CNN says Chris Cuomo is no longer allowed to interview his brother, Gov. Cuomo

Chris Cuomo is not allowed to interview his brother, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, CNN said, claiming that appearances the governor made on his show in 2020 were an exception to the outlet's normal rule.

CNN defended its decision to allow those appearances but did not acknowledge wrongdoing on its part. The interviews were criticized for apparently being too focused on banter between the brothers and not enough on difficult questions about how the governor was handling the pandemic in his state.

"The early months of the pandemic crisis were an extraordinary time," CNN said. "We felt that Chris speaking with his brother about the challenges of what millions of American families were struggling with was of significant human interest. As a result, we made an exception to a rule that we have had in place since 2013 which prevents Chris from interviewing and covering his brother, and that rule remains in place today."

CNN had covered news surrounding the governor "extensively," the outlet said.

Melissa DeRosa, Cuomo's top aide, reportedly admitted to fellow Democrats in a private call that his office had withheld nursing home COVID-19 death statistics, claiming it "froze," and worried the information would be "used against" the office, according to the New York Post on Thursday.

The New York Health Department released a directive on March 25, ordering that nursing homes readmit patients who had tested positive for COVID-19. The department said in a July report that most of the patients sent back "were no longer contagious when admitted and therefore were not a source of infection."

The FBI and Brooklyn federal prosecutors are reportedly investigating how the data was handled.