On Friday, ABC’s Good Morning America completely ignored New York’s scandal-plagued Democratic Governor Andrew Cuomo preparing to be questioned by the State Attorney General’s office about the numerous sexual harassment allegations against him, among other accusations of misconduct. Meanwhile, NBC’s Today show and CBS This Morning at least offered seconds-long news briefs updating viewers on the status of the investigation into the disgraced Democrat.
“New York Governor Andrew Cuomo scheduled to be interviewed tomorrow as the State Attorney General’s office winds down its investigation that sexual harassment and misconduct allegations against the Governor,” co-host Craig Melvin announced at the top of the Today show’s 7:30 a.m. ET half hour. He reminded that “Several women have accused Cuomo of unwanted kisses, groping, and inappropriate sexual remarks,” but that the Governor “has repeatedly denied that he did anything wrong.” The report was a total of 23 seconds.
Over on This Morning, fill-in co-host Adriana Diaz actually disputed the notion that the investigation into Cuomo was “winding down”:
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo is due to be questioned tomorrow as part of the investigation of sexual harassment allegations. A source familiar with the State Attorney General’s probe tells CBS News this doesn’t necessarily mean the inquiry is wrapping up. Several women, including former aides, accuse the three-term Democrat of harassment or inappropriate conduct. The Governor denies all wrongdoing.
After noting that Cuomo has “rejected calls to resign, including some coming from his own party,” Diaz touted one of the Governor’s political hacks, his communications director Richard Azzopardi, trying undermine the legitimacy of the investigation: “A senior Cuomo adviser said in a statement, ‘The Governor does not want to comment on this review until he has cooperated, but the continued leaks are more evidence of the transparent political motivation of the Attorney General’s review.’”
While the 44-second report on CBS was happy to include that defensive spin from team Cuomo, the segment didn’t bother to quote any of his critics. For example, here’s who The New York Post turned to for a rebuttal to Azzopardi’s nasty rhetoric:
But City Councilman Joe Borelli (R-Staten Island) said, “With Cuomo and company desperately trying to frame this as a political witch-hunt, we can only assume that AG James’s investigation is finding a lot of skeletons in the closets.”
“I expect her report will tear apart his credibility and expose him publicly as the cartoon villain most in Albany already know he is,” Borelli added.
While the coverage on NBC and CBS certainly could have been better, at least the networks mentioned the new developments with Cuomo. The only Cuomo featured on ABC’s GMA was a musical performance from Rivers Cuomo, the lead vocalist for the band Weezer.
The paltry amount of air time provided on NBC was brought to viewers by Lexus and brought to CBS viewers by Toyota.
Here is a transcript of the July 16 news brief on NBC’s Today show:
7:31 AM ET
CRAIG MELVIN: New York Governor Andrew Cuomo scheduled to be interviewed tomorrow as the State Attorney General’s office winds down its investigation that sexual harassment and misconduct allegations against the Governor. Several women have accused Cuomo of unwanted kisses, groping, and inappropriate sexual remarks. Cuomo has apologized for making people feel uncomfortable but has repeatedly denied that he did anything wrong.
Here is a transcript of the coverage on CBS This Morning:
7:11 AM ET
ADRIANA DIAZ: New York Governor Andrew Cuomo is due to be questioned tomorrow as part of the investigation of sexual harassment allegations. A source familiar with the State Attorney General’s probe tells CBS News this doesn’t necessarily mean the inquiry is wrapping up. Several women, including former aides, accuse the three-term Democrat of harassment or inappropriate conduct. The Governor denies all wrongdoing.
He said he would cooperate with the investigation but rejected calls to resign, including some coming from his own party. A senior Cuomo adviser said in a statement, “The Governor does not want to comment on this review until he has cooperated, but the continued leaks are more evidence of the transparent political motivation of the Attorney General’s review.” [Statement from Richard Azzopardi, Senior Adviser and Communications Director]
