Now he tells us? After raking ‘Clinton Cash’ author over the coals?

Remember how former Clinton advisor and now ABC News host George Stephanopoulos raked the “Clinton Cash” book author over the coals?

We smelled a rat at the time:

George Stephanopoulos worked in the Bill Clinton administration as a senior adviser. In what way is he qualified to question the author of a book which seeks to expose alleged corruption of the Clintons? Peter Schweizer holds his own in this interview despite the aggressive and skeptical questions hurled at him throughout the discussion. Stephanopoulos is not so much a journalist, he’s a member of the palace guard. It’s quite clear which side he’s on in this situation.

Rat confirmed, via Politico, George Stephanopoulos discloses $50,000 contribution to Clinton Foundation:

ABC News chief anchor George Stephanopoulos has given $50,000 to the Clinton Foundation in recent years, charitable contributions that he did not publicly disclose while reporting on the Clintons or their non-profit organization, the On Media blog has learned. In both 2013 and 2014, Stephanopoulos made a $25,000 donation to the 501 nonprofit founded by former president Bill Clinton, the Foundation’s records show. Stephanopoulos never disclosed this information to viewers, even when interviewing author Peter Schweizer last month about his book “Clinton Cash,” which alleges that donations to the Foundation may have influenced some of Hillary Clinton’s actions as Secretary of State. In a statement to the On Media blog on Thursday, Stephanopoulos apologized and said that he should have disclosed the donations to ABC News and its viewers. “I made charitable donations to the Foundation in support of the work they’re doing on global AIDS prevention and deforestation, causes I care about deeply,” he said. “I thought that my contributions were a matter of public record. However, in hindsight, I should have taken the extra step of personally disclosing my donations to my employer and to the viewers on air during the recent news stories about the Foundation. I apologize.”

Stephanopoulos needs to be removed from any ABC News coverage of the election. But that’s unlikely to happen, as this ABC News statement to Politico seems to indicate:

“As George has said, he made charitable donations to the Foundation to support a cause he cares about deeply and believed his contributions were a matter of public record,” the network’s statement read. “He should have taken the extra step to notify us and our viewers during the recent news reports about the Foundation. He’s admitted to an honest mistake and apologized for that omission. We stand behind him.”

It’s media bias and corruption down the line for 2016.

Update: Make that $75,000, and George is dropping out of the Republican debates:

George Stephanopoulos says he should not have donated money to the Clinton Foundation and that he will not moderate the ABC News-sponsored Republican primary debate in February after failing to disclose those contributions. In an interview with the On Media blog on Thursday, Stephanopoulos said that while he made the donations “for the best reasons,” he now realizes he should not have given. “In retrospect, I probably shouldn’t have, even though I did it for the best reasons,” he said. Stephanopoulos also said that he has given a total of $75,000 to the Clinton Foundation. That figure represents charitable contributions of $25,000 in 2012, 2013 and 2014, respectively. ABC News initially said that Stephanopoulos had given a total of $50,000 to the foundation. The “Good Morning America” co-anchor and host of “This Week” said that he would not moderate ABC’s GOP debate, which is scheduled to take place in February in New Hampshire. Republican Sen. Rand Paul said Thursday that Stephanopoulos should be prohibited from moderating any debates during the 2016 presidential campaign. “I won’t moderate that debate,” Stephanopoulos said. “I think I’ve shown that I can moderate debates fairly. That said, I know there have been questions made about moderating debates this year. I want to be sure I don’t deprive viewers of a good debate.”



