On the heels of the news Thursday that former Clinton aide and ABC News chief anchor George Stephanopoulos gave a previously-undisclosed $75,000 to the Clinton Foundation, the “big three” of ABC, CBS, and NBC joined MSNBC in making no on-air mention of the newest scandal facing the foundation.
First uncovered by the Washington Free Beacon Thursday morning, Stephanopoulos confirmed to Politico that he made a series of donations to the Clinton Foundation from 2012 to 2014 in addition to an apology and announcing that he will not moderate ABC’s 2016 Republican presidential debate in February 2016.
As of Thursday night at 10:30 p.m. Eastern, the scandal was mentioned on ten different Fox News Channel (FNC) shows and only once on CNN, but not a single mention on MSNBC.
To further add insult to the blackout of coverage on the networks and MSNBC, even National Public Radio dedicated a segment on Thursday’s All Things Considered to the scandal.
On FNC’s Special Report, correspondent Ed Henry brought up the Stephanopoulos scandal as part of a full report on the Clinton Foundation. Following his reporting on how 20 House Republicans wrote a letter to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) demanding the agency examine the tax-exempt status of the foundation, Henry got into the details of this new scandal:
There may also be foundation fallout for ABC News's chief anchor George Stephanopoulos, a former Clinton White House official. Stephanopoulos revealed early today he gave $50,000 to the Clinton Foundation in recent years, later in the day amending that number to $75,000. The newsman did not disclose that before grilling Peter Schweizer, author of Clinton Cash.
Henry also made a point to remind viewers of Stephanopoulos’s question to Mitt Romney about contraception in a 2012 presidential debate as well as ABC News’s statement in support of the Good Morning America and This Week host:
Stephanopoulos, who faced criticism from Republicans over a contraception question he asked Mitt Romney in a 2012 debate, said today he will not moderate any debates this year, though he refused to recuse himself from campaign coverage and ABC News released a statement declaring, quote, “he has admitted to an honest mistake and apologized to that omission. We stand behind him.”
The lack of coverage thus far on the networks comes as little to no surprise when compared to the Brian Williams scandal as the “big three” of ABC, CBS, and NBC took three days to acknowledge William’s lies and only did so upon the announcement in February 7 that he would be removing himself from NBC Nightly News for a few days (which later turned into a six-month suspension).
The relevant portion of the transcript from FNC’s Special Report on May 14 can be found below.
FNC’s Special Report
May 14, 2015
6:04 p.m. Eastern
ED HENRY: There may also be foundation fallout for ABC News's chief anchor George Stephanopoulos, a former Clinton White House official. Stephanopoulos revealed early today he gave $50,000 to the Clinton Foundation in recent years, later in the day amending that number to $75,000. The newsman did not disclose that before grilling Peter Schweizer, author of Clinton Cash.
GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS [on ABC’s This Week, 04/26/15]: They haven't confirmed any evidence of any crime.
CLINTON CASH AUTHOR PETER SCHWEIZER [on ABC’s This Week, 04/26/15]: Well, but it's not up to an author to prove crime.
HENRY: Stephanopoulos, who faced criticism from Republicans over a contraception question he asked Mitt Romney in a 2012 debate, said today he will not moderate any debates this year, though he refused to recuse himself from campaign coverage and ABC News released a statement declaring, quote, “he has admitted to an honest mistake and apologized to that omission. We stand behind him.”
