Zucker Lover Resigns from CNN as New Details of Alleged Cuomo Assault Surface

As two significant developments emerged Tuesday night, the secretive battle between CNN’s former boss Jeff Zucker and Chris Cuomo was not over. The first was Zucker’s lover and fellow CNN executive Allison Gollust resigned from the company two weeks after Zucker was forced out. A second, was New York Times expose that revealed new details of how the three fell so far and new details of Cuomo’s alleged sexual assault of a colleague while at ABC News.

Gollust’s ouster was announced by WarnerMedia CEO Jason Kilar in a letter to the company that was shared by CNN hatchetman and media apologist Brian Stelter on Twitter.

“Earlier today, Allison Gollust resigned from CNN following the conclusion of the Company’s investigation into issues associated with Chris Cuomo and former Governor Andrew Cuomo,” Kilar wrote. “Performed by a third-party law firm and led by a former federal judge, the investigation was comprehensive and definitive.”

Jason Kilar has a new memo: “The investigation revealed violations of Company policies including CNN’s News Standards and Practices by Jeff Zucker and Allison Gollust.” pic.twitter.com/Xu1HQJw9cT

— Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) February 16, 2022

The following is an extract from the New York Times report, Kilar was the exacting force inside the company that pushed for the outside investigation that lead to Cuomo and Zucker’s ouster. So it was no surprise that he was sure to declare he made “the right decisions” on all counts:

Based on interviews of more than 40 individuals and a review of over 100,000 texts and emails, the investigation found violations of Company policies, including CNN’s News Standards and Practices, by Jeff Zucker, Allison Gollust, and Chris Cuomo. (…) Given the information provided to me in the investigation, I strongly believe we have taken the right actions and the right decisions have been made.

He also made the utterly laughable statement that CNN has “the highest standards of journalistic integrity[.]”

Details of the internal investigation were made public in TimesReport featuring account of meeting attended only by Zucker, Gollust and Cuomo about suspension. And while Zucker did want to “fire” Cuomo, he “tried to be diplomatic as he broke the news that Mr. Cuomo was suspended. He suggested there was a chance he could return after the network’s investigation ran its course[.]”

But that night, according to the report, a “fateful letter” from sexual harassment lawyer Debra S. Katz was delivered to the network. It contained the account of her client “Jane Doe” (“a young temporary ABC employee hoping for a full-time job”) alleging Cuomo had sexually assaulted her in his ABC office:

After Mr. Cuomo had given her advice on her career, he invited her for lunch in his office. According to letters, interviews and emails between the women and Mr. Cuomo.

There was nothing for her to eat when she got there. Instead, Cuomo made her eat, but she refused to eat. She ran from the room.

Cuomo ran a segment on her employer that was sexy about Doe, and it became a long time before the #MeToo movement swept media giants Charlie Rose and Matt Lauer.

“Mr. Cuomo suggested that a CNN segment be arranged about her company, where she did public relations. The woman tried to avoid any contact with Mr. Cuomo, but CNN ultimately broadcast a segment anyway,” the paper reported.

Cuomo was fired by Zucker just days after receiving the letter. “From Mr. Cuomo’s perspective, Mr. Zucker had fired him without due process, fearful that the woman’s allegations might appear in the media,” a source told the Times.

And by the time of Zucker was forced out, Kilar seemed to be at his wit’s end: “Mr. Zucker requested to be allowed to continue until the Discovery merger was finished in several months. Mr. Kilar said no.”