CNN claimed Wednesday that it has reinstated a “rule” that prevents Chris Cuomo from “interviewing or covering his brother” — after the host completely ignored the nursing home death cover-up scandal engulfing Gov. Andrew Cuomo.
Last year, Chris Cuomo repeatedly interviewed his older brother about the coronavirus pandemic, engaging in often-cringey banter that initially helped boost the ratings for the 9 p.m. “Cuomo Prime Time.”
But the controversy over the Cuomo administration’s admitted cover-up of nursing home death numbers — exclusively revealed by The Post last week — hasn’t been mentioned on Chris’ hour-long show.
That’s despite coverage on other CNN shows, including Sunday’s “State of the Union,” on which host Jake Tapper criticized the state Health Department’s since-rescinded, March 25 directive for nursing homes to admit COVID-19 patients.
“So Gov. Cuomo, who has declined to appear on this show despite dozens of requests over the past year, including this past week, made a bad decision that may have cost lives,” Tapper said.
“And then his administration hid that data from the public.”
On Monday, “Anderson Cooper 360” also devoted a segment to Andrew Cuomo’s first news conference since the controversy erupted, including a reference to how some Democratic lawmakers want to strip him of his pandemic-related emergency powers.
It also featured highly critical remarks from state Republican Committee Chairman Nick Langworthy, who said, “The gravity of this cover-up cannot be overstated.”
“Andrew Cuomo must be prosecuted and Andrew Cuomo must be impeached if this evidence exists,” Langworthy added.
In a prepared statement, a CNN spokesperson said, “The early months of the pandemic crisis were an extraordinary time. We felt that Chris speaking with his brother about the challenges of what millions of American families were struggling with was of significant human interest.”
“As a result, we made an exception to a rule that we have had in place since 2013 which prevents Chris from interviewing and covering his brother, and that rule remains in place today. CNN has covered the news surrounding Governor Cuomo extensively,” the statement added.
The network didn’t respond to a question asking when Gov. Cuomo was again banned from his brother’s show.
But in October, Chris Cuomo got into a heated argument on air with GOP Texas Sen. Ted Cruz over his older brother’s decision to bar nursing homes from turning away coronavirus patients at the pandemic’s height.
“There is something disgusting that Democrats are doing, that [presidential candidate] Joe Biden does and that you do, which is you try to blame the people who’ve lost their lives on your political enemies,” said the Republican lawmaker, making his first appearance on Cuomo’s show. “It’s particularly not right when your brother has presided over the state with the highest death rate in the country.
“Was it a mistake when your brother implemented a policy that nursing homes had to accept COVID-positive patients and endanger the lives of tens of thousands of seniors in New York State?”
Cuomo avoided giving a yes-or-no response on the charge.
“My brother was the first one to say that there was a learning curve and that mistakes were made and that they changed things as soon as they could,” he said.
“So the nursing homes was the sum total of the entire problem in the country? That’s what it was?” Chris Cuomo — himself a coronavirus survivor — fired back at Cruz.
“It led to New York having 33,000 deaths compared to Texas having 15,000 deaths, and Texas has 50 percent more population than New York does,” countered Cruz. “Tell your brother to get on it.”
