On Monday night, as Don Lemon was among the last major hosts on his network to acknowledge the various scandals consuming Democratic Governor Andrew Cuomo in recent weeks, the CNN Tonight anchor buried the story at the end of his show, and then abandoned it on Tuesday unlike most of his other colleagues.
Lemon also showed a double standard in making sure to pounce on a couple of newly elected Republican members of Congress who are facing accusations of scandal from recent years.
After news broke on Thursday, January 28, that New York's Democratic attorney general, Letitia James, found that the Cuomo administration under-reported the number of nursing home residents who died from COVID, Fox News Channel immediately began covering both stories daily while only a few CNN shows bothered to cover the story.
Then, when news broke on Friday, February 12, that a top aide to Governor Cuomo had admitted to fellow Democrats that the administration had deliberately covered up the true number of COVID deaths linked to nursing homes, which led the next day to word that the FBI was investigating the New York Democrat's administration, most weekday CNN shows waited until the next week, after the Senate impeachment trial ended, before they carried the story. Every weekday show on CNN eventually covered the Cuomo story at least once, with night-time anchors Lemon and Chris Cuomo as the only exceptions who did not.
And on Thursday last week, when a string of sexual harassment accusations started to be added to Governor Cuomo's pile of scandals, John King and Jake Tapper initially were the only two CNN hosts who covered the first accusation, made by Lindsey Boylan. As more accusations surfaced, it took until Monday before other weekday shows joined in the coverage.
After Chris Cuomo on Monday's Cuomo Prime Time, gave the excuse that the network has a policy that he does not cover stories that involve his brother -- even though he goofed around with Governor Cuomo last year on air after the nursing home scandal had already begun unfolding -- Lemon became the last weekday CNN host to get to the New York Democrat's scandals, giving the sexual harassment accusations a segment of four minutes and 24 seconds that began airing near the end of the show at 11:44 p.m. Eastern.
One of his two guests -- CNN political commentator Errol Louis of New York's local news market -- undermined Governor Cuomo's Democratic critics by suggesting that they want "revenge" and "payback" for past problems with the governor of their own party:
There are a number of people who are not friends of his politically ... who are using this moment to maybe exact a little bit of revenge. The mayor of New York City is another one. Just earlier tonight, as a matter of fact, he said he could foresee a scenario where the governor would have to step down. There are others who are saying, "Yes, he should step down." But, almost without exception, these are people who really had some -- some beef, if -- for lack of a better word -- with the governor. So some of this is political payback that's going on.
Toward the end of his commentary, he argued that Governor's experience in handling the pandemic is too important to drive him from office:
Andrew Cuomo is one of the most powerful Democrats in the country -- he's the head of the National Governors Association -- he's the longest serving governor anywhere in the country -- he is the dean of the governors. He's not somebody that you just on a couple of accusations would say should vanish from the political scene. And let's keep in mind, we're in the middle of a pandemic. This state government needs to perform at a high rate of efficiency and effectiveness, and this is a very bad time, I think, to let politics get in the way of the core functions that really do have to be done well right now.
In contrast with his lack of interest in covering Governor Cuomo's scandal problems in spite of him being one of the highest-profile governors in the country Lemon was quick to jump on accusations of scandal against North Carolina Congressman Madison Cawthorn and Texas Congressman Ronny Jackson, both of whom are newly elected Republican freshmen.
On Monday, Lemon devoted nine minutes and 45 seconds to claims that Cawthorn -- who is the youngest member of Congress at age 25 -- sexually harassed female classmates when he was in college several years ago. And, on Tuesday, after failing to run any followups on Governor Cuomo, Lemon pounced on a Pentagon report alleging sexual harassment and alcoholism by Jackson, with the CNN host running two segments -- one totaling five minutes and 50 seconds, and the other five minutes and 37 seconds -- thus underscoring that his CNN show is mostly about going after Republicans.
Tuesday's CNN Tonight was sponsored in part by Aveeno. Their contact information is linked.
CNN Tonight
March 2, 2021
11:44 p.m. Eastern
DON LEMON: So, Errol, Representative Kathleen Rice, a New York Democrat, is calling for his resignation tonight. He was already under fire for his handling of the nursing home scandal and accused of bullying and threatening other Democrats. How much trouble is Governor Cuomo in?
ERROL LOUIS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: He is in a certain kind of political trouble, Don, because there are a number of people who are not friends of his politically -- and Kathleen Rice falls in that category -- who are using this moment to maybe exact a little bit of revenge. The mayor of New York City is another one. Just earlier tonight, as a matter of fact, he said he could foresee a scenario where the governor would have to step down. There are others who are saying, "Yes, he should step down." But, almost without exception, these are people who really had some -- some beef, if -- for lack of a better word -- with the governor. So some of this is political payback that's going on.
What we don't have, though, is a clear view -- a neutral view, an objective view -- of what actually happened. And many of these cases, there really are only a couple of people in the room. So it will take a full investigation to figure out what was said, what was meant, how was it interpreted, and whether or not any laws were broken.
LEMON: Listen, this is what Democrats are discussing now, and people who are paying attention on the liberal side that Democrats ditched Senator Al Franken, Errol, when he faced accusations. And many later said that they regretted forcing him out. Do you think that's a factor here? Does that play into this for Democrats?
LOUIS: There's a bit of a factor to the extent that, in the Al Franken case, one of the first people to come out against him was Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, our junior Senator here in New York. So she is calling for an investigation and kind of holding her tongue. She got a lot of blowback and arguably helped doom her presidential campaign, the fact that a lot of people remembered that she came out early, she came out strongly, and the facts weren't necessarily in place when she drew a conclusion. I think she is going to be a little bit more cautious this time. But there are a number of other Democrats, I think, that are going to do the same.
Andrew Cuomo is one of the most powerful Democrats in the country -- he's the head of the National Governors Association -- he's the longest serving governor anywhere in the country -- he is the dean of the governors. He's not somebody that you just on a couple of accusations would say should vanish from the political scene. And let's keep in mind, we're in the middle of a pandemic. This state government needs to perform at a high rate of efficiency and effectiveness, and this is a very bad time, I think, to let politics get in the way of the core functions that really do have to be done well right now.
