WaPo slams CNN for 'ethical embarrassment' over Chris Cuomo getting special COVID treatment from brother

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NY GOP chairman slams Cuomo over COVID test special treatment for family and executives

NY GOP Chairman Nick Langworthy discusses Gov. Andrew Cuomo's most recent scandal.

Washington Post media reporter Erik Wemple criticized CNN for its ongoing "ethical embarrassment" Thursday, following reports that New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, D., provided special treatment to his brother, CNN anchor Chris Cuomo, at the outset of the coronavirus pandemic.

Wemple referenced bombshell reports revealing members of the Cuomo family, including Chris Cuomo, were administered tests by top health department officials. Sources told the Post that top New York Health Department doctors visited the "Cuomo Prime Time" anchor’s Long Island home to collect the samples; the younger Cuomo tested positive for the virus on March 31 and the network documented his recovery.

Wemple noted that while New York was doing better with testing than other states, rationing of these tests was still taking place into late March.

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CNN was already facing mounting criticism for allowing Cuomo to conduct interviews with his brother during the early stages of the pandemic.

"Now there’s another layer to the ethical morass: As Chris Cuomo was promoting his brother’s leadership on CNN, he was receiving services derived from that relationship," Wemple wrote.

Chris Cuomo’s initial interviews with his brother last spring came when Gov. Cuomo was at the peak of his power and a leading voice in the handling of the pandemic. Now, as scandals and allegations against him continue to come to light, the younger Cuomo has been banned by the network from covering him. 

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"Obviously, I’m aware of what’s going on with my brother. And, obviously, I cannot cover it, because he is my brother," Chris Cuomo said on March 1.

CNN spokesman Matt Dornic, an outspoken progressive, defended the Cuomos' behavior in a widely panned statement.

"We generally do not get involved in the medical decisions of our employees," he said. "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."

The network’s response to the testing report only made things worse, Wemple said, and the story "deepens an ethical embarrassment for CNN." 

He wrote that Dornic's statement shifted focus from the questions about the ethics of the situation and instead attempted to credit Cuomo for his resourcefulness.

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Wemple concluded CNN has to answer for this because the conduct if the Cuomos "reek[s] of unaccountable elitism forced into the light of day via investigative reporting."