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Chris Cuomo appeared carefree as he got his COVID-19 vaccine following reports his governor brother arranged for him and their family to get early access to virus test.
The CNN host flashed the peace sign when he was pictured in the Hamptons on Tuesday before waiting in line with everyone else to get inoculated.
He apparently did not get any preferential treatment this time round in getting the shot the Suffolk County clinic.
Cuomo was pictured wearing a light blue shirt, dark shots, a baseball cap, and a mask as he drove to get his shot on Eastern Long Island.
He drove to and from the vaccine site alone in his black car.
Last week, Chris came under fire after it was reported that his powerful brother Andrew arranged for him and his relatives to get tested for COVID-19 early in the pandemic – a time when access to the tests were scarce.
The tests were then rushed to a state lab with an escort from New York State troopers and the results were given within an hour – even as New Yorkers waited days to schedule a test and even longer to know if they were infected.
Chris Cuomo appeared carefree as he got his COVID-19 vaccine following reports his governor brother arranged for him and their family to get early access to virus test
The CNN host flashed the peace sign when he was pictured in the Hamptons on Tuesday before waiting in line with everyone else to get inoculated
Both Cuomo and CNN were blasted by critics who charge that journalistic ethics required them to disclose that fact to viewers – many of whom were unable to get tested for COVID-19.
The latest revelations come on top of myriad scandals surrounding the governor, including nine women who have now come forward with allegations of sexual harassment and assault against him.
The US Attorney’s Office and the FBI are also investigating his office for undercounting COVID-19 deaths in nursing homes.
Cuomo is facing an impeachment probe by New York’s Joint Commission on Public Ethics, as well as an FBI investigation into the scandals.
He apparently did not get any preferential treatment this time round in getting the shot the Suffolk County clinic
Cuomo was pictured wearing a light blue shirt, dark shots, a baseball cap, and a mask as he rushed to get his shot on Eastern Long Island. He drove to and from the vaccine site alone
An aide to New York’s health commissioner reportedly administered a COVID-19 test to Chris Cuomo at his Long Island home last March and rushed it to a state laboratory for processing, according to published reports in the Albany Times-Union and The New York Times.
During one of their on-air conversations last year, Andrew Cuomo noted that he was glad their 89-year-old mother, Matilda, had not moved in with his brother’s family.
Members of Cuomo’s family including his brother; his mother; and at least one of his three sisters were tested by top health department officials, some of them several times, according to the Times Union of Albany.
Dr. George Yancopoulos, president of pharmaceutical company Regeneron, also secured special access to the coronavirus testing for both himself and his family.
The March testing took place just weeks before Cuomo would announce on April 1 that Regeneron would create 500,000 kits for testing samples and provide them to New York for free, the New York Times reports.
Last week, Chris came under fire after it was reported that his powerful brother Andrew arranged for him and his relatives to get tested for COVID-19 early in the pandemic – a time when access to the tests were scarce
Regeneron requested the test for Dt. Yancopoulos and his family after a ‘member of his household became infected with COVID-19,’ according to company spokeswoman Hala Mirza.
‘Dr. Yancopoulos has directly led the company’s ambitious and successful efforts to advance a groundbreaking therapy for this devastating pandemic,’ said the company spokeswoman, Hala Mirza.
In response to the claims, Matt Dornic, the head of strategic communications for CNN, said in a statement: ‘We generally do not get involved in the medical decisions of our employees.’
‘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,’ Dornic said in the statement shared by Washington Post media critic Erik Wemple.
The Washington Post, which cited three unnamed people with knowledge of the situation, reported that a top state doctor made house calls to some of the governor’s family members or close associates, including his brother, to administer the tests.
Chris tested positive for COVID-19 early in the pandemic.
People with firsthand knowledge of the priority scheme said figures with links to Cuomo could bypass the burdened testing process in New York. Pictured: people lining up for tests in New York last March
Following CNN’s statement, several people took to Twitter to blast the network.
‘The lack of ethics here from CNN is incredible,’ conservative writer A.G. Hamilton tweeted.
‘It’s not just that Andrew Cuomo abused his position to get friends and family (inc Chris) inaccessible and expedited tests, but that CNN then had Andrew Cuomo do weekly joke interviews with his brother knowing that abuse happened,’ he added.
Former MSNBC host, Keith Olbermann shared: ‘HOO boy who thought THIS would help?’
‘That is a very bad statement,’ another tweeted.
Radio host, Derek Hunter, wrote: ‘A long-winded version of ‘Don’t you know who I am?’
For Chris Cuomo, the revelation is ‘grotesque and damaging to CNN’s brand,’ journalist Glenn Greenwald wrote on Thursday.
‘He was the beneficiary of exactly the kind of abuse of power that journalists, at least in theory, exist to expose,’ Greenwald said.
The claims add more fuel to the fire as Governor Cuomo is already facing calls to resign over accusations of sexual harassment or misconduct from at least nine women and disclosures that his administration under-reported nursing home deaths from the pandemic.
The 63-year-old third-term governor has denied the allegations and repeatedly said he would not resign from office.
In a statement, Governor Cuomo’s spokesman Richard Azzopardi said: ‘We should avoid insincere efforts to rewrite the past. In the early days of this pandemic, when there was a heavy emphasis on contact tracing, we were absolutely going above and beyond to get people testing.’
Those efforts included ‘in some instances going to people’s homes – and door to door in places like New Rochelle – to take samples from those believed to have been exposed to COVID in order to identify cases and prevent additional ones,’ the statement added.
Both Chris Cuomo, right, and CNN were blasted by critics who charge that journalistic ethics required them to disclose that fact to viewers – many of whom were unable to get tested for COVID-19. The latest revelations come on top of myriad scandals surrounding the governor, left, including nine women who have now come forward with allegations of sexual harassment and assault against him
Among those assisted, ‘were members of the general public, including legislators, reporters, state workers and their families who feared they had contracted the virus and had the capability to further spread it,’ Azzopardi said.
Chris Cuomo contracted COVID-19 last year and anchored his Cuomo Prime Time show while quarantined in the basement of his home.
Several times, the governor was a guest on his brother’s show for mostly light banter that entertained viewers at the time but now seems ethically suspect as questions emerge about Andrew Cuomo’s actions during the coronavirus.
CNN no longer allows Andrew Cuomo to be a guest on Chris’ show.
The office of Attorney General Letitia James, Cuomo’s fellow Democrat, issued a statement last Thursday urging New York’s Joint Commission on Public Ethics to investigate the alleged preferential testing.
‘The recent reports alleging there was preferential treatment given for COVID-19 testing are troubling,’ the statement read.
‘While we do not have jurisdiction to investigate this matter, it’s imperative that JCOPE look into it immediately.’
A spokesperson for the ethics commission, Walt McClure, said the commission could not comment ‘on anything that is or might be an investigative matter.’
Gov. Cuomo receives a nasal swab Covid-19 test during a news conference in the Red Room of the New York State Capitol Building in Albany, New York, U.S., on Sunday, May 17, 2020
The impeachment investigation’s primary focus remains on allegations of sexual harassment against Cuomo, as well as reports that his administration intentionally underreported virus deaths at nursing homes and glazed over bridge safety concerns, but the alleged preferential testing will be explored, Assembly Judiciary Committee Chair Chuck Lavine told The Associated Press on Thursday.
In March 2020, Governor Cuomo cited his own experience with his family in daily news conferences in which he at times discouraged the public from getting tested for COVID-19 unless they had traveled to a hot spot.
In one briefing from March 18 that year, he described discouraging his sister from getting a test for her daughter because it didn’t seem necessary.
Cuomo often suggested the primary purpose of limited COVID-19 tests was to isolate people who are likely exposed and sick.
‘The truth is we don’t have the testing capacity,’ Cuomo told reporters March 9, 2020.
‘We have the protocol on the testing because we can´t test people on that kind of whim.’
The women who’ve accused Gov Andrew Cuomo of harassment
Lindsay Boylan, 36
Former aide Lindsay Boylan, 36, was the first woman to accuse Cuomo of sexual harassment in a Medium post on February 24. She claimed that the governor asked her to play strip poker and kissed her on the lips without her permission when she worked for him in 2017.
Lindsay Boylan, 36
Charlotte Bennett, 25
Charlotte Bennett, 25, came forward a few days after Boylan and claimed that Cuomo sexually harassed her last June while she was working as a health policy adviser in his administration at the height of the COVID-19 crisis.
Bennett accused Cuomo of ‘grooming’ her and asking inappropriate questions about her sex life.
She also claimed that he told her he was open to dating women in their 20s.
BENNETT said the governor asked her about her love life – including whether she ever had sex with older men – and talked about his own, saying that age differences didn’t matter in relationships and he was open to dating women over 22.
During a meeting alone in his office, the governor said he was lonely and talked about wanting to hug someone, Bennett said.
She said she swiftly complained to Cuomo’s chief of staff and was transferred to another job.
She said she spoke to a lawyer for the governor, but didn´t insist on further action because she liked her new post and wanted to move on.
Charlotte Bennett, 25
Anna Ruch, 33
Anna Ruch was the third woman to accuse Cuomo of sexual harassment and the only one thus far who did not work with him in a professional capacity. She claimed that Cuomo put his hands on her face and asked if he could kiss her just moments after they met at a September 2019 wedding in Manhattan.
Anna Ruch, 33
Ana Liss, 35
Ana Liss, 35, a former aide, said Cuomo asked her whether she had a boyfriend, once kissed her hand at her desk and called her by patronizing names, including ‘blondie,’ ‘sweetheart’ and ‘honey.’
At a reception, the governor hugged her then put his arm around her lower back and waist as they posed for photo, Liss said.
She said she eventually asked for a job transfer. In an interview, Liss said she was ‘not claiming sexual harassment per se,’ but felt the administration ‘wasn’t a safe space for young women to work.’
Liss, who previously served as Cuomo’s policy and operations aide between 2013 and 2015, told the Wall Street Journal that during her time in his administration, the governor had subjected her to unsolicited advances, including touching her lower back, kissing her hand and quizzing her about her love life.
Ana Liss, 35
Karen Hinton, 62
The oldest allegations against Cuomo came from Karen Hinton, who served as a press aide for him when he led the US Department of Housing and Urban Development two decades ago and she was a consultant for the agency. Hinton told the Washington Post about a 2000 incident when she said Cuomo summoned her to his ‘dimly lit’ hotel room and embraced her after a work event. She said she tried to pull away from Cuomo when he pulled her back and held her before she managed to escape the room.
Karen Hinton, 62
Unnamed sixth accuser
The most damning allegations leveled against Cuomo to date came from a sixth accuser, whose name has not been released.
The accuser, who is a member of Cuomo’s staff, alleged that he closed a door, reached under her blouse and fondled her after summoning her to the governor’s mansion in Albany for help with his cellphone, according to the Times Union of Albany.
It first reported on her accusation last month; she then gave more detail in her first interview on the matter, published Wednesday.
The woman spoke on the condition of anonymity to protect her privacy, although her identity is known within the governor´s circle, the Times Union reported.
The woman, an executive assistant, told the Times Union the governor gave her kisses on the cheek and inappropriately tight hugs for years and made remarks including, ‘If you were single, the things that I would do to you’ and ‘I’m single and ready to mingle.’
Then, one day in November, she was summoned to his Executive Mansion office to help him with a cellphone problem, she said.
He got up from his desk, started groping her and told her ‘I don’t care’ after she tried to deflect him by saying he was going to get them into trouble, and then he slammed the door, she said.
Then he reached under her blouse and clutched one of her breasts over her bra, she told the newspaper.
The woman told a colleague this winter about the alleged encounter, and the co-worker told a supervisor in early March, according to the newspaper.
Cuomo called the report ‘gut-wrenching’ in a March statement and said: ‘I have never done anything like this.’
Another female aide, who has remained anonymous, claimed he called her to his Executive Mansion last year, reached under her blouse and fondled her
Jessica Bakeman
Jessica Bakeman claimed in a first-person article for New York Magazine that she was sexually harassed by Cuomo on several occasions since the start of her journalism career in 2012.
Bakeman added her voice as the seventh accuser as she detailed inappropriate touching by the governor as he continued to deny all of the claims.
‘He took my hand, as if to shake it, then refused to let go,’ Bakeman wrote of an interaction with Cuomo as she said goodnight at a holiday party in 2014 when she was only 25 years old.
‘He put his other arm around my back, his hand on my waist, and held me firmly in place while indicating to a photographer he wanted us to pose for a picture.’
At the time Bakeman had been working for what is now Politico New York and claimed that red flags went up as her ‘job was to analyze and scrutinize him’.
‘I didn’t want a photo of him with his hands on my body and a smile on my face,’ she wrote.
Jessica Bakeman, a reporter who once covered the Cuomo administration, was the seventh woman to come forward with claims of harassment
‘But I made the reflexive assessment that most women and marginalized people know instinctively, the calculation about risk and power and self-preservation. I knew it would be far easier to smile for the brief moment it takes to snap a picture than to challenge one of the most powerful men in the country.’
In an earlier 2012 incident while she was working for USA Today, Bakeman also claims that Cuomo kept her pinned to his side as he told a story to her male colleagues.
‘He left it there, and kept me pinned next to him, for several minutes as he finished telling his story,’ she said. ‘I stood there, my cheeks hot, giggling nervously as my male colleagues did the same. We all knew it was wrong, but we did nothing.’
The reporter, who now works in Florida, claimed that Cuomo ‘never let me forget I was a woman’ as she also alleged that he made frequent attempts to humiliate her, including calling out her purple phone instead of answering her question during a press gaggle.
Alyssa McGrath, 33
McGrath, a current administrative assistant in Cuomo’s office, told The New York Times that he looked down her shirt, quizzed her about her marital status, and told her she was beautiful, using an Italian phrase she had to ask her parents to interpret.
McGrath didn’t say the governor made sexual contact with her but thought his behavior was sexual harassment.
She recalled Cuomo kissing her on the forehead and gripping her firmly around the sides while posing for a photo at a 2019 office Christmas party.
Alyssa McGrath (pictured) is one of two aides who have come forward to accuse the governor of harassment
Sherry Vill, 55
Sherry Vill, 55, accused Cuomo of sexual misconduct during a press conference with her attorney Gloria Allred on Monday.
She alleges Cuomo grabbed her face and kissed her ‘aggressively and in a sexual manner’ on both cheeks in May 2017 while he was touring her home in Greece, near Rochester, as he inspected local flood damage.
Vill, who said she felt uncomfortable at the time, shared an image her daughter took on the day that showed Cuomo holding her face as he kissed her cheek and her attorney held up multiple photos showing the Governor inside her home.
The same photos appear on Cuomo’s Flickr account, as well as multiple others that show him kissing and greeting residents as he toured the town.
None of the women in the other photos have accused the governor of inappropriate behavior or wrongdoing.
Sherry Vill, 55, accused Cuomo of sexual misconduct on Monday. Vill, who said she felt uncomfortable at the time, shared an image her daughter took on the day that showed Cuomo holding her face as he kissed her cheek
Source: dailymail
