There have been some developments in the ABC News alleged whistleblower story that we first brought you yesterday. ABC News finally did respond to the allegations and the response is somewhat stunning.
Just a refresh for those of you who didn’t tune in yesterday: A person purporting to be a whistleblower from ABC News came forward with a sworn affidavit that was released, as far as I can see, exclusively to someone on X who goes by the name ‘Black Insurrectionist.’
This account hasn’t been on X that long. He has some 100,000 followers and has gained 30,000 followers over the past week as he was teasing this. So many of us thought this could be what we call ‘engagement farming’ (a.k.a. trying to just jack up your followers), but he did indeed produce the affidavit he had been promising on Sunday.
This alleged whistleblower says – in what is said to be a sworn affidavit signed under penalties of perjury and allegedly notarized by a notary public – that ABC News coordinated with the Harris campaign in advance of the presidential debate to rig the debate in her favor.
The Allegations
There are minor allegations like they gave her a smaller podium – that, we know, did happen – but the whistleblower claims this affidavit was signed on September 9, the day before the debate. It was notarized and a copy was sent via certified to Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-LA). We reached out to Johnson’s office to see if they have it and have not yet received a response. In any event, this person would not have known about the podiums just from watching the debate if it really was sent on September 9.
The affidavit alleges Harris’ team negotiated to have her look a certain way on the split screen, that ABC News agreed to fact-check Donald Trump only and not her, that they provided sample questions (not the exact questions) covering similar topics that would appear during the debate, that they had agreed certain topics would be off limits (including the perceived health of Joe Biden, her tenure as attorney general of California, and her brother in law, Tony West). West used to work at the Department of Justice and is accused of settling cases at very large numbers when the plaintiffs were Democrat operatives or anyone he thought he wanted to or could curry favor with. That is a short-form description of the allegations.
The whistleblower talks about the observed bias against Trump within ABC and says in this affidavit, “I have secretly recorded several conversations that will prove the Harris campaign insisted upon not only the fact-checking of Donald Trump, but also insisted on what questions were not to be asked under any circumstances or else the Harris campaign would decline to participate in the debate.”
The Questions
We went through some of the questions about the affidavit yesterday (you can watch that discussion with Emily Jashinsky and Eliana Johnson below). It’s not the most beautiful document I’ve ever seen. There are a lot of grammatical errors. There is a notary public sign without the seal, but ‘Black Insurrectionist’ says he has redacted the seal. A notary public seal does reveal the identity of the notary, so that it would make sense if you are trying to maintain anonymity all around.
Why does it say, “I live in Manhattan, New York”? That’s not really how we refer to ourselves when we live in Manhattan, which I did for 17 years. But it could just be a way of saying, ‘I’m in the borough of Manhattan where ABC is.’ The ‘News’ in “ABC News” is not always capitalized. People are hitting on that.
All of this is to say, we don’t know whether this is real or not real. But we are open-minded to it and we are trying to report on the story. Not surprisingly, those who are covering it in the corporate media are dumping on it and laughing at it. We will find out whether it deserves to be laughed at.
ABC News Responds
Regardless, ABC News has finally responded. They gave a statement to The Daily Beast:
“ABC News followed the debate rules that both campaigns agreed on and which clearly state: No topics or questions will be shared in advance with campaigns or candidates.”
That’s it. This is so generic and empty as to cause more concerns than we had yesterday. This is a non-denial denial.
How about: Did you have private negotiations with Kamala Harris’ campaign? Did you agree that she would have a special look on stage, from the podium to the split screen situation? Did you agree that you wouldn’t ask about Tony West, about her tenure as AG, about President Biden’s mental fitness and her role in covering it up? Did you agree to any of that? Do you deny that there could possibly be tapes of an executive or someone at ABC News reiterating that promise or making it in the first instance?
Maybe the whole thing is bullsh-t and we are falling for some hoax by the Russians or by whoever called in the bomb threats in Springfield, OH. I have no clue. The person says they have been working in tech and administrative roles at ABC for over 10 years.
If any portion of this affidavit is true, it is very damning and this denial from ABC News does not get it done. This scandal has officially grown today, and ABC News, Kamala Harris, and, yes, Speaker Johnson must speak out.
You can check out Megyn’s full analysis by tuning in to episode 890 on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you like to listen. And don’t forget that you can catch The Megyn Kelly Show live on SiriusXM’s Triumph (channel 111) weekdays from 12pm to 2pm ET.