Former Fox News anchor and podcaster Megyn Kelly has long been a fighter for those who’ve experienced sexual misconduct from some of the most powerful people in the country. And during a Wednesday appearance on Newsmax’s The Balance, she took on disgraced New York Governor Andrew Cuomo (D) and his “loser brother on CNN,” aka Chris Cuomo, calling them out for exploiting their family name and corruption.
From the get-go, she made every blow count. Kelly started by calling out how the corrupt Cuomo brothers had only gotten where they were in life because they were “born into such a family of privilege” and “trade off of their family name, their family connections, [and] their family power.”
She added: “These guys never would have achieved the positions they have if it had not been for their daddy and his name. Very popular three-term governor of New York, Mario Cuomo.”
Further, speaking to the power and privilege disparity between Andrew and his victims, Kelly broke down what happened with former aide Lindsey Boylan (Click “expand”):
The woman they really went after Lindsey Boylan. Her dad was a marine. Her mom was on food stamps got pregnant as a very young woman, a young teen, this woman Lindsey Boylan and pulled herself up out of a family that had no advantages and everything she has in her life she got for herself. She goes to work for Andrew Cuomo as an aide. The guy tries to stick his tongue down her throat, wants to play strip poker with her, says all these inappropriate comments.
And then when she finds the courage to tweet about it, what are these two privileged brothers do? You know, the ones who trade off of their family name, their family connections, their family power. They conspire together to try to silence her, humiliate her, embarrass her. They work with the heads of two woke organizations to smear her by releasing her personnel file, including Time's Up.
She even took a well-placed swipe at the liberal media for ignoring Andrew’s nursing home deaths scandal because “they were too busy lauding themselves as Cuomosexuals, applauding Andrew Cuomo on Chris Cuomo's cable news show. It's so fun. We need a moment of levity.”
Bolling then pivoted to focusing on Chris and wondered what CNN was going to do with him. Kelly argued that “this is a career-defining and a character-defining moment for CNN – forget Chris Cuomo, we know who he is – for CNN.” And she lauded CNN host Jake Tapper for being “the only one” at CNN to publicly speak out against Chris.
Kelly continued to relentlessly rip into Chris for not taking his role as an anchor seriously and essentially hocking a loogie in the eye of journalistic ethics and standards (Click “expand”):
When you have these roles and the cable news anchor desk – and any of the anchor desks – you have a responsibility to journalism to your audience to your news organization to uphold a higher standard. And if you're going to go political operative, full political operative taking a side on a story and actively working against one other. You've got to disclose it, and you've got to take a leave of absence.
The only reason we know Chris Cuomo did any of this stuff is he got caught, the Washington Post found out outed him. And only then did he come on the air and say, “Oh I can't report on my brother because I'm biased.” Now you can't report on him? And then we found out he was working behind the scenes even since then, now it's come out even since then, and post his promise not to do it. Has been doing it.
“So, CNN, this is a real – this is a moment for Jeff Zucker. Does he care at all about journalistic standards? Is there a one percent of that left in that news organization? Or isn't there,” she wondered.
And as she wrapped the segment, Kelly noted that Chris had “lost all credibility” and would have to recuse himself from reporting on any future sexual misconduct story. She also called for him to experience an actual punishment: “He's shown us who he is, and I think at a minimum, this guy needs to be turfed for a long time, if not let out of that post.”
The transcript is below, click "expand" to read:
Newsmax’s Eric Bolling The Balance
August 11, 2021
4:08:36 p.m. EasternERIC BOLLING: What do you think is going on with Cuomo, is he finished as a politician?
MEGYN KELLY: I'd like to say yes, but I don't know. I mean, I’m a lifelong New York State gal and they love their Democrats in New York, and they love the Cuomo's. They loved his dad. I mean, he was born into such a family of privilege. He and his loser brother on CNN. Born into such a family of privilege. These guys never would have achieved the positions they have if it had not been for their daddy and his name. Very popular three-term governor of New York, Mario Cuomo.
So, they get into these positions and what do they do? They abuse them. And on the sexual harassment scandal, Eric just to jump to that. Now, we find out that they work together to silence these women and try to attack these some-odd 11 accusers that came part against Andrew Cuomo, none of whom came from any positions of power.
The woman they really went after Lindsey Boylan. Her dad was a marine. Her mom was on food stamps got pregnant as a very young woman, a young teen, this woman Lindsey Boylan and pulled herself up out of a family that had no advantages and everything she has in her life she got for herself. She goes to work for Andrew Cuomo as an aide. The guy tries to stick his tongue down her throat, wants to play strip poker with her, says all these inappropriate comments.
And then when she finds the courage to tweet about it, what are these two privileged brothers do? You know, the ones who trade off of their family name, their family connections, their family power. They conspire together to try to silence her, humiliate her, embarrass her. They work with the heads of two woke organizations to smear her by releasing her personnel file, including Time's Up.
Time's Up, which was born to help women who’ve come forward with sexual harassment allegations. Unless your name is Tara Reid and you're accusing Joe Biden or your name is Lindsey Boylan, and you're trying to accuse Andrew Cuomo. Because they worked with Cuomo to edit his response going after Lindsey Boylan it. I mean, it's like it's insane.
But just to jump back, the nursing home scandal in which he issued an order that led to the deaths of up to 15,000 senior citizens didn't get any ink. I mean, comparatively, it got almost no ink. The media wasn't interested in that. And why is that because they were too busy lauding themselves as Cuomosexuals, applauding Andrew Cuomo on Chris Cuomo's cable news show. It's so fun. We need a moment of levity. Aren't they wonderful? Even though Chris asked nothing about the nursing home scandals, which were unfolding when he put his brother on television and celebrated it.
BOLLING: So, can I stay there just for a minute, and we'll get into some of the nourishing home stuff. I want to stay on Chris Cuomo because you point this out. I mean, how he can possibly return to CNN from his preplanned vacation the week his brother is resigning, interesting. How can he come back with any sort of credibility at all?
And I know he's not a journalist. I know he's a – I know he considers him an opinion host. I get that. But how can he possibly, possibly return to CNN given what he what he's done? He's advised his brother on how to combat sexual harassment claims and basically what the brother ended up doing was victim shaming. He pointed the finger at the victims, rather. This is against everything that they stand forward, what Cuomo's are supposed to stand for, what CNN was supposed to stand for. How can he possibly do that? Your thoughts.
KELLY: Well, this is a career-defining and a character-defining moment for CNN – forget Chris Cuomo, we know who he is – for CNN. There are other journalists there. There are people there who I really like and still respect a couple. Certainly, I like Jake Tapper. He wasn't a fan of Trump, but I still think he's a good guy. He's spoken out about Chris Cuomo. He's the only one Eric. Everybody else has held their tongues.
They may have gone after Andrew finally, but they won't say a word about brother Chris, who's been acting as a political operative. And let me just clear something up because there are a lot of conservatives who say, “Oh, okay, I can forgive Chris Cuomo, he helped his brother.” This isn't about what kind of a brother he was. No one's saying, “Oh, yeah, you helped your brother.” This is about what kind of an anchor he is.
When you have these roles and the cable news anchor desk – and any of the anchor desks – you have a responsibility to journalism to your audience to your news organization to uphold a higher standard. And if you're going to go political operative, full political operative taking a side on a story and actively working against one other. You've got to disclose it, and you've got to take a leave of absence.
The only reason we know Chris Cuomo did any of this stuff is he got caught, the Washington Post found out outed him. And only then did he come on the air and say, “Oh I can't report on my brother because I'm biased.” Now you can't report on him? And then we found out he was working behind the scenes even since then, now it's come out even since then, and post his promise not to do it. Has been doing it.
So, CNN, this is a real – this is a moment for Jeff Zucker. Does he care at all about journalistic standards? Is there a one percent of that left in that news organization? Or isn't there?
BOLLING: Good question. He was the highest-rated host on the network. That's a tall order to give – Listen, it's happened before, though – But how does – very quickly, about half a minute or so, Megan — How does Chris Cuomo cover as any sort of story of any sort of sexual harassment accusation going forward?
KELLY: He doesn't, he can't. Think about how the women inside of CNN are feeling about this guy right now. He actively worked behind the scenes to dismiss them all as part of cancel culture. The state trooper who says Andrew Cuomo was gratuitously rubbing her stomach as she walked by, the young executive assistant whose breast he felt underneath her blouse. These guys get wind of these allegations and decided to go after the women.
Chris Cuomo is going to look at his staff and say he cares deeply about these issues? These stories are going to keep coming. Is he going to bow out of all of them? He's lost all credibility. He's shown us who he is, and I think at a minimum, this guy needs to be turfed for a long time, if not let out of that post.
