CNN anchor Chris Cuomo told viewers he would not play audio of what he described as “propaganda” video footage of President Trump removing his mask on a balcony at the White House on Monday night, prompting criticism of Cuomo primarily from conservative commentators who argued he was being hypocritical after breaking his own quarantine earlier this year.
“What a bunch of bulls—,” Cuomo said of Trump removing his mask before entering the residence and recording a video posted on social media.
“He didn’t just walk in the White House one time with no mask tonight. He had his video crew capture that stupid scene again so he could put out propaganda,” the anchor added.
Trump had returned to the White House from a three-night stay at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center after he revealed testing positive for COVID-19 early Friday morning.
Critics quickly pointed out that Cuomo had broken his own quarantine after contracting COVID-19 earlier this year.
On April 14, a Long Island, N.Y., bicyclist filed a police report after getting into a testy exchange with Cuomo in front of a Hamptons home under construction on Easter Sunday. Cuomo was not living at the home or wearing a mask at the time, according to the bicyclist later identified as David Whelan, 65.
Days after the confrontation with Whalen, Cuomo emerged from his basement after saying he was making an “official re-entry” after being “cleared” to do so by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“All right,” he said. “Here it is. The official re-entry. From the basement. Cleared by CDC, a little sweaty, just worked out. It happens. This is what I have been dreaming of. Literally for weeks.”
“This is the dream. Just to be back up here doing normal things,” he added at the time.