ABC News sought to tamp down reaction Tuesday to a video of anchor Amy Robach visibly frustrated about not being able to get reporting aired about disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein.
In the video, distributed by Project Veritas, an activist organization that seeks to reveal mainstream media hypocrisy by recording behind-the-scenes moments, Robach is seen on set, disappointed that an interview she had conducted with Virginia Giuffre, who accused both Epstein and England’s Prince Andrew of sexual misconduct, had not gotten on the air.
“I’ve had this story for three years. I’ve had this interview with Virginia Roberts,” Robach says in the distributed video. “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.’ Then the palace found out that we had her whole allegations about Prince Andrew and threatened us a million different ways. We were so afraid that we wouldn’t be able to interview Kate and Will. That also quashed the story. She continued: “It was unbelievable what we had. Clinton — we had everything. I tried for three years to get it on to no avail and now it’s all coming out and it’s like these new revelations. And I freaking had all of it. I’m so pissed right now. Every day I get more and more pissed.” Her last remark: “What we had was unreal.”
ABC News in a statement Tuesday said it had continued to cover allegations against Epstein. “At the time, not all of our reporting met our standards to air, but we have never stopped investigating the story,” the Walt Disney-owned news unit said. ” Ever since we’ve had a team on this investigation and substantial resources dedicated to it. That work has led to a two-hour documentary and 6-part podcast that will air in the new year.”
Robach said she was “caught in a private moment of frustration.”
“I was upset that an important interview I had conducted with Virginia Roberts didn’t air because we could not obtain sufficient corroborating evidence to meet ABC’s editorial standards about her allegations. My comments about Prince Andrew and her allegation that she had seen Bill Clinton on Epstein’s private island were in reference to what Virginia Roberts said in that interview in 2015. I was referencing her allegations – not what ABC News had verified through our reporting,:” Robach added. “The interview itself, while I was disappointed it didn’t air, didn’t meet our standards. In the years since no one ever told me or the team to stop reporting on Jeffrey Epstein, and we have continued to aggressively pursue this important story.”
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