Former Joe Biden intern and C-SPAN host Steve Scully was suspended on Thursday after lying about his Twitter feed being hacked, reports the Associated Press.
APNEWSALERT: NEW YORK (AP) — C-SPAN suspends political editor Steve Scully indefinitely after he admits he lied about his Twitter feed being hacked
— David Mack (@davidmackau) October 15, 2020
In a statement, Scully called his tweet and lie “error in judgment” after blaming his response on the “relentless criticism” he received from “conservative news outlets” and President Donald Trump.
In the statement given to @brianstelter Scully apologizes for two errors in judgement, the tweet to Anthony Scaramucci, and the claim that his Twitter account was hacked. pic.twitter.com/jm6zTIZLe3
— Robert Lang WBAL (@Reporterroblang) October 15, 2020
The news of Scully’s suspension comes almost a week after he tagged anti-Trumper Anthony Scaramucci on Twitter asking for advice on whether to “respond to Trump.”
While it is unclear what Scully was referring to, Scaramucci, the former White House communications director who was fired 10 days after his appointment for criticizing the Trump administration, cryptically replied to the message, suggesting “more bad stuff about to go down.”
“Ignore. He is having a hard enough time. Some more bad stuff about to go down,” Scaramucci replied.
Scaramucci expressed his disdain with the decision to suspend Scully, saying it was a “brutal outcome for a silly non political tweet.”
“Nothing objectionable. Cancel culture going too far,” he added.
Brutal outcome for a silly non political tweet. Nothing objectionable. Cancel culture going too far. https://t.co/ymPKOGJemi
— Anthony Scaramucci (@Scaramucci) October 15, 2020
Trump and his campaign, however, used Scully’s admitted “errors” as an opportunity to point out the faults with the Commission on Presidential Debates.
“I was right again! Steve Scully just admitted he was lying about his Twitter being hacked. 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 in being the first to know?” Trump tweeted on Thursday afternoon.
https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1316829885147480064?s=20
“Having a debate moderator lie to try to explain away a tweet that revealed his anti-Trump slant is bad, but it is far from the biggest problem with the biased Commission on Presidential Debates. Filled with pro-Biden Democrats and anti-Trump ‘Republicans,’ the commission has done the bidding of Joe Biden every step of the way and protected him at every turn,” said Tim Murtaugh, Trump 2020 communications director.
“There was no medical reason the candidates could not be on stage together tonight in Miami for the second debate, but instead they will be holding separate town halls. Everything the commission has done has been to benefit Joe Biden. Nevertheless, President Trump will be in Nashville on October 22, ready to debate Biden and beat him for a second time,” he added.
The Commission on Presidential Debates and others rushed to defend Scully’s tweet, claiming he did not post it.
“He was hacked, it didn’t happen,” commission Co-Chair Frank Fahrenkopf told Brian Kilmeade on “The Brian Kilmeade Show” Friday morning.
— Pat Ward (@WardDPatrick) October 9, 2020
C-SPAN also released a statement defending Scully, claiming he “did not originate the tweet and believes his account has been hacked.” The network said the incident is under investigation by authorities.
— CSPAN (@cspan) October 9, 2020
Despite Scully’s history of working for Joe Biden when he was a senator and Democratic Sen. Ted Kennedy, as well as retweeting criticism of the Trump administration, the Commission on Presidential Debates chose him to moderate the second presidential debate in Miami.
The commission, the board of which has an average age of over 71 years old, claims it “does not endorse, support, or oppose political candidates or parties,” but has received backlash from Trump for its biased handling of the 2020 debates and picking Scully as a moderator.
The Thursday debate, however, was canceled due to coronavirus concerns. While the commission attempted to schedule a virtual debate potentially equipped with muting technologies, Trump refused to participate. Trump and Biden, the Democratic presidential nominee, will instead use Thursday evening to answer questions at dueling town hall events.
