C-SPAN indefinitely suspended political editor Steve Scully after he admitted to lying about the hacking of his social media accounts.
The debacle began on Oct. 8 when Scully appeared to tweet a message accidentally that was meant for former White House communications director Anthony Scaramucci.
In the tweet, he asked for advice on whether he should “respond to” President Trump’s attacks on him, but after facing criticism, Scully claimed that his Twitter account had been hacked. The news of his suspension, which was announced on Thursday, came on the same day that he was supposed to moderate the second presidential debate between Joe Biden and Trump.
“I falsely claimed that my Twitter account had been hacked,” he said, according to the Associated Press. “These were both errors in judgment for which I am totally responsible for. I apologize. I ask for their forgiveness as I try to move forward in a moment of reflection and disappointment in myself.”
“For several weeks, I was subjected to relentless criticism on social media and in conservative news outlets regarding my role as moderator for the second presidential debate, including attacks aimed directly at my family,” Scully added. “Out of frustration, I sent a brief tweet addressed to Anthony Scaramucci. The next morning when I saw that this tweet had created a new controversy.”
This will be the first time since 1992 that Scully will not be a part of the network’s election night coverage.
“He understands that he made a serious mistake,” the network said. “We were very saddened by this news and do not condone his actions.”
“During his 30 years at C-Span, Steve consistently demonstrated his fairness and professionalism as a journalist. He has built a reservoir of goodwill among those he has interviewed, fellow journalists, our viewers, and with us,” C-SPAN added, noting that, “We believe in his ability to continue to contribute to C-SPAN” in the future.
Frank Fahrenkopf, the co-chairman for the Commission on Presidential Debates, was the first person to say Scully had been hacked, and shortly thereafter, C-SPAN issued a statement making the same claim, noting that the Commission for Presidential Debates was investigating what happened with the help of authorities.
C-SPAN said that Scully “did not originate the tweet and believes his account has been hacked.”
The journalist has previously claimed that his account has been hacked, although it’s unclear if those incidents were legitimate or not.
