New Report Reveals Chris Cuomo Faced Sexual Assault Allegation Before CNN Booted Him From Network

New Report Reveals Chris Cuomo Faced Sexual Assault Allegation Before CNN Booted Him From Network

Former CNN anchor Chris Cuomo was booted from the network not longer after he was accused of sexually harassing a former ABC News temp worker years prior, according to the New York Times.

Cuomo received his firing on Dec. 4 after details came out on how he helped his brother, former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, as he himself faced a plethora of sexual harassment allegations earlier in the year.

The Times then reported on Tuesday evening that soon after former CNN President Jeff Zucker suspended Cuomo on Nov. 30, the network got a letter from an attorney representing a woman who has worked with him over at ABC News.

via Newsmax:

The letter, addressed to CNN general counsel David Vigilante, accused Chris Cuomo of badgering the temporary employee for sex in 2011 after inviting her to lunch in his office. He allegedly had offered the woman career advice the previous day.

The Times said it interviewed five of the woman’s friends and saw messages between the accuser and Chris Cuomo.

The woman told friends and former colleagues that Cuomo had made unwelcome sexual requests, the Times reported. It was only in the past year that the woman told people the host had assaulted her.

Attorney Debra Katz’s letter to CNN also said Cuomo contacted the woman out of the blue at the height of the #MeToo movement that cost TV personalities such as Charlie Rose and Matt Lauer their jobs, the Times reported.

Cuomo suggested that CNN put together a segment about the company where the woman was employed doing public relations.

“After years without any substantive communication from Mr. Cuomo whatsoever, Ms. [Jane] Doe suspected he was concerned about her coming forward publicly with her allegations and wanted to use the proposed segment as an opportunity to ‘test the waters’ and discourage her from going on the record about his sexual misconduct,” Katz went on to write.

CNN eventually decided to do a segment, however, the woman attempted to  avoid having any contact with Cuomo.

Katz then stated that the woman, “deeply traumatized,” doesn’t want to be a “pawn in an internecine war between Zucker, Chris Cuomo, and CNN” then revealed that she wouldn’t be saying anything more. She “deserves and requests privacy,” the letter went on to say.

“A report earlier this month said CNN parent company AT&T was mulling paying $9 million to Chris Cuomo as a settlement over his exit and rancorous feud with the network,” Newsmax stated in its report.