Newsweek’s deputy opinion editor Batya Ungar-Sargon discussed the Cuomo brothers’ downfall on Hill TV’s “Rising” on Monday.
In the case of former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D), Ungar-Sargon noted that Cuomo had overseen “a disastrous COVID policy when it came to New Yorkers most vulnerable.”
She said that the governor “forced nursing homes to take back COVID positive patients” who then “spread the virus like wildfire,” adding that he did the same thing to developmentally disabled people.
“It wasn’t until it came out that he had sexually harassed his colleagues that suddenly the blood was out for Andrew Cuomo,” Ungar-Sargon said, noting that it was not her intention to minimize the issue of sexual harassment.
“I think that there’s a real sickness in a society that says sexual harassment is a worse crime than signing the death warrants of the most vulnerable people who cannot advocate on their own behalf,” she added.
Ungar-Sargon saw a similar situation in the case of the governor’s brother, former CNN anchor Chris Cuomo.
“Throughout the COVID pandemic he did not cover his brother’s scandals. He did not cover the senior deaths,” she said. “Instead, what he did was he was back channeling helping his brother using his journalistic network in order to help him fight sexual harassment claims.”
She added that CNN suspended Cuomo for those infractions but did not fire him until he had his own sexual harassment allegation come to light.
“What CNN essentially did is it took this opportunity for real soul-searching and turned it into a story of, yes I’m going to say it, Me Too overreach,” Ungar-Sargon said.
On Saturday, CNN confirmed that it had terminated Cuomo from the network following his suspension for his involvement in helping his brother handle sexual harassment allegations made against him.
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