MSNBC's Andrea Mitchell: Andrew Cuomo has been a 'toxic presence' his entire career

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MSNBC host: Andrew Cuomo's been a 'toxic presence' throughout his career

MSNBC's Andrea Mitchell offers a sharp assessment of New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, D., as he leaves office.

MSNBC's Andrea Mitchell called New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, D. a "toxic" and "abrasive" presence throughout his political career Tuesday as she reflected on his stunning resignation.

Cuomo announced he would leave office in two weeks following a state report that he sexually harassed multiple women while in office. Although he apologized to his accusers for having offended them, he maintained his innocence and touted his political legacy in a defiant speech.

MSNBC was one of many media outlets that soaked Cuomo with praise in 2020 for his coronavirus pandemic leadership. The veteran journalist Mitchell didn't hold back on her assessment of him since his tenure in the Clinton administration as a Housing and Urban Development Secretary and an "enforcer" for his father Mario Cuomo.

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"I've been covering the Cuomos through Mario and through Andrew's HUD leadership, and he’s been a toxic presence and an abrasive presence throughout his father’s career and as an enforcer, and throughout his tenure in the Clinton administration, and he found he had no friends anywhere in the Democratic establishment and had no alternative," Mitchell said.

"Meet The Press" host Chuck Todd said Cuomo's resignation was politically calculated as a way to keep alive his hopes of running for office again.

Cuomo won an Emmy for his press conferences, got a book deal, and enjoyed adoring media coverage throughout 2020 for his coronavirus leadership, but even that's come under fire after revelations that his administration may have covered up nursing home deaths stemming from one of his pandemic directives. 

Now as he leaves office, the gushing media treatment of him last year is under the microscope, particularly by his brother, CNN anchor Chris Cuomo.

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If you’re anti-Trump, the chattering class is pro-you. It’s that simple," The Hill columnist and Fox News contributor Joe Concha told Fox News last week. "The problem is most … overlooked the clear nursing home coverup that was happening. And all the coverage of this story as it stands now won’t change how the media acted in 2020 as it pertained to both Cuomos."