Media

REPORT: Chris Cuomo Took Down Jeff Zucker Amid Bitter Battle Over His Firing

(Mike Coppola/Getty Images for WarnerMedia)/(Theo Wargo/Getty Images for THR)

Brianna Lyman News and Commentary Writer
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Former CNN Anchor Chris Cuomo allegedly had a big hand in the outlet’s newest scandal that led President Jeff Zucker to abruptly resign Wednesday, according to Politico.

Zucker resigned Wednesday after announcing he failed to disclose his relationship with his right-hand woman, chief marketing officer Allison Gollust.

Two unidentified sources with knowledge of Cuomo’s legal team who spoke on the condition of anonymity reportedly said the team raised concerns about Zucker and Gollust’s relationship, claiming Zucker was being a hypocrite by claiming Cuomo’s relationship with his brother presented a conflict of interest for the network.

Puck News’ Matt Belloni said he was told “CNN received a litigation hold letter recently from Chris Cuomo lawyers, demanding, among other things, preservation of all communications between Zucker, comms chief Allison Gollust, and Andrew Cuomo.” (RELATED: CNN Names Three Temporary Replacements For Jeff Zucker)

CNN’s media correspondent Brian Stelter said Wednesday that Cuomo was allegedly planning to reveal “incriminating information” about Zucker prior to his resignation.

“[Chris] Cuomo was fired in December and he is not going out quietly,” Stelter said. “He was fired and there were reports that he wasn’t going to get paid the millions of dollars that were going to be on the remainder of his contract. So, as a source said to me earlier today, he was trying to burn the place down. He was going to court trying to burn the place down and claiming that he had incriminating information about Zucker and Gollust.”

Zucker said he would leave the network due to a “consensual relationship with [his] closest colleague” that he was “required to disclose” at the time but failed to do so. Zucker said the relationship came into question as the network investigates Cuomo. Gollust once served as former Democratic New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s communications director.