Cuomo was fired from the network on December 4 after details emerged on how he assisted his brother, former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, as the politician faced sexual harassment allegations of his own earlier this year. Tuesday night, The Times reported that soon after former CNN President Jeff Zucker suspended Cuomo on November 30, the network received a letter from a lawyer representing a woman who had worked with the host at ABC News.
The letter, addressed to CNN general counsel David Vigilante, charged Chris Cuomo with 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.
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The Times reported interviewing five of the woman’s friends and obtained messages sent between the accuser and Chris Cuomo. The woman told friends and former colleagues that Cuomo had made unwelcome sexual requests, the Times reported. In the past year, the woman told people the host had assaulted her.
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Attorney Debra Katz’s letter to CNN also revealed Cuomo contacted the woman out of the blue at the height of the #MeToo movement, the Times reported. Cuomo called for CNN to do a segment about the company where the woman worked 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 wrote. CNN eventually broadcasted a segment, though the woman tried to avoid contact with Cuomo.
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Katz said the woman is “deeply traumatized” and doesn’t wish to become “a pawn in an internecine war between Zucker, Chris Cuomo, and CNN” and won’t say anything further. She “deserves and requests privacy,” the letter added.
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A report earlier this month stated 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. Zucker announced his resignation on February 2 after revealing that he had a relationship with a senior network executive. After acknowledging her relationship with Zucker, Allison Gollust resigned as CNN executive Vice President and chief marketing officer on Tuesday.
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