George Stephanopoulos, the co-anchor of Good Morning America and ABC News’ This Week, has admitted that he recently donated to the Clinton Foundation. As a result, he has decided not to moderate ABC’s upcoming 2016 Republican Presidential debate.
Stephanopoulos called his donations an “uncharacteristic lapse.” In an interview with the New York Times, he also apologized “because I don’t want anything to compromise my integrity or the standards of ABC News.”
However, he told CNNMoney that he still plans on covering the 2016 presidential campaign.
The donations were first revealed by The Washington Free Beacon and Politico.
During President Bill Clinton’s first term, Stephanopoulos was a key advisor and also played a major role in Clinton’s first presidential campaign. As a result, conservatives called his integrity into question repeatedly. Before he ended up pulling out, Sen. Rand Paul already called for Stephanopoulos to step down as moderator of the ABC debate.
ABC said that Stephanopoulos donated $50,000 in total to the Clinton Foundation in 2013 and 2014. However, he later told CNNMoney that he did donate another $25,000 in 2012.
In his apology, Stephanopoulos did say that he made a mistake by not telling ABC News about the donations. “I thought that my contributions were a matter of public record. I apologize,” he said.
ABC News will not discipline Stephanopoulos. He is the network’s chief anchor, even though he does not anchor the nightly ABC World News broadcasts.
image courtesy of Roger Wong/INFphoto.com