Veteran ABC News correspondent Terry Moran was suspended Sunday after he posted a harsh criticism of the Trump White House on X.
Moran, 65, took aim Saturday at President Trump and Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller, who has been outspoken in his desire to see a step up in the deportation of undocumented migrants.
“Miller is a man who is richly endowed with the capacity for hatred. He’s a world-class hater,” Moran wrote his post, which has been deleted. “You can see this just by looking at him because you can see that his hatreds are his spiritual nourishment. He eats his hate.” He also described Miller as “vile.”
Moran went on to call Trump “a world class hater” adding, “but his hatred only a means to an end and that end is his own glorification. That’s his spiritual nourishment.”
Moran, whose title is senior national correspondent, has been an ABC News journalist since 1999 and is not a commentator. He conducted an Oval Office interview with Trump in April to discuss the first 100 days of the president’s second term.
White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller speaks to reporters Friday outside the White House.
(Mark Schiefelbein / Associated Press)
In a statement, an ABC News representative said Moran’s statements violated the division’s policy.
“ABC News stands for objectivity and impartiality in its news coverage and does not condone subjective personal attacks on others,” the representative said. “The post does not reflect the views of ABC News and violated our standards — as a result, Terry Moran has been suspended pending further evaluation.”
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt ripped Moran and called for action by ABC when the journalist’s post was raised during an interview Sunday on Fox News.
“This is unacceptable and unhinged rhetoric coming from someone who works at a major television network,” Leavitt said. “We have reached out to ABC, they have said they will be taking action, so we will see what they do. But I think this speaks to the distrust the American public have in the legacy media.”
The rapid suspension by ABC News demonstrates how networks are on edge over their news organizations antagonizing the Trump White House, which has shown a willingness to extract revenge on its critics.
Trump has asked Congress to cut off federal funding from public media outlets PBS and NPR, calling their programming “left wing propaganda.”
Trump is suing CBS News over a “60 Minutes” interview last October that he claims was deceptively edited to help his 2024 election opponent Vice President Kamala Harris. The suit — an obstacle to CBS parent Paramount Global’s deal to merge with Skydance Media — has gone to a mediator.
ABC News paid $15 million to settle a lawsuit Trump filed over statements by “Good Morning America” co-host George Stephanopoulos, who incorrectly said on air that the president had been liable of rape, when it was sexual abuse. Walt Disney Co. Chief Executive Bob Iger has asked that ABC’s “The View” spend less time talking about Trump, who typically leads the daytime talk show’s hot topics segment.
