Journalist Yashar Ali reported Thursday afternoon that, based on “two sources with knowledge of the situation,” ABC had both discovered the identity of the video leaker and alerted CBS that the person was now in their employ, after which CBS fired her.
However, the journo noted that while ABC executives are certain of her identity, they don’t know if she gave the story directly to Project Veritas or whether there were intermediaries.
“We take violations of company policy very seriously, and we’re pursuing all avenues to determine the source of the leak,” an ABC spokesperson told Ali. CBS declined to comment.
Right-wing activist group Project Veritas, known for its surreptitious video recordings inside organizations of staffers making damning statements, published the leaked video on November 5. Recorded in August, the video shows ABC anchor Amy Robach telling her producer on a hot mic about how “we had everything” on the late billionaire financier Jeffery Epstein.
“Everything” here includes information about former US President Bill Clinton and attorney Alan Dershowitz riding Epstein’s private jet, as well as an interview with Virginia Roberts Giuffre, who alleged she was a “sex slave” of Epstein’s while underage - part of a vast human trafficking ring that was in the middle of being exposed when Epstein turned up mysteriously dead in his New York jail cell in August, ostensibly having committed suicide.
“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,’" Robach said in the video. "Then, the palace found out that we had her [Giuffre’s] whole allegations about Prince Andrew and threatened us a million different ways. We were so afraid we wouldn’t be able to interview Kate and Will that we, that also, quashed the story.”
“I tried for three years to get [the interview] on to no avail, and now it's coming out and it's like these 'new revelations,' and I freaking had all of it,” Robach continued.
