson tweeted, while MSNBC's Andrea Mitchell referred to the allegations as "withering."
Cuomo was once a media favorite for his handling of the coronavirus pandemic in the state, but he's also under fire for his nursing home directives and suspected cover-up of deaths in the state that could have resulted from his own policy.
Liberal columnist and writer Jill Filipovic called the report "stomach-turning" and said Cuomo should resign.
"I considered it appropriate to wait until the investigation was concluded to make any judgment on Gov Cuomo. We have the outcome. Cuomo should resign immediately," TIME columnist and commentator Ian Bremmer tweeted.
The New Yorker's Isaac Chotiner said Cuomo should resign but he also said he would keep Cuomo's book on coronavirus leadership on his desk.
Reporters and pundits at CNN, which has come under fierce criticism for allowing anchor Chris Cuomo to conduct friendly interviews of his brother during the coronavirus pandemic, were also sickened by the details of Cuomo's alleged actions. Chris Cuomo also privately advised his brother not to resign in the wake of the allegations.
NY GOV. CUOMO IMPEACHMENT PUSH REGAINS STEAM AFTER BOMBSHELL SEXUAL HARASSMENT FINDINGS
"Almost every detail in this Attorney General press conference on Andrew Cuomo has me nauseous," CNN's Omar Jimenez wrote.
"The allegations against Cuomo were always awful, which is why many of us took them seriously and called for his resignation," host S.E. Cupp wrote. "But the new details, as graphically told by the special investigators, are truly stomach churning and nauseating. I'm sick to my stomach."
Reporter Andrew Kaczynski reminded followers of Cuomo's own words in 2013 about having "zero tolerance" for harassment and there must be a "clear message that this behavior is not tolerated."
Legal analyst and former New York City prosecutor Paul Callan said on CNN it was shocking and that Cuomo's reputation had been permanently stained.
Cuomo, who already had faced calls to resign from members of his own party including Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., has denied he acted inappropriately. He apologized earlier this year and said he was "embarrassed" by what his accusers had said but maintained he never intended to make anyone uncomfortable.
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President Joe Biden said in March that Cuomo should resign if an investigation confirmed the harassment allegations.
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