CNN host Chris Cuomo told investigators from the Attorney General's office that he had tried to keep 30 Rock star Alec Baldwin from ranting about cancel culture and meddling in favor of his disgraced ex-governor brother.
Bombshell documents released Monday by the New York AG Letitia James' office on Monday show that it was Cuomo's aide, Melissa DeRosa, who alerted Cuomo to Baldwin's 14-minute rant published on DailyMail.com where he hit out at sexual misconduct allegations leveled at Andrew Cuomo.
In a text, Cuomo responded that 'my friend asked him [Baldwin] to do it ... Very close to him.'
During subpoenaed testimony with investigators on July 15, Cuomo said he asked his friend to tell Baldwin, who is facing his own controversy after fatally shooting 'Rust' cinematographer Halyna Hutchins, to stay out of the scandal.
'I said, Tell him to stay out of it,' Chris Cuomo told investigators. 'It's not necessary. He said, 'Well, he's going to do it. And I think it's a good idea for him to do it. He wants to talk about these things.'
Newly-released texts from CNN host Chris Cuomo (right) reveal he helped strategize brother Andrew Cuomo's (left) response to the sexual harassment scandal earlier this year
It was his brothers' aide, Melissa DeRosa, who made Cuomo aware of a DailyMail.com article on Baldwin's video rant defending Andrew Cuomo
Bombshell documents released Monday by the New York AG Letitia James' office on Monday show that it was Cuomo's aide, Melissa DeRosa, who alerted Cuomo to Baldwin's 14-minute rant published on DailyMail.com where he hit out at sexual misconduct allegations leveled at Andrew Cuomo. In a text, Cuomo responded that 'my friend asked him to do it ... Very close to him'
He added: 'I wasn't in favor of it happening because I didn't think that Alec Baldwin weighing in on this one way or the other was necessarily helpful or respectful to the situation.'
In Baldwin's 14-minute rant, he ranted that 'the cancel culture thing has revved up during COVID' because 'people are angry and bitter' and 'have a lot of times on their hands.'
The 30 Rock star said he has experienced 'a few people going at me for defending people who have been accused of crimes…' to which he said: 'Well, I'm not defending someone who is guilty of something. I'm choosing to defend someone
