Who leaked the Amy Robach video to Project Veritas? ABC News wants to know.
The network said Wednesday that it wants to ascertain the identity of the leaker, described by Project Veritas as an “ABC insider,” who released a hot-mic video showing a frustrated Robach venting about ABC’s refusal to run her story about now-deceased billionaire sex-offender Jeffrey Epstein.
“We take violations of company policy very seriously, and we’re pursuing all avenues to determine the source of the leak,” said an ABC News spokesperson in an email to The Washington Times.
Independent journalist Yashar Ali reported Wednesday that “ABC News executives believe they know the identity of the former employee who accessed the footage of Amy Robach,” citing two sources.
“It’s important to note that ABC News does not know if this former employee leaked the footage to Project Veritas,” Mr. Ali tweeted. “What they do know is who accessed the footage. It’s possible that person could have shared it with others who leaked it.”
1. Scoop: ABC News execs believe they know who the former employee is who accessed footage of @arobach expressing her frustrations about her shelved Jeffrey Epstein story
— Yashar Ali 🐘 (@yashar) November 6, 2019
That former employee is now at CBS and ABC execs have reached out to CBS News execshttps://t.co/OHEoyahppY
SEE ALSO: Jeffrey Epstein ABC story wasn’t ready to air, network says after ‘hot mic’ backlash
That employee now works at CBS, he said, and “ABC News executives have informed their counterparts at CBS News that this person accessed the footage of Robach. It’s unclear if CBS News plans on taking any action against the employee.”
Project Veritas president James O’Keefe has said that the “ABC insider” still works at the network, and tweeted Wednesday that “sources are giving us more insider tape within @ABC.”
DEVELOPING: SOURCES ARE GIVING US MORE INSIDER TAPE WITHIN @ABC… The insiders tell us they trust us over any other media outlet. @Project_Veritas is past the point of no return on this one. Stay tuned as I send our team out to corroborate the story over the next few days… pic.twitter.com/zpGxiKcd7f
— James O’Keefe (@JamesOKeefeIII) November 6, 2019
In a Tuesday statement, ABC News said that Ms. Robach’s Epstein story failed to meet its standards to air, “but we have never stopped investigating the story.”
The leaked video showed a frustrated Robach saying that ABC had refused for three years to air the story, which included an interview with Epstein accuser Virginia Roberts Giuffre and allegations against former President Bill Clinton, Britain’s Prince Andrew and Epstein attorney Alan Dershowitz.
All three have denied any wrongdoing. Epstein was found dead Aug. 10 in a New York City jail in what was ruled a suicide.
“I’ve had the story for three years,” Ms. Robach said on the leaked video. “I’ve had this interview with Virginia Roberts, we would not put it on the air. First of all, I was told ’who’s Jeffrey Epstein? No one knows who that is, this is a stupid story.’”
She issued a statement Tuesday saying that the hot mic caught her in “a private moment of frustration,” and that the explosive interview never aired because “we could not obtain sufficient corroborating evidence to meet ABC’s editorial standards about her allegations.”
• Valerie Richardson can be reached at vrichardson@washingtontimes.com.
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