C-SPAN suspends political editor Steve Scully indefinitely for LYING about his Twitter account being hacked when he sent message about Trump to Anthony Scaramucci
C-SPAN anchor Steve Scully has been put on 'administrative leave' after lying about his Twitter account being hacked, the cable network announced Thursday.
Scully had sent out a tweet to Trump critic Anthony Scaramucci on the heels of President Donald Trump calling Scully - who was supposed to moderate the now cancelled second presidential debate - a 'Never Trumper' on Sean Hannity's show.
'Out of frustration, I sent a brief tweet addressed to Anthony Scaramucci,' Scully said in a statement given to DailyMail.com by C-SPAN. 'The next morning when I saw that this tweet had created a new controversy, I falsely claimed that my Twitter account had been hacked.'
C-SPAN's Steve Scully has been put on administrative leave after he lied about his Twitter account being hacked after he dashed off a tweet to Trump critic Anthony Scaramucci seeking advice
The tweet that got Steve Scully in hot water was one he sent to Anthony Scaramucci, a top Trump critic, asking, 'should I respond to Trump?' The president had just called Scully a 'Never Trumper' on Sean Hannity's show
The next day, Steve Scully tweeted out that he had been hacked, which he now says was a lie. C-SPAN reacted by putting him on administrative leave
Anthony Scaramucci had replied to Steve Scully's message, telling the C-SPAN anchor to 'ignore' Trump calling him a 'Never Trumper'
C-SPAN initially put out a statement in support of Steve Scully's story - that he had been hacked
The network, known for airing House and Senate floor action and Congressional hearings without interruption, said Scully made C-SPAN and the Commission on Presidential Debates aware of what he had done on Wednesday.
'By not being immediately forthcoming to C-SPAN and the Commission about his tweet, he understands that he made a serious mistake,' a statement from C-SPAN said. 'We were very saddened by this news and do not condone his actions.'
C-SPAN applauded the 'fairness and professionalism' Scully had demonstrated in his 30 years at the cable channel. 'He has built a reservoir of goodwill among those he has interviewed, fellow journalists, our viewers, and with us,' the statement said.
The network said Scully's leave would begin immediately.
'After some distance from this episode, we believe in his ability to continue to contribute to C-SPAN,' the network said.
Scully said he was motivated to lie because of the '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.'
He said the culminating moment of these attacks was when Trump called him out by name on Hannity, which was the president's second call-in appearance last Thursday as he was homebound at the White House recovering from the coronavirus.
During that same hour, a tweet directed at Scaramucci went out from Scully's blue-checked Twitter account asking, 'should I response to Trump?'
Scaramucci responded.
'Ignore. He is having a hard enough time,' the former White House communications director said of Trump. 'Some more bad stuff about to go down.'
On Friday, Scully tweeted he had been hacked.
'I apologize for some earlier TWEETS...account was hacked...those tweets did not come from me. Thanks for alerting me,' Scully wrote, initialing the message 'SS.'
The Commission on Presidential Debates responded by reporting the hack to the Federal Bureau of Investigation and to Twitter.
'And we understand that the federal authorities and Twitter are looking into the issue,' the CPD announced Friday.
The Miami presidential debate was supposed to take place Thursday night, but was cancelled after Trump refused to participate virtually.
Trump and Biden are now participating in dueling town halls in Miami and Philadelphia, respectively.
The president reacted to the news about Scully enthusiastically.
'I was right again!' Trump tweeted. 'Steve Scully just admitted he was lying about his Twitter being hacked. The Debate was Rigged! He was suspended from C-SPAN indefinitely. The Trump Campaign was not treated fairly by the "Commission". Did I show good instincts in being the first to know?' the president wrote.
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