Michigan Herald Tribune

A shocking revelation swept online forums and, no doubt, corporate boardrooms at ABC this week as James O’Keefe’s Project Veritas group released leaked video of Good Morning America and 20/20 co-anchor, Amy Robach, making stunning accusations in August regarding editorial decisions at ABC as far back as 2016. Robach divulges distressing information of ABC’s alleged spiking of a story involving notorious pedophile and financier, Jeffrey Epstein, and several global power players, ranging from Prince Andrew to Bill Clinton.

Robach’s troubling claims in the video have been answered by defensive press releases from ABC, which aims to fight back against the onslaught of negative public reaction. ABC argues in the statement that the story did not rise to the required limits of their network’s journalistic standard, but continued to investigate in the past three years.

Robach informs her producer, sitting off screen in the video, that the Epstein story, which had just broke following his arrest in August was something she had long known and worked to expose at least as early as 2016. She alleges to have convinced Virginia Roberts (now Guiffre) to come forward and tell her story. She goes on to explain that Guiffre made several other pieces of corroborating evidence, including photographs, and witnesses available to ABC.

However, critics have been quick to point to a host of other recent stories that have seemingly passed ABC’s journalistic muster, only to be quickly debunked or presented by the outlet with little to no corroborating evidence (See: Jussie Smollet, Covington Catholic Students, Brett Kavanaugh accusers).

Further complicating the public perception of the story, the timeline of events detailed by Robach fall in line with the run up to the 2016 presidential election. Bill Clinton’s alleged involvement and Guiffre’s accusations cause additional concern that the story was dumped for less than ABC’s “journalistic standards.” As Robach mentions, “there were a lot of powerful men,” surrounding Epstein and this all seems to continue to stoke the fires of public conspiracy theories regarding Epstein’s pedophile ring and recent death.

Robach concludes by saying what many in professional circles and general public have argued in recent weeks: “Epstein did not kill himself.”

This story continues to develop and may pose serious legal problems for ABC. While the story may or may not have risen to the level of reporting from the anchor desk, it remains to be seen if these apparent victim statements and other pieces of evidence were turned over by ABC to the FBI or other law enforcement. The requirement to disclose even suspected incidences of child abuse to authorities is mandated by Federal and New York State law, though such laws may not always apply to journalists. Calls have been raised for ABC to release the interview in the wake of Epstein’s operation being roundly verified.