President Trump took a triumphant run, saying on Twitter: “You were right again!”
Scully was chosen by the Presidential Debating Committee to facilitate the town hall-style debate that was supposed to take place on Thursday evening. It would have been a pinnacle moment in his career. But last week, the debate was called off after Trump objected to the default format imposed by the commission.
While the debate was in the air, and Trump was criticizing Scully publicly, the veteran of C-SPAN sent a tweet to Trump’s friend who turned to his opponent Anthony Scaramucci.
Scully wrote on the evening of October 8, shortly after Trump described Scully as “I shouldn’t respond to Trump’s Scaramucci.”
When the strange tweet spread to Scaramucci the next morning, Scully claimed he had been hacked. Both Commission and C-SPAN are guaranteed to him.
“Steve Scully has not released the tweet and he believes his account has been hacked,” C-SPAN said in a statement.
Conservative media expressed skepticism about this claim, indicating that he had used the piracy argument in the past. Fox News has dedicated several sections to the topic.
About a week later, on Wednesday night, Scully admitted to C-SPAN and the panel that he had sent a tweet.
“For several weeks, I have been subjected to relentless criticism on social media and in conservative media regarding my role as director of the second presidential debate, including attacks directed directly at my family,” Scully said in a statement on Thursday.
Some of the comments on social media have been revolving around the fact that Scully briefly trained for former Vice President Joe Biden more than forty years ago, when Biden was in the Senate. The other comment was more harsh.
Scully wrote Thursday: “This reached its climax on Thursday, October 8, when I heard President Trump appear on national television twice and falsely attack me with the name. Out of frustration, I sent a brief tweet directed at Anthony Scaramucci. The next morning when I saw that This tweet caused a new controversy, it incorrectly claimed that my Twitter account had been hacked. They were both wrongly judged and I am fully responsible for it. I apologize. “
Scully asked C-SPAN and the committee for pardon “as I try to move forward with a moment of reflection and disappointment in myself.”
Trump is still slated to attend the final commission presidential debate for the season, on October 22, with moderator Kristin Welker of NBC.
C-Span, loved by political junkies for his constant coverage of events in Washington, said Scully “understands that he made a terrible mistake. We are so saddened by the news and we do not condone his actions.”
The network said he was put on administrative leave “starting immediately,” but it also indicated a possible path forward for Scully, one of its most famous hosts.
“During his 30 years at C-SPAN, Steve has consistently demonstrated his integrity and professionalism as a journalist,” the network said in a statement. “He built a reservoir of goodwill among those he met, his fellow journalists, our viewers, and with us.” For this reason, the network said, “At some distance from this episode, we believe in his ability to continue to contribute to C-SPAN”.
Scaramucci, for example, hit a forgiving tone in a post on Twitter Thursday afternoon.
“The brutal result of a ridiculous apolitical tweet,” he said. “Nothing is rejected. Abolishing culture goes away.”
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