“Everyone here is heartbroken and shocked,” one staffer said. “People are blaming this on Chris. Not a lot of love between CNN and Chris Cuomo for a while.”

Jason Kilar, the CEO of CNN’s parent company, emailed CNN staff on Wednesday announcing that Bass, and vice presidents Amy Entelis and Ken Jauz would serve as interim co-heads of the network until the company’s merger with Discovery is completed in the coming weeks. Kilar also flew to the network’s New York and Washington, D.C., bureaus to talk with staff about Zucker’s departure.

“Did your personal feelings at all and any past conflict you have with Jeff play into this at all?” an attendee asked.

Kilar defended his actions from tough questions from a number of prominent on-air network personalities including Kaitlan Collins, Jake Tapper and others.