CNN's Chris Cuomo helped his brother NY Gov. Andrew Cuomo with 'strategy calls' to craft his response to sexual-harassment allegations: WaPo

• Chris Cuomo joined his brother Andrew Cuomo for "strategy calls," according to The Washington Post.
• The younger Cuomo reportedly helped the governor craft a response to sexual-harassment allegations.
• CNN issued a statement saying Chris Cuomo's involvement was "inappropriate."

The CNN host Chris Cuomo was brought into "strategy calls" with his brother Andrew Cuomo and his aides to iron out a communications strategy in the wake of the litany of sexual-harassment allegations leveled against the New York governor earlier this year, The Washington Post reported.

Andrew Cuomo, who has denied any wrongdoing, was joined by his younger brother on "a series of conference calls that included the Democratic governor's top aide, his communications team, lawyers and a number of outside advisers," Josh Dawsey and Sarah Ellison of The Washington Post wrote.

Chris Cuomo told Andrew to take "a defiant stand" and not to resign amid mounting calls from Democrats in the state Legislature and most of the Empire State's congressional delegation for exactly that, The Post reported.

CNN released a statement to The Post acknowledging the calls and describing them as a mistake.

"Chris has not been involved in CNN's extensive coverage of the allegations against Governor Cuomo - on air or behind the scenes," CNN said in the statement. "In part because, as he has said on his show, he could never be objective. But also because he often serves as a sounding board for his brother."

The statement added: "However, it was inappropriate to engage in conversations that included members of the Governor's staff, which Chris acknowledges. He will not participate in such conversations going forward."

CNN also told The Post that the anchor would not face any discipline over the conference calls.

"There were a few phone conversations, with friends and advisers giving the governor advice," Andrew Cuomo's spokesman Rich Azzopardi told The Post.

The CNN anchor used the phrase "cancel culture" in one of the calls, according to two people on the line who spoke with The Post.

In mid-March, Andrew Cuomo used the same term when decrying lawmakers calling for his resignation.

The Cuomo brothers were also involved in a scandal around friends and family of the governor getting priority testing for COVID-19, which the governor's office said was instead part of an effort to protect key personnel from the virus.

Chris Cuomo is 13 years younger than Andrew, and the two had quite different childhoods when their father, Mario, was the 52nd governor of New York.

Andrew Cuomo went to high school at St. Gerard Majella's School in Queens before running his father's first gubernatorial campaign in his early 20s, while Chris went to high school in upstate New York at the Albany Academy while Mario was governor in the 1980s.

Their relationship raised ethics concerns from media watchdogs when the governor would appear on his brother's CNN show during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.

-Joseph A. Wulfsohn (@JosephWulfsohn) May 20, 2021

One segment involving a comedic bit around a swab test - which aired exactly one year before Thursday's Post story - drew substantial backlash from viewers and political rivals before the pair stopped appearing together.