Debate commission co-chair suggests Steve Scully was 'hacked' as Scaramucci tweet makes waves
Chairman of the Commission on Presidential Debates Frank Fahrenkopf updates the ‘Brian Kilmeade Show’ on second debate moderator’s Tweet controversy and where things stand with the upcoming presidential debates.
C-SPAN host Steve Scully believes his Twitter account was hacked, the network announced in a statement Friday, in the aftermath of a tweet sent from his account to former White House Communications Director Anthony Scaramucci that raised questions of impartiality.
Scully "did not originate the tweet," C-SPAN claimed, adding that the Commission on Presidential Debates was investigating the incident "with the help of authorities," who were unidentified. Scully himself did not immediately comment.
Scully had been selected to host the second presidential debate, although the status of all future 2020 debates has been unclear.
The now-deleted tweet, sent Thursday night, read: "@Scaramucci should I respond to trump."
Frank Fahrenkopf, a co-chairman of the commission, first made the hacking claim to Fox News Radio's "The Brian Kilmeade Show" Friday morning.
"Steve is a man of great integrity, okay?" Fahrenkopf said. "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."
Scully, who was set to moderate a town hall debate on Oct. 15 – now crumbling after President Trump withdrew from the now-virtual event – sparked confusion and fury among critics, with many concluding the moderator meant to send such a message to Trump's foe privately.
Scaramucci, in response, seemed to offer him advice on how to deal with the president.
"Ignore. He is having a hard enough time. Some more bad stuff about to go down."
Scaramucci told Fox News' Brian Kilmeade on Friday that he thought Scully's tweet was real, prompting his own response to the debate moderator Thursday night. He also tweeted later Friday that he took Scully's claim "at his word," adding, "Let's not cancel anymore people from our culture for absolutely something like this. It’s insignificant. He is an objective journalist."
Scully's credibility as an unbiased debate moderator was previously questioned after it became known that he previously served as an intern for then-Senator Biden and served as a staffer for the late Sen. Ted Kennedy, D-Mass.
Another tweet of Scully's from the 2016 election showed him sharing a New York Times op-ed titled, "No, Not Trump, Not Ever."
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Trump pulled out of the Scully-moderated debate after the Commission on Presidential Debates unilaterally announced that it would be turning the Miami town hall into a virtual event as the president continued his recovery from the coronavirus.
Biden subsequently withdrew from the debate and has since already scheduled an ABC News town hall scheduled for the night that the debate was supposed to take place.
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