The Political Insider

On Wednesday, CNN host Brian Stelter said that although he thought Chris Cuomo’s indefinite suspension from his news outlet was “a long time coming,” it also might not last long.

Stelter made his comments on CNN’s morning show “New Day.”

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Stelter On Suspended Chris Cuomo: ‘It is possible he’ll be back in January’

Cuomo was suspended in the wake of documents released by the New York Attorney General’s office on Tuesday.

The documents indicated that the younger Cuomo had used his media sources to dig up dirt on his older brother, disgraced former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo’s, sexual harassment accusers, and helped to craft his defense against the allegations. 

Stelter said, “It was known that Chris Cuomo was talking to his brother, giving political advice, but in the newly released documents you can see that Chris Cuomo is essentially working as an unpaid adviser, an aide, as if he’s a staffer of the governor, giving political advice and giving commentary, also working his own sources to try to find out more about what might be revealed about his brother.”

Stelter said he had wished CNN had taken action sooner.

“You have media critics condemning Chris, calling on CNN to take action,” Stelter said. “You have colleagues here at CNN who were mad at Chris Cuomo for putting the network in a tough spot and wanted to see action.”

“You also have a lot of viewers, though, who love Chris Cuomo and are now ticked off that he’s off the air and want to see him back,” Stelter added.

Stelter then predicted when Cuomo might be back on the air.

“I think the bottom line is that Cuomo is on the bench, for now, we’re heading into a holiday season. I think it is possible he will be on the bench for several weeks, it is possible he’ll be back in January,” Stelter said.

That would track with CNN’s past behavior. 

Jeffrey Toobin, the network’s chief legal analyst, had been suspended for eight months after he was caught masturbating on a company zoom call. 

He was allowed back on the air, and ironically, was one of the CNN personalities on the air when the network announced Chris Cuomo’s suspension.

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Cuomo On CNN Suspension: ‘It’s embarrassing’

Cuomo said of his suspension on his SiriusXM radio show, “I’ve been suspended from CNN…. You know this already. It hurts to even say it. It’s embarrassing, but I understand it.”

“And I understand why some people feel the way they do about what I did. I’ve apologized in the past, and I mean it,” Cuomo said. “It’s the last thing I ever wanted to do, was compromise any of my colleagues.”