World News – US – C-SPAN indefinitely suspends Steve Scully after admitting to lying about his Twitter hack

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C-SPAN has suspended political editor Steve Scully, who was at one point to moderate a presidential debate, indefinitely after admitting to lying about his Twitter hack when a message to former Trump aide-turned-opponent Anthony Scaramucci appeared

Scully, the host of the « Washington Journal » who was selected to moderate the now-canceled town hall event, went viral last week after a tweet sent from his account indicated he had contacted former White House communications director Anthony Scaramucci, something he later alleged was hacked

« For several weeks, I was subjected to relentless criticism on social media and in conservative news outlets regarding my role as moderator of the second presidential debate, including attacks directly targeting my family, » wrote Scully in a statement to CNN « It culminated on Thursday October 8 when I heard President Trump appear twice on national television and mistakenly attack me by name. Out of frustration I sent a brief tweet to Anthony Scaramucci The next morning, when I saw that this tweet had created a controversy, I falsely claimed that my Twitter account had been hacked « 

« These are two errors in judgment for which I am totally responsible. I apologize, » said Scully

He continued: « These actions have failed many people, including my colleagues at C-SPAN, where I have worked for 30 years, professional media colleagues and the team of the Presidential Debates Commission. I ask for their forgiveness as I try to move forward in a moment of reflection and disappointment within me « 

C-SPAN also released a statement, revealing that the Network and the Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD) were made aware of the making of Scully on Wednesday

“We are very saddened by this news and do not condone his actions,” said C-SPAN “From now on we have put Steve on administrative leave After some distance from this episode we believe in his ability to continue to contribute to C-SPAN « 

« I was right again! » the president exclaimed « Steve Scully just admitted he was lying about his Twitter hack The debate was rigged! He was suspended from @cspan indefinitely The Trump campaign was not treated fairly by the ‘Commission « Did I show good instincts by being the first to know? »

C-SPAN and CPD initially defended Scully According to the original statement by C-SPAN, Scully « was not the source of the tweet » in question The statement added that the CPD was investigating the incident  » with the help of the authorities « 

The CPD later said it « reported the apparent hack to the FBI and Twitter » as part of its investigation

A Twitter spokesperson previously told Fox News « We have no comment » when asked to confirm whether Scully’s account has been hacked or not

Scully, who has yet to publicly address the controversy himself and could not be reached for comment, has a habit of blaming « hackers » for the posts posted to his Twitter account, dating back to 2012 and 2013

The CPD had chosen Scully to moderate the second presidential debate between President Trump and Joe Biden scheduled for October 15 This debate was called off Friday evening after Trump’s withdrawal following the CPD’s announcement that the Event would be virtual Biden subsequently withdrew from the debate and has since scheduled an ABC News town hall for the night the debate was supposed to take place Trump also landed a town hall with NBC News airing opposite ABC’s Biden event

Scully’s initial tweet caused confusion and fury among critics, with many concluding that the moderator intended to send his message to Scaramucci privately

Scaramucci responded by telling Scully: « Ignore He’s spending enough time Some worse stuff about to fall »

Scaramucci told Kilmeade last week that he believed Scully’s tweet was real, prompting his own response Thursday night He also tweeted later on Friday that he took Scully’s hacking statement ‘at face value’, adding, ‘Let’s no longer cancel [sic] people in our culture for absolutely something like this It’s trivial C’ is an objective journalist « 

He responded to Scully’s suspension on Thursday, writing « Brutal result for silly non-political tweet Nothing wrong Canceling culture that goes too far »

Scully’s credibility as an impartial moderator of the debate was first called into question after learning he previously worked as an intern for then-Sen Biden and was a staff member of late Sen Ted Kennedy, D-Mass

During the 2016 campaign, Scully shared a New York Times op-ed titled « No, not Trump, not ever »

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Steve Scully, C-SPAN, Donald Trump, Joe Biden, Twitter, Anthony Scaramucci