It didn’t take long for Washington politicos to react to the news that ABC News anchor George Stephanopoulos failed to disclose donations to the Clinton Foundation.
Conn Carroll, communications director for Sen. Mike Lee (pictured) of Utah tweeted he’s keeping his boss off ABC until Stephanopoulos steps down from “all 2016 coverage.”
I’m not letting my boss go on @ABC until @GStephanopoulos recuses himself from all 2016 coverage.
Advertisement— Conn Carroll (@conncarroll) May 14, 2015
Writing at The Federalist, Sean Davis argues ABC needs to pull the anchor from moderating any upcoming presidential debates:
George Stephanopoulos cannot be trusted to objectively cover the 2016 elections. He cannot be trusted to be honest about his biases. He cannot be trusted to disclose five-figure cash payments to controversial organizations run by the very people he’s supposed to cover. If ABC News doesn’t take immediate steps to prevent him from covering the election–and from participating in the 2016 debates as a moderator or commentator–then the RNC should. There’s no way on earth he should be allowed to participate in any 2016 presidential debates.
As CBS’ Face the Nation prepares to change hosts, the competition for ratings–and newsmaking guests–is intense. Any movement to keep key GOP leaders away from ABC could be painful.
Republican presidential candidate Rand Paul says Stephanopoulos’ ties to the Clintons raise questions about the anchor’s ability to remain impartial, telling The New York Times “it’s impossible to divorce yourself from that, even if you try. I just think it’s really, really hard because he’s been there, so close to them, that there would be a conflict of interest if he tried to be a moderator of any sort.”