CNN’s Cuomo Conundrum: A Star Anchor With a Brother in Trouble$1:
On Tuesday, hours after Ms. James’s report was released, Chris Cuomo was in the anchor chair for his 9 p.m. show, “Cuomo Prime Time.” He opened with a segment on the coronavirus, airing a clip of President Biden asking governors to help stop the spread of the Delta variant.
The clip omitted Mr. Biden’s other notable statement: calling on Governor Cuomo to resign.
For the next 60 minutes, Chris Cuomo, who had been interviewed by Ms. James’s office during the investigation, did not mention his brother or the attorney general’s report. It was in keeping with the anchor’s pledge not to cover his brother’s travails. But viewers may have found it jarring for the biggest political story in the country — otherwise covered by CNN throughout the day — to abruptly disappear at 9 p.m., the network’s top-rated time slot.
Chris Cuomo’s on-air presence was a clear signal that Mr. Zucker is fully behind the network’s 9 p.m. anchor, who told viewers in May that, while he had made “a mistake” by talking with his brother’s aides, his loyalty would always be to “family first, job second.”