On Thursday, a tweet posted to the account of upcoming presidential debate moderator and C-SPAN host Steve Scully stated, “@Scaramucci should I respond to trump.”
Asking Scaramucci, an avowed opponent of President Trump, ignited a furor that caused C-SPAN to issue a tweet on Friday claiming Scull’s account had been hacked. C-SPAN stated:
Last night a tweet from Steve Scully, C-SPAN’s Political Editor, appeared on his timeline communicating with Anthony Scaramucci. Steve Scully did not originate the tweet and believes his account has been hacked. The Commission on Presidential Debates has stated publicly that the tweet was not sent by Scully himself and is investigating with the help of authorities. When additional information is available, we will release it.
— CSPAN (@cspan) October 9, 2020
As The Daily Wire reported, “Media reporter Joe Concha reported Friday that Commission on Presidential Debates co-chair Frank Fahrenkopf told him the account was ‘hacked,’ but notably added that he has ‘no direct knowledge’ of the alleged hack. “Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD) co-chair Frank Fahrenkopf tells me that he was told debate moderator Steve Scully’s Twitter account was hacked but adds he has no direct knowledge,” posted Concha.
Interestingly, later on Friday journalist Yashar Ali posted two other instances from the past in which Scully claimed his account had been hacked, one from 2012 and one from 2013.
Tweets from 2012 and 2013 pic.twitter.com/jdeKqq7UEW
— Yashar Ali 🐘 (@yashar) October 9, 2020
Fahrenkopf told Fox News, “Steve is a man of great integrity, okay? I don’t know this question about whether he tweeted something out or not, I do know, and you’ll probably pick up on it in a minute, that he was hacked… Apparently, there’s something now that’s been on television and the radio saying that he talked to Scaramucci… He was hacked. It didn’t happen.”
The Daily Wire reported on October 1 that Scully once worked as an intern for Senator Joe Biden in college, later working as a staff assistant in Sen. Edward M. Kennedy’s communication office.
“While attending college, he served as an intern in the office of Delaware Sen. Joseph R. Biden, and later a staff assistant in Sen. Edward M. Kennedy’s media affairs office,” Utah Valley University noted.
In an interview with Journalism Jobs in May 2011, when he was asked, “Has the quality of broadcast journalism decreased over the past five years?”, Scully took the opportunity to rip Fox News, stating, “I think what has gone downhill is when cable networks get caught in all the titillating news of the day when they should be focusing more on the things that are important to people, like following the money and the state of the nation. Having said that, if you’re sick and tired of watching Laci Peterson on the Fox News Channel, then you can come on to C-SPAN and understand the process that we do in following it.”
Some conservatives scorned the claim that Scully’s account had been hacked; The Federalist’s Mollie Hemingway reacted, “In a sea of admittedly bad possible explanations, this one is such an outlandish and unlikely one as to require far more than assertion without any evidence.”
In a sea of admittedly bad possible explanations, this one is such an outlandish and unlikely one as to require far more than assertion without any evidence.
— Mollie (@MZHemingway) October 9, 2020
Megyn Kelly expressed her disbelief: “They can’t possibly go with this. How stupid do they think we are?”
They can’t possibly go with this. How stupid do they think we are? https://t.co/RyMqBcYWUc
— Megyn Kelly (@megynkelly) October 9, 2020