Late in the day on Nov. 30, Jeff Zucker<\/a>, the president of CNN Worldwide, summoned his star anchor and friend, Chris Cuomo<\/a>, to a meeting in the network\u2019s skyscraper overlooking the Hudson River.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Mr. Zucker was joined by the network\u2019s chief marketing officer \u2014 and his secret romantic partner \u2014 Allison Gollust<\/a>. They had to deliver a delicate message.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Mr. Zucker told Mr. Cuomo that CNN was suspending him because of his unethical interactions with his brother, New York\u2019s governor. Mr. Cuomo was shocked and offered to resign. Mr. Zucker countered that the anchor might be able to return at some point, according to people with knowledge of the conversation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Mr. Cuomo felt reassured. He and Mr. Zucker were confidants, their fortunes entwined. Mr. Cuomo didn\u2019t bother to consult a lawyer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Barely 24 hours later, a letter arrived at CNN. It was from a lawyer representing a woman who had worked with Mr. Cuomo years earlier at ABC News. She said he had sexually assaulted her and that, in the heat of the #MeToo movement, Mr. Cuomo had tried to keep her quiet by arranging a flattering CNN segment about her employer at the time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The letter described it as an \u201cabuse of power at CNN to attempt to silence my client.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n While a spokesman for Mr. Cuomo denied the allegations in the letter, it set in motion a chain of events that would quickly upend one of the world\u2019s most powerful news networks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n By week\u2019s end, Mr. Zucker had fired Mr. Cuomo, telling him that a drumbeat of scandals had become \u201ctoo much for us.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Two months later, Mr. Zucker was forced to resign. On Tuesday, CNN announced that Ms. Gollust, too, was leaving the network.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Publicly, Mr. Zucker blamed the failure to disclose his relationship with Ms. Gollust. But other forces had set the stage for his downfall.<\/p>\n\n\n\n CNN had skidded into third place in cable news ratings. A key investor had criticized the network\u2019s opinionated, personality-driven programming. Mr. Zucker had clashed with a top executive at CNN\u2019s parent company. And he had made powerful enemies out of Mr. Cuomo and his brother, the former New York governor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n By the time of Mr. Cuomo\u2019s ouster, the law firm that had been hired to investigate his behavior had turned its attention to Mr. Zucker and his management of a network where his intimacy with sources and employees had been both his calling card and Achilles\u2019 heel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Mr. Zucker\u2019s abrupt departure has thrown the future of CNN into chaos, just as it was poised to introduce a highly anticipated streaming service and to come under new corporate ownership.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Mr. Cuomo is hoping to extract tens of millions of dollars from CNN. Star anchors are revolting. Employees are wondering whether, without Mr. Zucker at the helm, the network\u2019s soon-to-be-owners at Discovery Inc. will fundamentally change CNN\u2019s sprawling news operations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Shortly after this article was published online, Jason Kilar, the chief executive of CNN\u2019s parent company, WarnerMedia, announced Ms. Gollust\u2019s resignation. In a memo on Tuesday evening, he wrote that an internal investigation \u201cfound violations of company policies,\u201d including CNN\u2019s news standards and practices, by Mr. Cuomo, Mr. Zucker and Ms. Gollust. \u201cI realize this news is troubling, disappointing and, frankly, painful to read,\u201d Mr. Kilar wrote.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Risa Heller, a spokeswoman for Mr. Zucker, said, \u201cJeff was never aware of the full extent of what Chris Cuomo was doing for his brother, which is why Chris was fired.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Steven Goldberg, a spokesman for Chris Cuomo, said, \u201cMr. Cuomo felt very close personally and professionally to Mr. Zucker, which is part of what makes this so difficult and hurtful.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n In a release on Tuesday evening, Ms. Gollust said, \u201cWarnerMedia\u2019s statement tonight is an attempt to retaliate against me and change the media narrative in the wake of their disastrous handling of the last two weeks. It is deeply disappointing that after spending the past nine years defending and upholding CNN\u2019s highest standards of journalistic integrity, I would be treated this way as I leave.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ms. Heller didn\u2019t have an immediate comment on Mr. Kilar\u2019s memo. Mr. Goldberg declined to comment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n More than 30 people familiar with the recent tumult \u2014 including the woman on whose behalf the letter was written to CNN \u2014 described the events and ethical violations that led to a leadership collapse at \u201cthe most trusted name in news.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The ties between Mr. Zucker, Ms. Gollust and Mr. Cuomo \u2014 as well as Andrew Cuomo, who resigned as governor<\/a> last August \u2014 ran deep.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Mr. Zucker had met Ms. Gollust at NBC, when she was a young publicist for the \u201cToday\u201d show and he was its 26-year-old executive producer. As he climbed the ranks, eventually becoming NBCUniversal\u2019s chief executive, the pair continued to work closely together. Ms. Gollust even moved her family to the floor above Mr. Zucker\u2019s in an Upper East Side building.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Then, in 2011, NBC\u2019s new parent company forced Mr. Zucker out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Around then, Governor Cuomo was planning to throw a birthday party for his girlfriend, the lifestyle impresario Sandra Lee. He asked Ms. Lee to recommend someone to organize the event. She suggested Ms. Gollust.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The resulting party \u2014 a clambake on a Hamptons beach \u2014 was such a resounding success that Mr. Cuomo decided Ms. Gollust should work for him. In 2012<\/a> she became the governor\u2019s communications director.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A few months later, in January 2013, CNN hired Mr. Zucker. The next month, Ms. Gollust left Mr. Cuomo and Albany and rejoined her former boss as the network\u2019s head of communications.<\/p>\n\n\n\n CNN was struggling. Once the leader in 24\/7 news, its ratings had fallen, its programming seen as stale. Mr. Zucker\u2019s mission was to rejuvenate the network.<\/p>\n\n\n\n At NBC, he had turned around the moribund \u201cToday\u201d show by embracing feel-good news and nurturing stars like Katie Couric. More triumphs followed for Mr. Zucker, as shows like \u201cThe Apprentice\u201d and \u201cFear Factor\u201d were hits with viewers and helped elevate Donald J. Trump and Joe Rogan into cultural touchstones.<\/p>\n\n\n\n At CNN, one of Mr. Zucker\u2019s first creations was a peppy morning show called \u201cNew Day.\u201d To co-host the show, Mr. Zucker recruited Chris Cuomo, an ABC News correspondent who had shined in reporting from war and disaster zones.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Within months of his arrival, Mr. Cuomo began pushing ethical boundaries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In December 2013, he interviewed<\/a> Governor Cuomo about a train crash in the Bronx. Media critics objected<\/a> that it was impossible for someone to impartially report on their sibling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Afterward, Mr. Zucker barred Chris from interviewing or covering Andrew.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cNew Day\u201d was a modest hit. But Mr. Cuomo was polarizing. Some colleagues said he could go from charming to bullying in a flash. More than once, he sent emails and text messages that colleagues considered rude and even threatening.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Yet Mr. Zucker was loyal. In 2018 he awarded Mr. Cuomo his own show in the coveted 9 p.m. slot, competing with stars like Rachel Maddow at MSNBC and Sean Hannity at Fox News.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Mr. Cuomo\u2019s combative style made him an ideal on-air foil for President Trump. \u201cCuomo Prime Time\u201d quickly became CNN\u2019s highest-rated show. The success only strengthened Mr. Cuomo\u2019s bond with Mr. Zucker.<\/p>\n\n\n\n After Mr. Zucker underwent heart surgery in 2018, he and Mr. Cuomo spent hours talking during long walks in Central Park.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Mr. Zucker soon signed off on a multiyear contract that paid Mr. Cuomo more than $6 million annually.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The onset of the pandemic stoked Mr. Zucker\u2019s hypercompetitive instincts, on display since his days as a high school tennis champion. During the Trump years, he had led CNN to record-high ratings and roughly $1 billion in annual profit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Now, in the Cuomo brothers, he saw a singular opportunity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Governor Cuomo was having a moment. His televised briefings were calm and filled with data, a stark contrast to the often baffling pronouncements from the Trump administration. There was talk of him running for president.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Then Chris Cuomo contracted Covid. He quarantined in and broadcast from the basement of his 6,000-square-foot home in East Hampton, N.Y. His ratings soared.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n With his eye for spectacle, Mr. Zucker lifted the ban on Chris Cuomo interviewing his brother. Beginning in April 2020, the Cuomos ruminated on air about how the virus had disrupted society and their lives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Mr. Zucker loved it. \u201cAuthenticity and relatability and vulnerability \u2014 that\u2019s what the brothers Cuomo are giving us right now,\u201d he gushed to The New York Times<\/a> in April 2020.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But their on-air bonding looked less charming after The Washington Post reported<\/a> that Governor Cuomo had helped his brother get preferential access to scarce Covid tests, with state troopers escorting<\/a> his nasal swabs to a lab.<\/p>\n\n\n\n CNN defended its anchor, saying he had \u201cturned to anyone he could for advice and assistance, as any human being would.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n One evening in March 2021, Chris Cuomo made a remark on live television that helped precipitate his downfall \u2014 and eventually Mr. Zucker\u2019s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The New York attorney general had just announced that her office was investigating sexual harassment allegations against Andrew Cuomo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n With the governor in trouble, Mr. Zucker reimposed the ban on Chris Cuomo covering him. As Mr. Cuomo explained to his viewers that he would be stepping away from the story, he gazed into the camera and denounced sexual harassment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI have always cared very deeply about these issues and profoundly so,\u201d he declared.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The woman who had worked with him at ABC News watched in disbelief.<\/p>\n\n\n\n She said in an interview with The Times that she was haunted by the similarities between her experience and those of the governor\u2019s accusers. She wanted to protect other women but didn\u2019t want to go public, fearing retaliation and the loss of her privacy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Soon, though, she would hire a lawyer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The governor\u2019s rise had fueled his brother\u2019s. Now, as Andrew Cuomo\u2019s position worsened, so did Chris\u2019s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In May 2021, The Washington Post reported<\/a> that Chris Cuomo had been advising the governor\u2019s staff on how to fend off the harassment scandal. CNN \u2014 whose parent company had just announced plans to merge the network with Discovery \u2014 said the conversations were \u201cinappropriate\u201d but didn\u2019t discipline him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Some CNN employees were aghast. An anchor, Jake Tapper, told The Times<\/a> that Mr. Cuomo \u201cput us in a bad spot.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Then, on Aug. 3, the New York attorney general, Letitia James, released a damning report<\/a> about Andrew Cuomo\u2019s sexual harassment. The news was covered throughout the day on CNN \u2014 until 9 p.m., when Chris Cuomo came on air.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He didn\u2019t mention the scandal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A week later, the governor resigned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Complaints soon began surfacing about the younger Mr. Cuomo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Shelley Ross, a longtime TV news executive and Mr. Cuomo\u2019s former boss at ABC, wrote in a Times opinion piece<\/a> in September that Mr. Cuomo had groped her at a 2005 party. (Mr. Cuomo apologized.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n Around the same time, The New York Post reported<\/a> that Mr. Cuomo\u2019s former producer, Melanie Buck, had asked to be removed from \u201cCuomo Prime Time\u201d because she found his conduct to be threatening.<\/p>\n\n\n\n CNN executives grew concerned. They asked the network\u2019s longtime law firm, Cravath Swaine & Moore, to look into the matter, according to a person familiar with the investigation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In late November, Ms. James\u2019s office released a fresh crop of emails and text messages<\/a> that revealed how Chris Cuomo had collected information about forthcoming articles about his brother and tried to undermine the credibility of one of his brother\u2019s accusers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The next day, Nov. 30, Mr. Cuomo was chauffeured to CNN\u2019s Manhattan headquarters to sketch out that evening\u2019s show. Mr. Zucker asked him to come to a meeting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The network president had spent years standing by his anchor. Now, feeling that Mr. Cuomo had misled him, Mr. Zucker was losing patience. He had initially planned to fire Mr. Cuomo, before deciding to hold off.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Mr. Zucker tried to be diplomatic as he broke the news that Mr. Cuomo was suspended. He suggested there was a chance he could return after the network\u2019s investigation ran its course, according to people familiar with the conversation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n CNN went back to Cravath and asked the firm to examine the new information about the interactions between the Cuomo brothers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The next morning, Dec. 1, the CNN reporter Brian Stelter said on-air that Mr. Cuomo could \u201cbe back in January.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n That night, the fateful letter arrived at CNN. It was from Debra S. Katz, a prominent sexual harassment lawyer, and it was addressed to David Vigilante, CNN\u2019s general counsel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The letter was on behalf of the woman who had worked with Mr. Cuomo at ABC News.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It relayed a story that had begun in 2011 when the woman, who was referred to as Jane Doe, was a young temporary ABC employee hoping for a full-time job. One day, after Mr. Cuomo, an anchor, had offered her career advice, he invited her to lunch in his office, according to the letter, interviews with the woman and emails between her and Mr. Cuomo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When she arrived, there was no food. Instead, Mr. Cuomo badgered her for sex, and after she declined, he assaulted her, she said. She ran out of the room.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Later that day, the woman, who was still seeking a job, tried to smooth things over by writing Mr. Cuomo friendly emails.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Times interviewed five friends and former colleagues who said the woman told them Mr. Cuomo had made unwelcome sexual requests. She said that only in the past year did she begin to tell people that Mr. Cuomo had also assaulted her, which she hadn\u2019t previously divulged because it was private and painful.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The encounter in Mr. Cuomo\u2019s office at ABC was not the end of her story.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ms. Katz\u2019s letter said that at the height of the #MeToo uprising, after TV personalities like Charlie Rose and Matt Lauer were felled by misconduct allegations, Mr. Cuomo contacted the woman, seemingly out of the blue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Mr. Cuomo proposed arranging a CNN segment about the company where she worked doing public relations. The woman tried to avoid any contact with Mr. Cuomo, but CNN ultimately broadcast a segment anyway.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAfter years without any substantive communication from Mr. Cuomo whatsoever, Ms. Doe suspected he was concerned about her coming forward publicly with her allegations and wanted to use the proposed segment as an opportunity to \u2018test the waters\u2019 and discourage her from going on the record about his sexual misconduct,\u201d Ms. Katz wrote.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Times reviewed Mr. Cuomo\u2019s messages to the woman and the segment and spoke with her boss at the time. Her boss said that after the segment aired, the woman shared some of the details of the encounter and Mr. Cuomo\u2019s subsequent outreach.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ms. Katz said the woman, who has been \u201cdeeply traumatized,\u201d doesn\u2019t want to become \u201ca pawn in an internecine war between Zucker, Chris Cuomo and CNN\u201d and won\u2019t be saying anything further. She \u201cdeserves and requests privacy,\u201d Ms. Katz said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n On Friday, Dec. 3, two days after Ms. Katz sent the letter, she and a lawyer for CNN made plans for her to hand over evidence to substantiate the woman\u2019s claims.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Before that even happened, Mr. Zucker fired Mr. Cuomo the next afternoon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n From Mr. Cuomo\u2019s perspective, Mr. Zucker had fired him without due process, fearful that the woman\u2019s allegations might appear in the media, according to a person familiar with his thinking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Mr. Goldberg, the spokesman for Mr. Cuomo, said the allegations in Ms. Katz\u2019s letter \u201care false. He was never asked about the allegations prior to being terminated or given an opportunity to respond.\u201d He refused to elaborate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The day after he was fired, Mr. Cuomo hired Bryan Freedman, a Hollywood litigator<\/a> known for tough negotiating tactics and for securing multimillion-dollar settlements for aggrieved television stars. (In Mr. Cuomo\u2019s case, he planned to seek money owed under the anchor\u2019s contract and compensation for future lost earnings.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n On Dec. 5, Mr. Freedman sent a letter to CNN demanding that the network preserve all documents related to any dealings between any CNN employee and anyone in the governor\u2019s office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It was a clear signal that a key element of Mr. Cuomo\u2019s defense would be that Mr. Zucker and others at CNN had acted similarly to Mr. Cuomo in communicating with the governor, with no repercussions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n People in Mr. Cuomo\u2019s camp soon began whispering to reporters that Mr. Zucker had coached Governor Cuomo on how to use his televised briefings to go after Mr. Trump.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ms. Heller, the spokeswoman for Mr. Zucker, said he only spoke to the governor about appearing on CNN. \u201cHe never gave Andrew Cuomo advice,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\nA Hamptons Clambake<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Following a Playbook<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
An Eye for Spectacle<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Watching in Disbelief<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
A Chauffeured Commute<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
An Office Encounter<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
A Clear Signal<\/h2>\n\n\n\n