CNN said Allison Gollust, its executive VP and chief marketing officer, has resigned after an investigation into issues surrounding former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo and his brother, former CNN anchor Chris Cuomo, found she violated CNN's news standards and practices.
CNN said former network chief Jeff Zucker also violated standards and practices. Zucker resigned on February 2 with an admission that he had failed to disclose an intimate relationship with Gollust, who reported to him.
WarnerMedia CEO Jason Kilar disclosed the findings and Gollust's resignation in an internal memo. CNN anchor Brian Stelter tweeted the memo, which stated that an investigation by a third-party law firm, Cravath, and led by a former judge "was comprehensive and definitive" and found violations of company policies.
Stelter further reported that Gollust responded by telling colleagues in an email: "WarnerMedia's 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's highest standards of journalistic integrity, I would be treated this way as I leave," Gollust said. "But I do so with my head held high, knowing that I gave my heart and soul to working with the finest journalists in the world."
Gollust joined CNN in 2013, reuniting there with CNN Worldwide president Jeff Zucker, for whom she headed corporate communications while Zucker was CEO of NBCUniversal. Before joining CNN she worked as communications director for Governor Cuomo.
CNN is in the process of being spun off with other WarnerMedia assets and sold to Discovery.
The New York Times also published a story about the investigation into Chris Cuomo and Zucker, including that CNN had received a letter from a lawyer representing a former colleague of Cuomo's at ABC News. The former colleague claimed that Cuomo had sexually assaulted her and that "Mr. Cuomo had tried to keep her quiet by arranging a flattering CNN segment about her employer at the time." Days after receiving the letter, Zucker fired Cuomo, the Times said, adding that a spokesman for Cuomo denied the allegations. Zucker then resigned two months later. ■
Brand new memo from Jason Kilar: "The investigation found violations of Company policies, including CNN's News Standards and Practices, by Jeff Zucker, Allison Gollust, and Chris Cuomo." pic.twitter.com/Xu1HQJw9cTFebruary 16, 2022
