The news broke Tuesday afternoon.
Cuomo resigned.
And the first question was: Which one?
It was Andrew, the governor of New York. It was not Chris, the CNN prime-time anchor. Chris is on vacation this week, but even though he is out of sight, he is not out of mind. He and CNN are still getting plenty of heat for Chris’ role as an adviser in his brother’s defense against multiple allegations of sexual harassment.
That heat might actually die down, at least a little bit, now that his brother, Andrew, did what many thought he wouldn’t do and step down.
“Given the circumstances, the best way I can help now is if I step aside and let government get back to governing,” Gov. Cuomo said. “And therefore, that’s what I’ll do.”
But Cuomo goes away defiantly. In a 21-minute speech, Cuomo clearly believes he has been wronged. (The Washington Post’s Amber Phillips called it a “cringey apology.”)
“This situation and moment are not about the facts,” Cuomo said. “It’s not about the truth. It’s not about thoughtful analysis. It’s not about how do we make the system better. This is about politics. And our political system today is too often driven by the extremes.”
He also seemed to make excuses for his behavior, blaming his timing more than his actions.
“In my mind, I have never crossed the line with anyone,” Cuomo said. “But I didn’t realize the extent to which the line has been redrawn.”
Cuomo’s speech came after his lawyer, Rita Glavin, partly blamed the media for her client’s troubles. Glavin also took issue with the report from the New York attorney general, who found the accusations against Cuomo to be credible.
Glavin said, “What happened between Tuesday, Aug. 3, when this report came down was that dozens of people called for the governor’s resignation. The governor had no opportunity to respond, and a press cycle ensued. And journalists were saying things that he had groped and that he had fondled 11 women, and that wasn’t true, and that wasn’t in the report. And over the last eight days, the media frenzy contributed to what the report was, which was the investigators acted as the prosecutors, the judge and the jury of Gov. Cuomo. … This was not about an independent review of the allegations and the circumstances surrounding them. From day one, this was about building a case against Gov. Cuomo.”
Despite Glavin’s protestations, once the attorney general’s report was released, Cuomo’s days as governor were numbered. And many New Yorkers, regardless of politics, wanted Cuomo out.
In a point-counterpoint column in The New York Times, conservative Bret Stephens wrote even before Cuomo resigned, “Cuomo is our state’s great unifier. Everyone from The Nation to our friends at The New York Post is in agreement that he needs to go, immediately. What I find somewhat amazing is that more New Yorkers didn’t recognize sooner what a repulsive, repellent, repugnant, revolting, retrograde, rebarbative, reprobative reptile they had in the governor’s office. What took so long?”
Meanwhile, in the same piece, Gail Collins said, “Well, you wouldn’t have had trouble finding stories about what a bully and jerk Cuomo can be. The grabbing part is, of course, the big news, and I sure wish it had gotten attention sooner.”
As far as Chris Cuomo, there are still calls for him to resign as well. The New York Post’s Maureen Callahan started her column with “One down. One to go.”
That’s not going to happen. I find it highly unlikely that Chris would resign or that CNN will suddenly change its thinking on the situation. Chris should have never had his brother on more than a year ago to talk about COVID-19 and he should have never have been a part of the team strategy session to help advise his brother against the sexual harassment allegations. But if CNN was going to do something about it, it would have already done so. The New York Times’ Michael M. Grynbaum reported Tuesday that Chris has been talking directly to his brother the past week and advised him to resign. Again, CNN seems OK with all of this.
Media columnists and critics can wag their fingers and shake their heads and call for suspensions and firings. But Chris will return soon from his previously-planned vacation, and will continue to host his prime-time show with no further mentions of his brother. That’s how all this is going to play out.
Cuomo coverage
Here are a few noteworthy stories regarding Andrew Cuomo’s resignation:
Leadership change at Chicago Tribune
The Chicago Tribune has a new executive editor. It’s Mitch Pugh, who has spent the past eight years as executive editor of The Post and Courier in Charleston, South Carolina. Pugh replaces Colin McMahon, who is stepping down after 18 months — a year-and-a-half of turmoil at the paper.
As the Tribune’s Robert Channick reports, “Pugh arrives at the Chicago Tribune during a tumultuous time for the 174-year-old newspaper in the wake of hedge fund Alden Global Capital’s $633 million acquisition of Tribune Publishing in late May. More than 40 Chicago Tribune journalists, including many high-profile reporters and editors, accepted a voluntary buyout, leading to a shuffling of talent to fill key vacancies.”
Pugh is an Illinois native and a graduate of the University of Illinois Springfield. The Post and Courier had a solid reputation under Pugh’s leadership, and won a Pulitzer Prize in 2015 for public service journalism. The prize was for a series called “Till Death Do Us Part,” which looked at why South Carolina was among the deadliest states for women and, according to the Pulitzer Board, “put the issue of what to do about it on the state’s agenda.”
In a memo to staff, McMahon said it was “time to move on” and said, “I’m looking forward to the next chapter.” He did not say what that next chapter would be.
Poynter scoop
My colleague Rick Edmonds, Poynter’s media business analyst, had an interesting scoop Tuesday. Edmonds reported that Stewart Bainum Jr., who once had an interest in buying The Baltimore Sun, now is looking to launch a nonprofit news organization that could end up competing against the Sun.
Edmonds wrote, “Six postings on the Jooble site seek various mid-level executives to plan a multimedia and comprehensive news startup for the city. A source familiar with Bainum’s thinking said plans are still preliminary, and the project might yet be found not to be feasible. But the source conceded this is a strong signal that Bainum wants to go ahead with an alternative after his attempt to put together a deal this spring to buy all of Tribune Publishing failed.”
Greene suspended from Twitter
