CNN is not covering the federal investigation of New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo's handling of an anti-corruption commission because his brother Chris Cuomo works for the network, Westchester County Executive Rob Astorino charged on Wednesday.
"What other reason why would they not cover something like this?'' Astorino, a Republican running against Andrew Cuomo this fall, said on "The Steve Malzberg Show" on
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Astorino says CNN should aggressively cover the story, and at the very least it owes viewers a disclaimer noting that Chris Cuomo, who co-hosts its "New Day'' program, is Andrew Cuomo's brother.
"Absolutely. This is a national story. This is a governor who is reportedly getting ready to run for president if he wins,'' Astorino said.
"The scrutiny has been on many other presidential candidates or potential, like [Wisconsin] Gov. Scott Walker, [New Jersey Gov.] Chris Christie, and [Texas Gov.] Rick Perry.
"Here you got a sitting governor in one of the biggest [states] in America who is directly being investigated."
A CNN spokesman was not available for comment.
Cuomo is under fire for allegedly interfering with an anti-corruption commission he created, after it reportedly got too close to cronies of his.
"It's Cuomogate, and it's just beginning. It's interesting that this was broken into a three-month investigation by The New York Times, and then for two weeks it's been pounded by MSNBC.
"This is not some vast, right-wing [conspiracy] here we're dealing with. This is the left actually doing their job. This is Cuomogate because Andrew Cuomo set up this commission to investigate corruption.''
The Media Research Center reported on Monday: "CNN's zero coverage of the scandal dragged on over the weekend with no mentions on any of the channel's programs.'' It said that ABC and NBC also have turned their backs on the scandal.
Astorino asked for the federal investigation into Cuomo's actions to be wrapped up before the midterm elections.
"There's 90 days before an election. The governor of New York has a federal prosecutor looking into him . . . This is a winnable race,'' he said.
Astorino also slammed Cuomo for not responding to his debate challenge.
"He's a coward, so he doesn't want to debate," he said.
"I have said to Gov. Cuomo, I will debate you. Let's do eight debates, one in each region of the state, and he's been mum on that. I'm ready to debate him.''
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