The Moment
Megyn Kelly and Chris Cuomo have turned the disappearance of Nancy Guthrie, a 61-year-old Arizona woman and mother-in-law to Today co-anchor Savannah Guthrie, into their latest media grudge match.
On her show, Kelly blasted Cuomo after he accused her on X of using the case as “click bait” and unfairly keeping suspicion on Guthrie’s relatives – even after law enforcement said the family, in-laws included, had been cleared as suspects, according to comments from Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos quoted in multiple reports.
Kelly says she’s “not convinced,” pointing to a tweaked sheriff’s press release that changed language from the family being “cleared” to the family “not being identified as suspects.” She also leaned on colleague Ashleigh Banfield’s reporting; Banfield had previously described Nancy’s son-in-law, Tommaso Cioni, as a “prime suspect” on NewsNation before the sheriff publicly pushed back.
Cuomo, now a primetime host on NewsNation after his CNN firing in 2021, fired off a post accusing Kelly of shamelessly playing the story for clicks and hinting that family members or videos might be fake. Kelly hit back on her show, mocking his ratings, repeatedly calling him “Fredo,” and dropping a particularly juicy claim: that Cuomo once called her lawyer and begged her to get Kelly to stop criticizing him.
All of this is happening while Nancy Guthrie is still missing, last seen entering her Tucson home on January 31, with law enforcement publicly saying they have not named any suspects yet.
The Take
I’m all for a good media beef, but this one feels like watching two ex-cable news stars argue over the aux cord while the car is still missing.
On one side, you’ve got Megyn Kelly turning her true-crime coverage into a personality test: Do you trust me or the sheriff’s office? She’s loudly insisting that she’s just “asking questions” and backing up fellow TV crime veteran Ashleigh Banfield, while refusing to fully let go of the in-law angle – even after authorities said publicly that the Guthrie family, in-laws included, aren’t suspects.
On the other, Chris Cuomo is suddenly positioning himself as protector of the Guthrie family and defender of journalistic ethics. This is the same guy who lost his CNN job for secretly helping his then-governor brother, Andrew, navigate sexual harassment allegations. The moral high ground here is…let’s just say, under construction.
The heart of the fight is simple: where’s the line between tough true-crime reporting and reckless speculation, especially about people police say aren’t suspects? Kelly is leaning into the gray area, suggesting that wording shifts and unnamed sources justify keeping the family in the conversation. Cuomo is calling that out as exploitative – while still enjoying the oxygen that comes from attacking a bigger right-leaning media star.
The whole thing is like watching two rival podcasters wrestling for the mic at a vigil. Yes, they’re technically “covering” the story. But the volume on their personal feud is so loud, it risks drowning out the actual missing woman at the center of it.
And that detail about Cuomo allegedly calling Kelly’s lawyer to ask her to lay off? If it’s true, it’s embarrassing in a very specific way: the tough-guy anchor who dishes it but can’t quite take it. If it’s not, it’s an awfully pointed story to tell on air when the other person can’t fact-check in real time.
Receipts
Confirmed:
- Megyn Kelly has criticized Chris Cuomo’s coverage and accused him of going after her over the Nancy Guthrie case on The Megyn Kelly Show, as summarized in multiple media reports citing her on-air comments (Feb. 2026).
- Chris Cuomo posted on X that it was “shameful” to play the Guthrie story for “click bait” and suggested Kelly was hinting the family and videos were suspect, according to social media screenshots and show summaries reported by outlets in mid-February 2026.
- Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos has publicly stated that the Guthrie family, including in-laws, is not considered a suspect in Nancy’s disappearance, according to statements quoted in public reports and a sheriff’s office press release referenced in those stories.
- Nancy Guthrie was last seen on January 31 entering her Tucson, Arizona, home; she remains missing, and no suspect has been named, per law enforcement updates cited in recent coverage.
- Chris Cuomo was fired from CNN in 2021 after it emerged he advised his brother, former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, on how to respond to sexual harassment allegations; that firing and the internal findings are a matter of public record.
Unverified or One-Sided Claims:
- Megyn Kelly’s story that Chris Cuomo allegedly called her lawyer and “begged” him to get Kelly to stop mentioning or attacking him. This has been described by Kelly on her show, but, as of now, hasn’t been independently corroborated by Cuomo.
- Any implication that Nancy Guthrie’s relatives, including son-in-law Tommaso Cioni, are currently suspects. Law enforcement has explicitly said they are not, despite earlier media characterizations like “prime suspect” from commentators.
- Cuomo’s suggestion that Kelly is motivated by “payback” over her past NBC exit and payout is his interpretation, not a documented fact.
Backstory (For Casual Readers)
If you’re only half-watching this saga from the couch, Nancy Guthrie is the mother of Tommaso Cioni, husband of Today show co-host Savannah Guthrie. Nancy vanished after arriving home in Tucson on January 31, in what authorities have called a suspected kidnapping. Because of the Savannah connection, the case drew intense media attention fast. Megyn Kelly, now a high-profile conservative podcaster after stints at Fox News and NBC, has covered it heavily. Chris Cuomo, once a prime-time star at CNN and now at NewsNation, has taken issue with how she’s doing it.
What’s Next
For Nancy Guthrie’s family, the only thing that truly matters is the ongoing investigation in Arizona: search efforts, forensic work, and any eventual updates from the Pima County Sheriff’s Office or the FBI. That’s where the real story lives.
For the media feud, several things to watch:
- Cuomo’s response: Will he address Kelly’s claim about calling her lawyer or let it die to avoid amplifying her show?
- Kelly’s coverage choices: Does she continue floating questions about the in-laws after repeated law enforcement statements, or pivot toward other leads in the case?
- Official updates: Any new press conference or written update from the sheriff could either validate some of the concerns raised by commentators or underline that the speculation was unnecessary.
Underneath the sniping is a serious question for anyone who consumes – or produces – true-crime content: when a real family is in agony, and police have cleared them, how much “just asking questions” is actually public service, and how much is just performance?
What do you think – should big-name hosts ever keep suspicion on relatives once law enforcement has publicly said they’re not suspects, or is that exactly when the speculation should stop?
Sources: On-air remarks and summaries from The Megyn Kelly Show (mid-Feb. 2026); social media posts and broadcast commentary from Chris Cuomo on NewsNation (mid-Feb. 2026); statements from Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos as quoted in public reporting and referenced press releases about the Nancy Guthrie investigation (Feb. 2026); background on Chris Cuomo’s 2021 CNN termination from contemporaneous news reports and public corporate statements.
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