Former aide: Cuomo suggested 'strip poker,' 'kissed me on the lips'
FOX News correspondent Bryan Llenas joins 'The Story' with the latest on bombshell allegations
The mainstream media appears to be giving cover to Democratic New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo by not covering sexual harassment allegations leveled against him by former administration aide Lindsey Boylan as CNN, MSNBC, ABC’s "World News Tonight," CBS’ "Evening News" and NBC’s "Nightly News" all skipped the bombshell on Wednesday.
Boylan came forward on Wednesday with explosive claims against the already-embattled Democrat, saying Gov. Cuomo asked her to play "strip poker," made a lewd reference to Bill Clinton’s infamous use of cigars, touched her lower back, kissed her on the lips and made her generally uncomfortable.
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"Very simple game to play here: Let’s say Governor DeSantis, the Republican governor of Florida that the national media has a particular focus on and invariably not in a positive light. Would CNN ignore such an allegation? Would ABC, CBS, NBC? Would the soapboxes and the pious lectures be given the day off? It’s rhetorical Thursday, so no need to answer that," The Hill media columnist and Fox News contributor Joe Concha said.
Many Democrats and liberal media pundits trumpeted the "believe women" mantra in the rise of the #MeToo movement in 2017, but Tara Reade’s 2020 assault claim, which was initially sparsely covered, against then-candidate Joe Biden showed some claims were taken more seriously than others.
Cuomo's office denied Boylan's harassment claims, calling them "simply false" and insisting the strip poker comment "did not happen," but the mainstream media didn’t even bother to report the news from the angle that the governor denied the allegations.
Media Research Center news analyst Nicholas Fondacaro called the coverage blackout an example of "blatant hypocrisy" by the mainstream media.
"The silence from the liberal media after the allegations against Cuomo came out was deafening as ABC, CBS, CNN, and MSNBC all ignored it. This kept the story from reaching millions of Americans who might not have learned about it otherwise," Fondacaro told Fox News.
"It was blatant hypocrisy compared to how the media ruthlessly went after Justice Kavanaugh, and a perfect example of how their interest in damaging allegations change based on both their political leanings and future use to the media," Fondacaro added. "Just like with Cuomo’s nursing home deaths and cover-up scandal, the liberal media have to be dragged kicking and screaming. They really want nothing to do with damaging the reputation of the man they insisted was America’s real leader during the pandemic."
The New York Times and Washington Post both managed to cover the bombshell claims against Cuomo, proving the relevancy of the story that was ignored by CNN, MSNBC, ABC, CBS and NBC.
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CNN’s decision to shield its audience from the damning claims against Gov. Cuomo came after the liberal network was widely criticized for allowing the governor’s baby brother, "Cuomo Prime Time" namesake Chris Cuomo, to conduct a series of playful on-air conversations.
The Cuomo siblings regularly teased each other and bickered over who their mother prefers in interviews that felt more like comedy routines. Along the way, the CNN anchor largely ignored the growing nursing home scandal that has led to growing calls for his impeachment.
Sometimes the siblings took a break from the spirited banter so the CNN host could heap praise on the governor, once declaring that he’d never be "objective" when covering his big brother. While the governor is now facing allegations of sexual harassment and bullying from Boylan, the CNN anchor gushed in an interview from May that his brother, who he sometimes affectionately calls the "Love Gov," was "single and ready to mingle."
With Gov. Cuomo under fire, CNN has now banned his brother from uttering his name, reinstating an old rule that was ignored due to what a spokesman called the "extraordinary" early period of the pandemic.
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Cornell Law School professor and media critic William A. Jacobson doesn’t think anyone should be shocked that CNN didn’t bother to cover the latest Cuomo family scandal, after the hyper-partisan network set a precedent that the governor isn’t treated like other elected officials.
"Considering CNN’s original sin of allowing Chris Cuomo to cover his brother Andrew, including the ridiculous stunt of bringing a giant test swab onto the set, no one should be surprised," Jacobson told Fox News.
"CNN has such a deep conflict it may need to appoint an independent outside journalist to cover the collapse of the Cuomo dynasty," Jacobson added.
DePauw University professor and media critic Jeffrey McCall feels CNN "keeps expanding and complicating its professional challenges on the coverage" of the Democratic governor.
"CNN's total omission of coverage is quite noticeable. It is understandable that CNN wouldn't allow this news topic to be on brother Chris' prime time show, but to stifle the other journalistic voices at CNN is concerning," McCall told Fox News.
It was known the story wouldn’t be covered on CNN’s most-watched program, "Cuomo Prime Time," because of the reinstated ban, but CNN skipped the news on its other programs, too. CNN hadn’t even bothered to cover the story online as of Thursday morning, roughly 24 hours after Boylan went public with her claims.
Jake Tapper was among the CNN anchors who ignored Boylan, resulting in political pundit Stephen L. Miller mocking him on Twitter.
"Lindsey Boylan, a former aide of Andrew Cuomo accused him of sexual harassment on record today. There is no mention to this from you, on air, your network, which employs his brother or your network website. Meanwhile, you are posting Tom Brady memes, not 25 minutes ago," Miller wrote.
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Miller asked Tapper if he would book Boylan on his show in a follow-up tweet.
Tapper, who is active on Twitter, retweeted a message from state Sen. Alessandra Biaggi, D., retweeted a message that expressed support for Boylan shortly after Miller publicly scolded him. Despite the retweet, Tapper did not respond to Miller’s query about booking Boylan on his program.
Tapper did not immediately respond to a request for comment on why he didn’t cover the allegations on air.
"This has to be a decision being handed down from the top of CNN because surely some of the editors and reporters know this is a story that needs to be on the news agenda," McCall said. "CNN erred in running a PR campaign for Governor Cuomo much of the last year, and now it is very hard for the channel to disrupt its own narrative to cover recent negative news about him."
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Boylan did not immediately respond when asked about the coverage blackout.
A statement from Cuomo’s office on Wednesday denied the claims.
"As we said before, Ms. Boylan's claims of inappropriate behavior are quite simply false," press secretary Caitlin Girouard said.
Fox News’ Joseph A. Wulfsohn contributed to this report.