Chris Cuomo Returns As Primetime Host For NewsNation After CNN Firing

It’s hard for many to believe that Chris Cuomo is already making his return as a primetime host for NewsNation after he was fired from CNN.

On December 4, CNN said that Chris was “terminated” from the network “effective immediately” after he reportedly used his sources in order to aid his older brother, former New York Governor AndrewCuomo, with the sexual harassment claims that led to his resignation last August.

However, Chris was then faced with sexual misconduct allegations of his own that rocked the network when then-President Jeff Zuckerresigned in February, citing a failure to disclose a consensual relationship with a colleague. That executive, Allison Gollust, left the company a month later after the company had completed an investigation into Chris, who she had worked with before joining CNN.

Although Chris Licht has already taken over for Jeff Zucker and wants to put the network in a new direction, Chris Cuomo looks to be closing the door on his past and trying to start a new chapter of his life.

As reported by Deadline, Chris Cuomo will just Nexstar's NewsNation this fall. The news broke at the end of an hour-long interview with Dan Abrams on NewsNation's Dan Abrams Live.

This was Cuomo's first interview with leaving CNN and he was open about discussing how he had advised his brother, Andrew, on how to handle the sexual harassment allegations that he was facing at the time.

“I really believe that this outlet has a chance to reach who I call free agents — not right, not left, reasonable. Regular, open mind, open heart, willing to listen when someone disagrees,” Cuomo said.

“I want to build something special here, work with Dan, work with the team here,” Cuomo continued. “We got great people who are really hungry to make a difference in ways that I think matter. I have decided that I cannot go back to what people see as ‘the big game.’"

"I don’t think I can make a difference there. I think we need insurgent media," he added. "We need outlets that aren’t fringe and are just trying to fill their pockets….I am going to do the job. I am going to where the news is, and I am going to try very hard to be fair.”

Elsewhere in the interview, Abrams also Cuomo directly about the sexual assault allegations he was facing. The New York Times reported said that the allegations were made by a junior colleague at another network. At the time, Cuomo had denied the allegations, and he still denied them to Dan Abrams.

When asked if he knew who the woman was who made the allegations against him, Cuomo replied, "I think I do." Abrams then asked, "And none of this happened?" To which Cumo echoed, "None of this happened."

“Again, these are things for someone else to explain,” Cuomo said. “If you are going to make the allegation it is about how you feel and what you think…. my feeling is, it is in the past. I am never going to be able to convince people one way or another."

"I feed the story by commenting on it. I denied it, and you try to move on," he continued. "A big aspect of our business will say that it is accountability, it is responsibility, but I don’t know that is always true.”

Chris Cuomo also said that CNN executives knew as far back as May 2021 that he had been advising his brother, and even once apologized on-air after "a lot of colleagues felt compromised."

“I offered several times to leave the job,” he said. “… I never imagined that what I was doing to help my brother would reflect badly on CNN.”

It seems that Chris has no regrets about defending his brother Andrew, either.

“I love my brother. The rule in my family is very simple: Family. Trouble. Go. Other people have the luxury of judging allegations and situations," he said. "For me, it was about helping out my brother in a hard way, and doing it in a way that I didn’t think comprised what matters. That is what guided me.”