CNN anchor Chris Cuomo is conveniently down this week as “Cuomo Prime Time” host finds himself embroiled in another scandal involving his brother, New York Democratic governor Andrew Cuomo.
The Times Union newspaper in Albany reported on Wednesday that “high-level members” of the New York Department of Health were instructed by Andrew Cuomo and the state health commissioner, Dr. Howard Zucker, to “conduct health tests. coronaviruses prioritized in relatives of the governor and also influential people linked to the administration. ”
“Members of the Cuomo family, including his brother, his mother and at least one of his sisters, were also tested by senior officials in the health department – some of them several times, the sources said,” according to the Times Union.
The anchor “Cuomo Prime Time” was diagnosed with the coronavirus on March 31. As the paper noted, the diagnosis came “at a time when many members of the public were struggling to get coronavirus tests.”
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It is not clear, however, whether Chris Cuomo himself, CNN or New York state taxpayers funded the test that showed positive results.
On Tuesday, the Cuomo Prime Time Twitter account reminded viewers that the anchor would be down this week to stay with his family and return on Monday.
Chris Cuomo previously told viewers that he “obviously” couldn’t cover his brother’s political problems – despite inviting the so-called “Luv Guv” to his program for nearly a dozen friendly interviews in the first months of the pandemic. However, his prime-time colleagues Anderson Cooper, who also took over Cuomo’s timeslot this week, and Don Lemon avoided the bombshell report, which would probably have been breaking news on the far left network if a Republican governor had been immersed in such a scandal.
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According to the Times Union, epidemiologist Dr. Eleanor Adams was sent to the CNN anchor’s residence on Long Island to test it. It is not clear whether she administered the positive test results.
In addition, New York State Police soldiers were reportedly required to conduct COVID tests, called “critical samples”, at the Wadsworth Center laboratory in Albany.
A Cuomo government official told the Albany newspaper: “It is being distorted a little with a tortuous intention … We made a point of testing the people they believed had been exposed.” The official added, “All of this was being done in good faith in an effort to track the virus.”
A CNN spokesman told the Washington Post: “We generally don’t get involved in the medical decisions of our employees. However, it’s not surprising in the early days of a global pandemic that occurs once in a century, when Chris was showing symptoms and was concerned about the possible spread, he turned to anyone he could for advice and assistance, as any human being would do. ”
CNN did not immediately respond to Fox News’s request for comment.
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Despite benefiting from priority treatment by the Cuomo government, Chris Cuomo seemed to disregard his own brother’s COVID restrictions when leaving his home while recovering from the virus. In April last year, the anchor reportedly engaged in a verbal confrontation on the lawn of another property with a cyclist who called him for violating the governor’s policies.
Andrew Cuomo is already under investigation after a senior adviser admitted to Democratic lawmakers that his government covered up data on deaths in nursing homes during the pandemic. A separate investigation is examining allegations of sexual misconduct made against the governor by eight women.