Fired CNN anchor Chris Cuomo has been accused of trying to “burn the place down” by using incriminating evidence of Jeff Zucker’s relationship with colleague Allison Gollust as part of efforts to secure an $18m exit payout.
Brian Stelter, the network’s chief media correspondent, cited sources who claimed Mr Cuomo had used the relationship as a bargaining tool after being dismissed in December for advising his brother Andrew Cuomo, who resigned as New York Governor a month earlier during a sexual harassment scandal.
“He was not going out quietly,” Mr Stelter said on CNN Wednesday.
“He was going to court trying to burn the place down and claiming that he had incriminating evidence about Zucker and Gollost.
“So if that’s the case, this is a domino effect that begins with Andrew Cuomo going down from the governor’s office and then Chris Cuomo being fired from CNN and then Jeff Zucker losing his job at CNN. That is a remarkable... chain of events.”
Earlier, Politico reported that the Mr Cuomo’s legal team objected to the relationship as part of ongoing negotiations about the terms of his exit from CNN.
Two sources told Politico that attorneys for the former Cuomo Prime Time anchor found it “hypocritical” of Mr Zucker to accuse him of a conflict of interest, when he was in a secret relationship with a subordinate.
Mr Zucker, the CNN president, announced his resignation from the cable news network on Tuesday after admitting to a relationship with a colleague.
“As part of the investigation into Chris Cuomo’s tenure at CNN, I was asked about a consensual relationship with my closest colleague, someone I have worked with for more than 20 years,” he said in a statement to colleagues.
“I acknowledged the relationship evolved in recent years. I was required to disclose it when it began but I didn’t. I was wrong. As a result, I am resigning today,” Mr Zucker said.
In a separate memo to CNN staff, chief marketing officer Ms Gollust acknowledged she should have told the company’s human resources department of the relationship.
She is staying on in her job.
Meanwhile, Puck News reporter Matthew Belloni said CNN had recently received a letter from Mr Cuomo’s lawyers demanding the “preservation of all communications between Zucker, comms chief Allison Gollust, and Andrew Cuomo”.
After his dismissal in December, Mr Cuomo hired lawyers to demand he be paid out the remaining $18m of his contract.
The Independent has approached Mr Cuomo’s attorney Bryan Freedman for comment.
