By Rick Manning

On a hot mic, ABC News reporter Amy Robach recently alleged in a video revealed by Project Veritas, that ABC News, which is owned by Disney, covered up the Jeffrey Epstein story three years ago.

“I’ve had the story for three years,” Robach said, adding, “We would not put it on the air. Um, first of all, I was told, ‘Who was Jeffrey Epstein? No one know who that is. This is a stupid story.’ Then the Palace found out that we had her whole allegations about Prince Andrew and threatened us a million different ways.”

Project Veritas’ release of footage featuring respected broadcast journalist Amy Robach describing how the Jeffrey Epstein story was spiked by her bosses calls into question the very concept of whether we still have a free and independent media.

Robach alleges that Buckingham Palace and other influential world leaders threatened access to ABC News should her story run about Epstein’s pedophile island and the alleged abuses at the hands of many elites, including Bill Clinton and Prince Andrew.

“I tried for three years to get it out to no avail and now these new revelations and — I freaking had all of it,” Robach said.

The severity of the charges against those who are named by one of Jeffrey Epstein’s alleged victims are monstrous but when you realize that ABC is owned by the Disney Corporation it becomes beyond troubling. No corporation in the world has the same standing among children as Disney. And if Ms. Robach’s claims are true, Disney not only sheltered what may have been the worst pedophile in American history, but through their decision to not broadcast the allegations, subjected children to three more years of alleged torture and abuse.

This is not the first time in the past two months that Disney’s journalistic ethics have been called into question, as their cable sports network ESPN kowtowed to the communist Chinese government during the flareup with the NBA by publishing maps that dramatically expanded Chinese territory including subsuming independent Taiwan into Red China.

Our nation has a media crisis: Too few corporations own too much media. This is why Americans for Limited Government opposed the AT&T-Time Warner merger and continues to urge the Justice Department to review the approvals given to the Comcast-NBC Universal merger given almost a decade ago.

When few control what gets reported, honest journalists like Ms. Robach have very few options to get the truth out and report crimes against humanity that impact the powerful who rub elbows with media owners.

Over the last four years our nation has witnessed media collusion legitimizing intelligence officials’ assessments that are purely political poppycock and theater with the goal of overturning the presidential election of 2016. Any illusion that major media is independent and trustworthy has been shattered and this latest coverup of the Jeffrey Epstein predation by Disney validates all the concerns about the level of manipulation that America is subjected to, which is unacceptable and must addressed.

Since the release of the video, Robach and ABC News have issued concurrent statements. Robach said, “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 that 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.”

As for ABC News, they said, “At the time, not all of our reporting met our standards to air, but we have 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 6-part podcast that will air in the new year.”

In the specific case of Jeffrey Epstein, it is reasonable to ask whether victims over the past three years have a legitimate claim against Disney and if Disney could be prosecuted by the Justice Department under 18 USC section 4 for their failure to report the felonies allegedly committed by Epstein and his powerful friends.

Given the irregularities of Epstein’s death and Attorney General William Barr’s Aug. 12 pledge to continue the investigation — he said “We will get to the bottom of what happened and there will be accountability. But let me assure you this case will continue on against anyone who was complicit with Epstein. Any co-conspirators should not rest easy. The victims deserve justice, and they will get it…” — perhaps it is Disney executives responsible for killing the Epstein story should not be resting easy in the wake of the Robach’s jaw-dropping revelations.

Rick Manning is the President of Americans for Limited Government.