NEW YORK — CNN has fired anchor Chris Cuomo for helping his brother, former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, face the sexual harassment charges that led to his resignation. 

CNN made the announcement Saturday evening, saying it had “retained a respected law firm to conduct the review, and have terminated him, effective immediately.”

“Chris Cuomo was suspended earlier this week pending further evaluation of new information that came to light about his involvement with his brother’s defense,” the network said in its statement.

“While in the process of that review, additional information has come to light,” the statement added. “Despite the termination, we will investigate as appropriate.”

The network suspended the anchor indefinitely on Tuesday, saying that documents released by New York Attorney General Letitia James showed that he had been more involved in helping his brother weather the scandal than network executives had realized. 

Chris Cuomo released his own statement shortly after CNN made its announcement. 

“This is not how I want my time at CNN to end but I have already told you why and how I helped my brother. So let me say as disappointing as this is, I could not be more proud of the team at Cuomo Prime Time and the work we did as CNN’s #1 show in the most competitive time slot,” he wrote. 

“I owe them all and will miss that group of people who did really important work,” he added.

As women came forward accusing Andrew Cuomo of sexual harassment, his brother, despite his role at CNN, pressed sources for information on the accusers and reported back to the governor’s staff on what he was learning.

He was active in helping craft their response to the charges, according to emails and a transcript of his testimony to investigators working James. Her office found Andrew Cuomo sexually harassed at least 11 women.

Chris Cuomo previously acknowledged talking to his brother and offering advice when the governor faced harassment charges. But more detail has emerged about the help he gave. Andrew Cuomo resigned in August to avoid a likely impeachment trial.

“Cuomo Prime Time” has been the network's highest-rated show this year, airing at the 9 p.m. Eastern hour between shows by Anderson Cooper and Don Lemon. Its ratings have been down in 2021, like they have for most cable news networks during the post-election year.

But it leaves a significant hole in the network's schedule. One former rival is becoming a free agent soon: Brian Williams recently announced he was leaving MSNBC, where he had anchored a nightly news hour, when his contract ends with the end of the year.

There was always a potential of conflict with one Cuomo brother as governor and another as a journalist. But since Chris Cuomo debuted on CNN in 2013 after joining from ABC News, it was always made clear that he would not cover anything that involved his brother.

That changed with the COVID-19 pandemic, when the governor appeared on his brother's show several times, trading familial banter that was entertaining but raised ethical red flags. They were then halted.

A veteran TV executive, Shelley Ross, wrote a column for The New York Times in September saying Chris Cuomo had groped her at a party 16 years ago, when they both worked for ABC News. Cuomo told the newspaper that “I apologized to her then, and I meant it.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.