The ABC News anchor George Stephanopoulos apologized on Tuesday night after he was surreptitiously recorded earlier in the day saying he did not believe that President Biden could handle another term in office.
His remarks — made in passing to a stranger who approached him on the street — came four days after Mr. Stephanopoulos conducted the only major interview with Mr. Biden since the president’s stumbling debate performance.
In a grainy video posted by the gossip site TMZ, Mr. Stephanopoulos can be seen in workout clothes walking on a sidewalk in Midtown Manhattan. An unseen stranger walks up to the anchor but keeps his phone camera angled away; Mr. Stephanopoulos was presumably unaware that the person was recording him.
“Do you think Biden should step down?” the stranger asks. “You’ve talked to him more than anybody else has lately.”
“I don’t think he can serve four more years,” Mr. Stephanopoulos replies.
News anchors and reporters typically avoid voicing their opinions about the topics and people they cover. Mr. Stephanopoulos addressed his remarks hours later. “Earlier today, I responded to a question from a passerby. I shouldn’t have,” he said in a statement.
ABC also issued a statement about the incident. “George expressed his own point of view and not the position of ABC News,” the network said.
During Mr. Stephanopoulos’s prime-time interview with Mr. Biden, which was seen by 8.5 million people, the anchor respectfully but firmly challenged the president about whether he was being honest with himself about his health.
Mr. Stephanopoulos is one of very few people outside of Mr. Biden’s immediate inner circle who has spent extended time with the president since the debate. The anchor received praise for his handling of the interview, which focused on intimate matters of aging and health.
Source: Elections - nytimes.com
