Free Republic

Amidst revelations that ABC anchor George Stephanopoulos was an undisclosed contributor to the Clinton Foundation slush fund at the same time he was defending it on the air, some GOPers are finally putting their foot down. Conn Carroll, formally the White House correspondent for Townhall and currently communications director for Senator Mike Lee (R-UT) had this to say on Twitter: "I'm not letting my boss go on ABC until GStephanopoulos recuses himself from all 2016 coverage." And Rand Paul is the First Republican presidential candidate to say George Stephanopoulos shouldn’t moderate the 2016 debates. “It’s impossible to divorce yourself from...

George Stephanopoulos was one of the most partisan of partisan warriors ever — just look at "The War Room," the documentary from the 1992 Clinton presidential campaign. So it was something of a surprise in 1996 when ABC News hired Stephanopoulos, fresh out of the Clinton White House. And there was some confusion about what the deeply partisan Stephanopoulos' role would be: Analyst? Pundit? Straight news reporter? At the time, I asked ABC about it and was assured Stephanopoulos would be a pundit — like William Kristol, who was then with ABC News — and would not do any news...

The length to which ABC, its news division, and its parent company (Disney) have gone to protect and curry favor with the Clintons is almost impossible to grasp. To begin with, in 1996, ABC News hired George Stephanopoulos, a former Clinton campaign and White House official. Within a few years he would become the ABC new division’s chief anchor and political reporter. Then, just today, we learn that ABC News and Stephanopoulos are involved in a massive conflict of interest — a $50,000 donation Stephanopoulos made to the Clinton Foundation. That’s right, the symbol of ABC News has an ongoing...

ABC News chief anchor George Stephanopoulos donated $50,000 to the Clinton Foundation in recent years, records show. The contribution is publicly available information, but the host had not previously disclosed it to ABC viewers, despite taking part in on-air discussions about the Clinton Foundation and its controversial relationship with foreign donors. Stephanopoulos, a former aide to President Bill Clinton, confirmed the donation to POLITICO’s Dylan Byers after the Free Beacon contacted ABC News for comment. The host, who acknowledged making two donations of $25,000 between 2013 and 2014, issued a statement of apology for failing to disclose his contributions. Stephanopoulos’s...

In March 2014, pioneering Internet company Mozilla announced the appointment of co-founder Brendan Eich as CEO. That same day, a Twitter mob exploded with criticism of Eich. Gay rights supporters were angry about a 6-year-old donation of $1,000 to the “Yes on 8” campaign, which sought to ban same-sex marriage in California in 2008. It’s OK to be angry about Eich’s donation. Screaming for Eich’s head on a pike for his failure to conform to Mozilla’s majority view on same-sex marriage is not. Liberals are supposed to believe in protecting minority views, even when they disapprove of those views. Instead...

Broadcast networks have taken their cues from The New York Times, except when it publishes stories about babies that they don’t like. A study released Wednesday by The New England Journal of Medicine documented thousands of premature births to discover a small number of babies born at 22 weeks, with medical treatment available to them, survived with few health implications. The findings that could “affect the abortion debate” landed on the front page of the May 7 New York Times and garnered attention from NBC’s Today. Other media, like ABC and CBS, stayed silent during their morning and evening news...

Joe Namath, one of the most charismatic players in NFL history and one of the game's greatest quarterbacks, said today that if he'd known then what he knows now about concussions, he would never have played football. Namath, who has recently undergone treatment for brain injuries, was asked in an interview with Tiffany Kenney of ABC's West Palm Beach, Florida, affiliate WPBF-TV whether would still play the game, given all he has learned about the effects of concussions. "No," he said. "I hate to say that because if I had a child who wanted to play I'd let them play...

The former public face of Bill Clinton’s White House—and current host of ABC News’ This Week—George Stephanopoulos was floored as two prominent journalists and the Republican Speaker of the House from his Clinton days, Newt Gingrich, laid out for him just how bad the “Clinton Cash” book is for his old bosses. During the show’s roundtable panel after Clinton Cash author Peter Schweizer appeared on the show for a lengthy interview, Stephanopoulos teamed with Democratic strategist Donna Brazile in an attempt to discredit Schweizer. But it started with Stephanopoulos making a shocking admission: Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign wouldn’t send out...

ABC changed the headlines of one of their articles today to give the riots in Baltimore a more sympathetic tone. The headline now reads, "Family, Friends in Baltimore Mourn Death of Arrested Man." The article, with the exact same url, had this headline earlier today: "Violent Protests in Baltimore for Man Injured in Custody." And despite the fact that the headline now reads, "Family, Friends in Baltimore Mourn Death of Arrested Man," the url still clearly shows the article's original, more accurate headline, as it contains part of the previous headline in it: http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/freddie-grey-protests-turn-violent-baltimore-30590887. The wording of the article drastically...

Many historians call the Armenian Holocaust the first holocaust of the 20th Century, a dress rehearsal for the Nazi nightmare that followed. This April 24 marks the 100th anniversary of the death of roughly 1.5 million Armenian Christians at the hands of Turkish Muslims. That mass slaughter has gone virtually unreported by the broadcast networks. It was a genocide so awful that candidate Barack Obama promised in 2008 he would acknowledge it as such. “As president, I will recognize the Armenian genocide,” he vowed. Obama has violated that promise every year since. This will be the seventh anniversary that Obama...

Two women from Ireland, who are spitting images of each other, freaked out when they came face-to-face for the first time. Through the power of social media, Niamh Geaney, 26, found her doppelganger, Karen Branigan, 29.

On his radio show this morning, Glenn Beck not-so-fondly recalls the time he was employed by ABC News and became Diane Sawyer‘s “little bitch” before their working relationship soured and “she became the biggest bigot I’ve ever seen.” According to Beck, during his brief stint as an ABC contributor, Sawyer was fond of him and would call him up frequently to discuss what sorts of ideas she had for improving television. “I was Diane Sawyer’s little bitch,” he told his co-hosts today, recalling how she’d call and e-mail him so frequently his wife became concerned. However, he alleged, Sawyer stopped...

When Mary Kay Letourneau Fualaau was forced to go public in 1997 with an affair she was having with her former sixth grade student, Vili Fualaau, after she became pregnant with his child, it was the teacher-student sex scandal heard around the world. At the time, Mary was a 34-year-old, married teacher in Seattle, who already had four children of her own. Vili was just 13 years old. Mary was arrested and served seven and a half years in prison. Today, Mary is 53 and Vili is 31. The couple is still together and are about to celebrate their 10th...

ABC News made it official this morning: Diane Sawyer will interview Bruce Jenner about his transition on April 24. “Bruce Jenner’s far-ranging, exclusive interview with ABC News Anchor Diane Sawyer airs Friday, April 24, on a special edition of 20/20. The two-hour special, Bruce Jenner – The Interview, airs on the ABC Television Network at 9 PM ET,” the network announced. The May sweep begins this year on April 23. The interview with Sawyer will be the first discussion of Jenner’s transition by a major news outfit.

It may be time to light the lights. ABC is filming a proof of concept for a revival of The Muppets, The Hollywood Reporter has learned. The Big Bang Theory co-creator Bill Prady is co-writing the script for a pilot presentation that sources say could be unspooled at May's upfront presentation to Madison Avenue advertisers. Sources tell THR that the project, if all goes well, could go straight to series. Bob Kushell (Anger Management, 3rd Rock From the Sun) will also co-write and is attached to serve as showrunner, with Wilfred's Randall Einhorn attached to exec produce and direct the...

Indiana's controversial Religious Freedom Restoration Act will not be changing despite critics saying it allows business owners to discriminate against members of the LGBT community, state Gov. Mike Pence said today during an exclusive interview on ABC's "This Week."

ABC News White House Correspondent Jon Karl was “astounded” at today’s White House briefing, when White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said that the Obama administration still considered Yemen a model of counterterrorism strategy, even as the country imploded against warring rebel factions.“The White House does continue to believe that a successful counterterrorism strategy is one that will build up the capacity of the central government to have local fighters on the ground to have local fighters take the fight to extremists in their own country,” Earnest said. “That is a template that has succeeded in mitigating the threat in...

It has been called “The History-Making Gay Kiss,” as “The Fosters” TV show, which airs during prime time on the ABC Family network, featured the “Youngest Same-Sex TV Kiss Ever.” Yes, on a so-called “family friendly” network, two 13-year-old boys locked lips, and gay activists and their allies are celebrating the moment. GLAAD, formally known as the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, stated that, “ABC Family's 'The Fosters' breaks new ground with Jude and Connor kiss.” (For those who are not familiar with the show, Jude is raised by two lesbians, his adoptive parents.) Gabe Bergado, writing for the...

It what could be another milestone role in broadcast TV diversity, CBS has cast transgender actress Laverne Cox in its legal procedural pilot Doubt. The Orange is the New Black actress will play a transgender Ivy League-educated attorney, described as “competitive as she is compassionate. She’s fierce, funny and the fact that she’s experienced injustice first hand makes her fight all the harder for her clients.” The Doubt role was always conceived as a transgender character, and it’s tough to imagine a better catch for the part – Cox made the cover of Time magazine last year in a story...

When Rosie O’Donnell made her triumphant return to “The View” in September, she promised a calmer version of the host who previously fled the program in 2007 after a single season. But O’Donnell’s unhappiness at “The View” led her to announce on Friday, via a story in the New York Post’s Page Six section, that she was exiting the show after five months. ABC executives agreed to release her early from a 11-month contract, estimated to be worth $5 million. In a brief interview with “Entertainment Tonight” over the weekend, O’Donnell attributed her departure to a desire to focus on...