Just hours after he was fired, Chris Cuomo was faced with additional allegations. CNN says it uncovered further information while investigating his role in sexual misconduct charges against his brother, the then-New York governor.
In a statement released on Sunday, after CNN announced Chris Cuomo had been terminated, attorney Debra Katz said she had been disturbed by his “hypocrisy” in claiming on television that he had “always cared very deeply” about women’s issues while simultaneously aiding Andrew Cuomo, with his sexual misconduct defense.
Katz then revealed that, in the wake of the scandal, her client had decided to file an allegation of sexual misconduct against the CNN anchor.
“Disgusted by his efforts to try to discredit these women, my client retained counsel to report his serious sexual misconduct against her to CNN,” Katz said, claiming the allegation had been presented to CNN on December 1, just a few days before Cuomo’s dismissal.
“My client came forward at this time because she felt in sharing her story and related documentation, she could help protect other women,” the statement continued, adding that the accuser would “continue to cooperate with CNN’s investigation into her allegations.”
Katz concluded that the woman had decided to remain anonymous, “given the nature of her allegations,” and asked the media and the public to “respect this decision.”
Cuomo was temporarily suspended from CNN last week, pending an investigation into his connection to his brother’s misconduct defense. He was ultimately fired on Saturday, after the network said “additional information” had “come to light” in its investigation.
In his own statement on Saturday, Cuomo said this had not been how he had wanted his time at CNN to end, before defending the aid he had provided to his brother and praising the achievements of his show. Following news of the accusation on Sunday, a representative for Cuomo reportedly told media outlet TMZ the “apparently anonymous allegations [were] not true.”
However, this is not the first time the anchor has been faced with a sexual misconduct allegation. In September, Cuomo’s former boss at ABC News, Shelley Ross, accused him of having grabbed her buttocks in front of her husband at a party back in 2005. Cuomo allegedly acknowledged his wrongdoing in an email to Ross, claiming to have been “ashamed” of his actions and noting that actor Christian Slater had been arrested over a “similar act.”