Cuomo adviser claimed Atlantic journalist-turned-CNN reporter was 'on our side' during harassment scandal

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Chris Cuomo crossed 'many' red lines by using journalistic street cred to help brother: Howard Kurtz

Fox News media analyst Howard Kurtz breaks down the growing pressure facing CNN to discipline anchor Chris Cuomo after texts show he investigated Andrew Cuomo's accusers.

It appears Chris Cuomo isn't the only CNN employee to be implicated in the newly released documents from the New York Attorney General's investigation into ousted Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo. 

In a group text exchange from February 2021, Democratic strategist Liz Smith told top Cuomo aides she had been in contact with then-Atlantic staff writer Edward-Isaac Dovere.

JOURNALISTS STUNNED HOW CHRIS CUOMO STILL HAS CNN JOB AMID DAMNING REVELATIONS OF HIS ROLE IN HELPING BROTHER

"He is very hard on our side on this," Smith told Team Cuomo. 

"What's he saying?" Cuomo senior adviser Rich Azzopardi asked.

"Total mind meld," Smith replied. "I'm on the phone w him."

(CNN)

Moments later, Smith texted, "He says he could be convinced to write something on andrew," adding, "Bc he thinks this whole thing is bulls---."

The strategist told Cuomo's office, "Just hold - let me chat w him. He's calling me again Friday."

The following week, Dovere penned a piece in The Atlantic titled "Of Course Andrew Cuomo Isn't Going to Resign," offering a glimpse at the behind-the-scenes drama among Democrats and Cuomo allies at the time which didn't exactly portray the embattled governor in such a positive light.

"A tale of hubris and comeuppance is unfolding daily around New York Governor Andrew Cuomo. It’s a tale of a man who bullied colleagues for years and took time out of managing the pandemic to write a book about how well he was managing the pandemic, but is now facing accusations of harassment, incompetence, and fatal mistakes," Dovere began the article. 

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"Throughout his time in office, Cuomo has derided and demeaned. He has told state legislators that they don’t understand anything as well as he does, and that they must fall in line behind him. Over the decade that I covered New York, seeing how he operates made clear again and again why he has no friends among his colleagues, leaving him without anyone to lean on now that he needs the help… Cuomo the control freak, for the first time in his life, knows that he’s lost control, that winning the fourth term his father didn’t might no longer be possible," he wrote. 

Dovere, who has since joined CNN in October as a senior reporter, did not immediately respond to Fox News' request for comment.