Report: Gollust Made 'Misleading' Remarks To CNN

Zucker, Gollust, Cuomo

Allison Gollust resigned as CNN’s communications and marketing chief after the network’s parent determined she misled investigators about her relationship with former President Jeff Zucker and violated CNN’s news standards, according to The Wall Street Journal citing people familiar with the matter.

Gollust’s resignation came amid an investigation that originally focused on former prime-time anchor Chris Cuomo’s efforts to help his brother, former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, respond to accusations of sexual misconduct. The investigation eventually ensnared three of CNN’s biggest players: network president Mr. Zucker, Chris Cuomo and Ms. Gollust.

Shortly after Zucker announced his resignation on Feb. 2, citing his failure to disclose a consensual office romance, Ms. Gollust released a statement that her relationship with Mr. Zucker “changed during Covid.”

Gollust’s decision to put a timeline on the evolution of the relationship in her Feb. 2 statement rankled some employees at WarnerMedia and CNN, who believed it had turned romantic before the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, according to some of the people familiar with the matter. Soon after Gollust issued her statement, CNN included it in its reporting. That bothered some of those WarnerMedia and CNN employees, who said Gollust’s statement misled CNN’s audience, the people said.

In the days after Mr. Zucker’s exit, amid the widening scrutiny over the timing of Gollust’s relationship with Mr. Zucker, WarnerMedia and CNN determined that her statement was misleading, the people said.

During the investigation, WarnerMedia found communications between Gollust and Andrew Cuomo, then New York governor, related to one of his appearances on the network during the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic, including topics that Mr. Cuomo would like to be asked about during an interview on CNN, which Gollust relayed to CNN producers, according to some of the people familiar with the matter. The New York Times earlier reported on the communications between Andrew Cuomo and Ms. Gollust.

WarnerMedia determined that some of the communications between Gollust and Andrew Cuomo were inappropriate and were one of multiple factors that led to the company’s decision to ask Gollust to resign, some of the people said.