Chris Cuomo calls himself ‘free agent’ and starts livestreaming reports from Ukraine front line

The news anchor was terminated by CNN last year

Chris Cuomo, the news anchor fired last year by CNN in the wake of revelations that he advised his brother, former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, through a sexual misconduct scandal, is now reporting live from Ukraine.

Mr Cuomo posted a report to his Instagram page on Monday night that included eight short segments of video showing the position and state of Ukrainian soldiers, weapons, and stored grain, along with interviews with Ukrainian military personnel.

In his caption, Mr Cuomo compared the conflict between Russia and Ukraine to World War II.

“Shelling is destroying homes, schools, adults kids...often with banned weapons say Ukrainians, showing us cluster bombs and describing mines that are tearing through young and old,” Mr Cuomo wrote.

Mr Cuomo was dismissed by CNN in December after it became clear that he had used his position in the media to help his brother attempt to navigate the sexual misconduct scandal that eventually brought his long reign as governor of New York to an unceremonious end.

Documents from the New York Attorney General’s office showed that Mr Cuomo had sought information on his brother’s accusers, texting the then-governor’s aide Melissa DeRosa “I have a lead on the wedding girl” days after The New York Times reported that Gov. Cuomo sexually harrassed a woman named Anna Ruch at a 2019 wedding.

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It wasn’t just Mr Cuomo’s role in advising his brother. In September of 2021, Mr Cuomo’s former boss Shelley Ross accused him of sexual harassment in a Times op-ed. Mr Cuomo apologised to Ms Ross, then was accused of sexual harassment again by a client of employment lawyer Debra Katz who worked at another news network.

Following his termination, Mr Cuomo filed a Demand for Arbitration against CNN for $125 million, seeking to recover the remainder of the money on his contract with the network and lost wages due to damage to his reputation.

Mr Cuomo has not been on television since last year. In the meantime, Mr Cuomo has rebranded himself in his Instagram biography as a “FREE AGENT” and taken to Ukraine to report on the Russian invasion. It’s unclear who is paying for the reporting trip, or if Mr Cuomo is footing the bill himself.

Mr Cuomo used the caption of his post to critique the mainstream media he is no longer a part of.

“What is happening right now in Ukraine is bad and America should be paying a lot more attention,” he wrote. “I went to the eastern front. Shelling is intense and devastating. Why so little coverage here?”

Several days ago, Mr Cuomo appeared to tease a summer comeback — posting an Instagram reel that included images of him smoking a cigar, flexing his bicep, and shirtless with the words “Something’s coming... Summer ‘22.”