CNN’s Brian Stelter: Chris Cuomo Could Be BACK on Air By January

CNN media reporter Brian Stelter joined John Berman on New Day Wednesday morning to discuss Chris Cuomo’s suspension and suggested it may not last all that long.

Stelter began discussing the “news about our own house” noting that Cuomo has been “one of the highest-rated hosts on CNN,” but that “this was a long time coming.”

Cuomo was suspended from his hosting duties Tuesday after the New York attorney general’s office made public Monday transcripts and text messages related to Cuomo’s efforts to help his brother, former Governor Andrew Cuomo (D-NY), which quickly elicited calls from across the political spectrum for him to be fired.

Stelter summed up the scandal:

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 then read on-air CNN’s statement suspending Cuomo.

“I think what’s going on here, it is a little complicated,” Stelter then argued.

“You have media critics condemning Chris, calling on CNN to take action. 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,” He continued. “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.”

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