- Amy Robach was on a “hot mic” saying that she had the Epstein story three years ago, but that ABC wouldn’t run it.
- ABC issued a statement saying that “at the time, not all of our reporting met our standards to air, but we never stopped investigating the story.”
- The Royal Family allegedly threatened ABC for the story that Robach had, detailing that a victim of Epstein was forced to have sex with Prince Andrew.
- A former ABC employee was fired from CBS for allegedly leaking the footage of Robach.
- The employee who was fired from CBS is not the leaker.
On November 5th, Project Veritas—headed by James O’Keefe of ACORN fame—released video of Amy Robach, apparently between segments, saying,
“I’ve had the story for three years, with Virginia Roberts (Giuffre), we would not put it on the air. Um, first of all, I was told, who’s Jeffrey Epstein? No one knows who that is, this is a stupid story. Then the Palace (referring to Buckingham Palace in England) found out we had her whole allegations about Prince Andrew and (they) threatened us a million different ways. We were so worried about not being able to interview Kate and Will that we–that also quashed the story. And then Alan Dershowitz was also implicated–because of the planes–she (Giuffre) told me everything. She had pictures, she had everything. She was in hiding for twelve years, we convinced her to come out, we convinced her to talk to us. It was unbelievable what we had; Clinton–we had everything. I tried for three years to get it on, to no avail, and now it’s all coming out, and it’s like these ‘new revelations,’ and I freaking had all of it. I am so pissed right now, like, every day I get more and more pissed ’cause I’m just like, oh my god, we–what we had, it was unreal. Other women backing it up–Brad Edwards the attorney (for Giuffre) three years ago saying like, there will come a day where we will realize that Jeffrey Epstein was the most prolific pedophile this country has ever known. I had it all. Three years ago.”
That same day, both ABC and Robach issued statements to Project Veritas. ABC stated, “at the time, not all of our reporting met our standards to air, but we never stopped investigating the story. Ever since we’ve had a team on this investigation and substantial resources dedicated to it. That work has led to a two-hour documentary and a six-part podcast that will air in the new year.
Amy Robach stated, “As a journalist, as the Epstein story continued to unfold last summer, I was caught in a private moment of frustration. I was upset that an important interview I had conducted with Virginia Roberts didn’t air because we could not obtain sufficient corroborating evidence to meet ABC’s editorial standards about her allegations. My comments about Prince Andrew and her allegation that she had seen Bill Clinton on Epstein’s private island were in reference to what Virginia Roberts said in that interview in 2015. I was referencing her allegations—not what ABC News had verified through our reporting. The interview itself, while I was disappointed it didn’t air, didn’t meet our standards. In the years since no one ever told me or the team to stop reporting on Jeffrey Epstein, and we have continued to aggressively pursue this important story.
On Thursday, November 7 CBS fired a staffer whom ABC believes accessed the footage of Robach. Ashley Bianco, an Emmy winning producer of CBS This Morning and former ABC News employee, is claiming to have accessed the footage and has done an interview with Megyn Kelly. In that interview, Bianco claims that she is not the one who leaked the footage of Robach.
The full interview should be viewed, and you can do so here. Bianco says in part,
(Megyn Kelly) Did you you leak the tape?
(Bianco) I did not.
(MK) Not to anyone?
(Bianco) No.
(MK) Did you make a clip of the moment?
(Bianco) I did, but I saved it in the internal system….I went to my manager and I said, “do you see what she is saying, does she know she’s on a hot mic?” The assistant said to us that Amy knew she was on a mic, and that she knew she was being broadcast to all of the affiliates.
(MK) Right, so this is a moment where she is off the air, she’s doing taped promos, but she has a mic on and people can see and hear her.
(Bianco) yeah.
…
(MK) Was that the last you had to do with that clip?
(Bianco) Yeah, I didn’t touch it, I didn’t do anything with it…I hadn’t even heard of Project Veritas before this week.
For its part, Project Veritas backs up these claims, having released a statement from the insider, who allegedly still works at ABC. In that statement, the leaker speaks directly to ABC saying,
I went to Project Veritas for the sole reason that any other media outlet else would have probably shelved this as well. I thank all of them, and James, for seeking truth.
We are all human and mortal, creatures of mistakes and redemption.
The road to redemption favors no soul.
Sincerely,
Ignotus
My Take
There are serious issues with what ABC is claiming. This is the same news organization which, just a few weeks ago, used footage from a Kentucky gun range in a report on Syria. The representative that spoke with the New York times declined to comment on how this situation occurred. The Times explains that news organizations have, “various systems for vetting footage to verify authenticity.” Without an official explanation from ABC, the running theory is that when the report was run, there wasn’t a full staff and the pressure to get a breaking story out resulted in the mistake.
Others have pointed out that the video appears to have gone through an editing process. If that is the case, one has to wonder how much of a “mistake” it was to air the footage. If that was a mistake, how much can we trust that ABC withheld the Epstein story for three full years because it didn’t “meet (their) standards to air.”
The response from ABC to Project Veritas also raises questions. Why did it take three years of investigation to create a 2-hour documentary? How does this reconcile with Amy Robach’s statement that she “had all of it” three years ago, and has been trying for three years, to run the story? Why is this documentary going to run at the first of the year, and not over the holidays when it would theoretically have more impact?
You have to wonder if ABC doesn’t actually have a 2-hour documentary, and is creating time to edit the footage, put it together, conduct new interviews, and cover-up the fact that the majority of the footage that they have—and will air—is three years old, and should have been run three years ago.
Perhaps it is the pessimist in me, but I get the feeling that this was an, “oh crap” moment for the powers that be at ABC and, in an attempt to save face, are trying to get Robach to do everything all over again.
If they do choose to use three-year-old footage, why is it all of a sudden good now, but wasn’t good enough back then? If the footage is good enough, now that we know (purely thanks to a leaker) they had the story for three years, what triggered the release? Is it coincidental that they have obtained the “necessary corroboration” at nearly the same time that Project Veritas revealed they had the story for the last three years?
ABC has a lot to answer for, and the public should be asking a lot of questions. A “no comment” isn’t good enough when we are talking about the Epstein case, which implicates the rich and powerful of the world in a child sex ring. We rely on the media to “speak truth to power.” ABC owes it to the public, and more importantly, to the victims, to do so immediately.
