The Twitter account of Steve Scully, the moderator for the second presidential debate, posted an eyebrow-raising tweet to Anthony Scaramucci regarding President Trump.
Scaramucci, at one time a popular supporter for the President and briefly having served as White House Communications Director, has since joined the ‘Never Trump’ movement, voicing his support for Biden’s candidacy.
Scully’s account published a Tweet that caught people’s attention.
“@Scaramucci should I respond to trump,” he wrote.
Roughly 20 minutes later, Scaramucci replied:
Ignore. He is having a hard enough time. Some more bad stuff about to go down. https://t.co/cMphfQJELL
— Anthony Scaramucci (@Scaramucci) October 9, 2020
The Scully tweet has since been deleted, prompting rampant online speculation.
Scully’s employer C-SPAN says that Scully claimed his Twitter account was hacked.
Interesting tweet from debate moderator Steve Scully to Anthony Scaramucci. https://t.co/3iRN9lidR6 pic.twitter.com/gImyfTCz9C
— Mollie (@MZHemingway) October 9, 2020
RELATED: Chris Wallace Blames The President For Debate Disaster, Trump Responds On Twitter
Why Would Debate Moderator Steve Scully Tweet at Scarmaucci About Trump?
Scully, a political editor for C-SPAN and host of “Washington Journal,” already has some background that makes his impartiality leading up to the debate a major question mark.
This tweet didn’t help those perceptions.
Many conservatives on Twitter were perplexed by the tweet – before the claims of a hacked account came into play.
Steve Scully, the moderator for the next debate, has now deleted this tweet where he appears to be coordinating with Scaramucci and posted publicly instead of DM. pic.twitter.com/jKvGivOSHM
— Caleb Hull (@CalebJHull) October 9, 2020
The Daily Caller’s Greg Price speculated that Scully was trying to send a personal direct message to Scaramucci, but may have erred.
It appears that our moderator for the next debate thinks he’s dm’ing with Scaramucci but accidentally tweeted at him.
I’m sure he’ll be a fair and unbiased moderator. https://t.co/gjbulY01dY
— Greg Price (@greg_price11) October 9, 2020
Politico reporter Alex Thompson called the message an “odd thing,” while NewsBusters editor Curtis Houck argued, “This is not going to help the idea that Scully is *in any way* an objective and unbiased journalist and moderator.”
Joe Concha, a reporter for The Hill, described the optics of the tweet as “horrible,” and somethings that “underscore(s) mistrust is [sic] media.”
What? Why is the next presidential debate moderator publicly asking one of Trump’s staunchest critics in Anthony Scaramucci if he should respond to the president? In a related story, Scully once interned for Sen. Joe Biden. Optics here are horrible & underscore mistrust is media. https://t.co/Ipkv0CVUCA
— Joe Concha (@JoeConchaTV) October 9, 2020
The debate commission responded by saying Scully’s account may have been hacked.
Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD) co-chair Frank Fahrenkopf tells me that he was told debate moderator Steve Scully’s Twitter account was hacked but adds he has no direct knowledge.
— Joe Concha (@JoeConchaTV) October 9, 2020
Fox News reports that while they claimed “Scully’s Twitter account had been hacked,” the commission “did not give specifics on its claim.”
Former Fox News personality Megyn Kelly wasn’t buying that excuse asking, “How stupid do they think we are?”
They can’t possibly go with this. How stupid do they think we are? https://t.co/RyMqBcYWUc
— Megyn Kelly (@megynkelly) October 9, 2020
Finally, Scully’s employer, C-SPAN, put out a statement in which they say Scully himself “believes” his account had been hacked.
C-SPAN official statement on Scully: pic.twitter.com/tHd2CADgNz
— Joe Concha (@JoeConchaTV) October 9, 2020
RELATED: Squad, Progressive Group Roll Out Plan To Force Biden to Implement Their Far-Left Agenda
Trump Supporters Have Already Questioned Steve Scully’s Ability to Moderate a Debate Fairly
Scully’s impartiality was already a concern before the Scaramucci Tweeting incident.
Scully was actually an intern for one of the debate participants – Democrat nominee Joe Biden.
He also worked for Democratic Massachusetts Sen. Ted Kennedy.
He addressed those roles in a 2011 interview with the Cable Center.
“I worked for Joe Biden, Senator from Delaware at the time, as an intern, so I had my first chance to really see politics up close in Washington, D.C.,” he noted.
“I worked for Senator Kennedy,” Scully continued. “I was involved in his ill-fated campaign in 1980, which was interesting; having worked as a high school student in the Carter campaign in 1976, I saw from two different perspectives.”
Scully posted an image of he and Biden in 2016 grinning from ear to ear.
Gotta love the @VP at the Biden Beach Bash ’16 pic.twitter.com/Z9gdC6Cmi1
— Steve Scully (@SteveScully) June 4, 2016
White House deputy communications director Brian Morgenstern had this to say about Scully:
“He is a wild-eyed critic of the president at this point. And now to have a debate moderator seeking his advice – I think the cat’s out of the bag,” he added.
“I don’t think Mr. Scully is impartial.”
President Trump weighed in, as well.
Steve Scully, the second Debate Moderator, is a Never Trumper, just like the son of the great Mike Wallace. Fix!!!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 9, 2020
President Trump himself, in an interview with Sean Hannity, called Scully a “never-Trumper, and I think somebody said he worked for Biden at one point.”
If that wasn’t enough, Scully also tweeted an opinion piece titled ‘No, Not Trump, Not Ever,’ which called the President an “affront to basic standards of honesty, virtue and citizenship.”
No, Not Trump, Not Ever https://t.co/PFvHTeQSZu
— Steve Scully (@SteveScully) March 18, 2016
Whether or not Scully’s Twitter account was hacked, as has been claimed, his expressed views on Biden and Trump make it very difficult to see how he could be impartial in any debate.
