ABC insiders slam claims network star David Muir has been shunned from interviewing Trump: ‘Are you kidding me?’
Network insiders have hit back at claims that ABC megastars David Muir and George Stephanopoulos have been snubbed from an upcoming interview with Donald Trump.
The stars were reportedly benched due to their bitter histories with the president, Page Six reports, even though Muir hosts flagship show World News Tonight and Stephanopoulos is a co-anchor on Good Morning America.
A network source has since hit back at the original Page Six report.
‘Are you kidding me? Don’t fall for this,’ the insider said. ‘David Muir thinks very carefully about what it is he does and when he does it.’
Muir and Trump previously clashed during the presidential debate when Muir and co-host Linsey Davis robustly fact checked the then-GOP candidate.
Trump accused Muir of grilling him while launching softball questions at his rival Kamala Harris.
He fumed that the debate was ‘three against one’ and questioned the veracity of Muir’s fact-checking, which he dismissed as ‘fake news’.
Stephanopoulos meanwhile was locked in a bitter defamation case after he incorrectly stated that the president had been found civilly liable for raping writer E. Jean Carroll.
Trump sued ABC and Stephanopoulos in federal court in Miami days after the network aired the segment of ‘This Week’.
Stephanopoulos wrongly claimed that Trump had been ‘found liable for rape’ and ‘defaming the victim of that rape’.
ABC anchor David Muir (left) has been shunned by the network for a forthcoming interview with Donald Trump
ABC’s George Stephanopoulos has also been snubbed for the interview due to his fractious past with the president
The president was found liable for sexually abusing and defaming Carroll and was ordered to pay her $88.3 million.
Last year ABC news agreed to pay $15 million toward Donald Trump’s presidential library to settle the defamation lawsuit.
The network also agreed to pay $1 million in legal fees to Trump’s attorney.
The settlement reportedly incensed Stephanopoulos and has contributed to the ABC’s decision to look elsewhere for the presidential interview according to insiders.
Trump will instead be interviewed by ABC’s senior national correspondent Terry Moran, it’s claimed.
‘It’s nuts that it’s not Muir,’ a source told Page Six. ‘And giving it to someone that people have barely heard of? A primetime exclusive with the president?’
Muir and Stephanopoulos are said to have endured a tense relationship while the pair clawed for prime position.
But earlier this year media expert Oliver Darcy told DailyMail.com that Muir had won that battle.
The White House reportedly agreed to the interview to mark the end of Trump’s first 100 days in office.
Trump will instead be interviewed by ABC’s senior national correspondent Terry Moran
The milestone coincides with a new impeachment threat brought by Congressman Shri Thanedar of Michigan.
Thanedar introduced articles of impeachment against Trump on Monday for ‘ignoring’ the Constitution on his tariffs and for ‘ignoring’ the courts.
Rep. Al Green, D-Texas, had also threatened to bring impeachment articles against Trump in February over his ‘ethnic cleansing’ of Palestinians in Gaza.
A flood of new polls out yesterday revealed where Trump stands with the public.
CNN put his approval at 41 percent which the network said was the lowest at the same stage for any president in decades. NBC had his approval rating at 45 percent, with 55 percent disapproving.
A Fox News poll showed Trump had his best rating on the issue of border security, with 55 percent approval, but his approval on tariffs was only 33 percent.
Trump slammed the polls as ‘fake’ and called pollsters ‘negative criminals.’
