LEAKED: CNN staff compared Andrew Cuomo to Weinstein, R. Kelly, says outlet’s coverage was not ‘news first’

"To attest to the strength of the media, look at what happened with Cuomo and the bullshit that he pulled off for years and years and years, but when his numbers went down because all of a sudden there's — the thing with the nursing homes starts to happen," Chester told a Project Veritas reporter in an undercover video taken in March on this year.

"And there is strength now because the giant goes down just a notch, people feel empowered to come forward," Chester continued. "Guarantee you a number of women have come forward and PR firms are like 'wait for our moment, wait for moment. Down tick, strike.'"

"Only happens because of the strength of media today," he added.

"Do we know where this is going to end up with the Cuomo situation?" the reporter asked.

"No," Chester responded. "The interoffice has already outlined that Chris Cuomo is no longer allowed to interview his brother on air because they're saying it's a conflict of interest, which is bullshit."

When asked by the reporter who had said that Cuomo cannot cover his brother anymore, Chester responded: "The organization — CNN and (Jeff) Zucker — We're not doing that anymore. Which is complete bullshit. That should have been from day one."

"Why are they doing that?" The reporter asked.

"Because the scandal that's happening with the brother, they don't want CNN to be accused of like downplaying it or playing favorites at the scandal, news first," said Chester.

When asked if "news first" was really the case with CNN, Chester responded, "no, it's not."

Later in the video, Rachelle Hoffman, CNN's Graphics Producer, can be heard saying that it was no secret that Andrew Cuomo was a "piece of sh*t manager."

"Harvey Weinstein was an open secret in the movie industry. R. Kelly was an open secret in the music industry. We have open secrets in our industry. Everybody has that," said Hoffman.

"Cuomo being a piece of sh*t manager, boss, governor is not a quiet secret," she continued. It's just those that know to whisper and turn the other way they're — again, it's nothing new.

This interview came more than eight months before CNN's Chris Cuomo was indefinitely suspended after it was revealed that he had a larger part to play in defending his brother than previously thought.

In thousands of pages of new evidence released by New York Attorney General Letitia James, Cuomo was revealed to have been "actively in touch" with his brother's top aide Melissa DeRosa, and gave her full statements to be used by Andrew Cuomo, as well as leads into his accusers.