ABC News facing backlash for never airing Epstein accuser video
ABC News pursuing source of leaked hot mic video; 'MediaBuzz' host Howard Kurtz weighs in.
CBS News has reportedly fired an employee after ABC News informed the rival network that the person who leaked hot mic footage of Amy Robach venting about her spiked Jeffrey Epstein story was now working on its staff.
Reporter Yashar Ali cited “two sources with knowledge of the situation” who claimed ABC News honchos “believe they know the identity” of a former employee with access to the viral footage.
Earlier this week, the controversial Project Veritas published the damning video in which ABC News anchor Robach complained that the Disney-owned network killed a story that would have exposed the now-deceased sex offender Jeffrey Epstein three years ago.
ABC NEWS' AMY ROBACH CAUGHT ON HOT MIC SAYING NETWORK SPIKED JEFFREY EPSTEIN BOMBSHELL
“Two sources with knowledge of the situation tell me that ABC News executives know who the former employee is but don’t know if that person leaked the footage to Project Veritas, the right-wing activist group, or if they shared it with others who leaked the footage,” Ali wrote. “What ABC News executives do know is that the former employee is now working at CBS News.”
Ali added that ABC executives informed CBS that the potential leaker was now working at "The Tiffany Network."
The report sparked widespread outrage that ABC was going after the leaker and attempting to get them fired from CBS, while downplaying the fact that the network killed the Epstein story in the first place.
PROJECT VERITAS’ ALLEGED CNN WHISTLEBLOWER CLAIMS NETWORK IS ‘PUMPING OUT PROPAGANDA'
Less than 24 hours after Ali’s initial story, he followed up with a report that CBS terminated the employee in question. The New York Post has also reported that CBS fired the employee.
“A TV source said the woman was let go on Wednesday, after ABC execs alerted CBS,” Page Six reporter Sara Nathan wrote.
CBS did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Project Veritas, whose controversial founder, James O'Keefe, describes himself as a “guerrilla journalist,” published the footage that included Robach saying ABC refused to air an interview she conducted with one of Epstein’s victims.
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Despite widespread criticism, ABC News downplayed the significance of the video, telling Fox News that Robach’s Epstein story wasn’t fit to air.
“At the time, not all of our reporting met our standards to air, but we have never stopped investigating the story. Ever since, we’ve had a team on this investigation and substantial resources dedicated to it," an ABC News spokesperson told Fox News. "That work has led to a two-hour documentary and six-part podcast that will air in the new year.”