Donald Trump mocked talk host Steve Scully on Sunday for claiming that his Twitter account was hacked while sending a mysterious message to Anthony Scaramucci.
Scully came under pressure after asking Scaramucci for advice on how to deal with Trump’s criticism, but the C-SPAN journalist says it was a trick.
Describing the moderator as a ‘scam’ and ‘Never Trumper’, Trump told Fox News that ‘it’s all hacked’.
Trump says, ‘Whenever something happens when they do something … the first thing they do is either we’ve been hacked or we’ve been hacked.’
He was an actor. He knows that he is ashamed. It’s a shame.’
Scully was to lead the second debate this Thursday, but the event was canceled after Trump refused to enter a virtual contest.
President Donald Trump mocked discussion host Steve Scully on Sunday for alleging his Twitter account was hacked
Steve Scully, who will moderate the discussion this week, sent a mysterious message to Anthony Scaramucci and apparently asked for advice on dealing with Trump.
Scully seemed to have asked the former White House adviser ‘should I reply to Trump’ in a tweet that the C-SPAN journalist said was a hack.
Scaramucci took this as it seemed and replied: ‘Ignore. He’s having a hard enough time. Some bad things about to come down
The controversy erupted Thursday night after Scully asked Scaramucci ‘should I reply to Trump’ in a tweet he predicted was a misguided private messaging attempt by many Twitter users.
Scully’s tweet was quickly criticized by Trump supporters, who said it should be ‘disqualifying’ and urged him to withdraw from the discussion.
However, Scaramucci took this at face value and replied: ‘Ignore. He’s having a hard enough time. Some more bad things about to come down. ‘
Scaramucci, who lost the post of Trump’s communications director after just 10 days in 2017, became a harsh critic of the president and called on Joe Biden to vote to ‘save the Republican Party’.
Regarding both C-SPAN and Presidency discussions, the Commission has since made statements on behalf of Scully insisting that the tweet was a hack.
“Steve Scully did not create the tweet and believes his account has been hacked,” C-SPAN said in a statement Friday.
Scaramucci told Scully to ignore Trump’s criticism after accusing C-SPAN journalist of bias
Trump and Biden (pictured in first debate) not going to head this week after Republican rejected the virtual format proposal
The discussion commission reported on Friday the ‘apparent hack’ to Twitter and the FBI.
“We understand that the federal authorities and Twitter are investigating the issue,” the commission said.
Trump continued his attacks on Scully after telling Fox News presenter Sean Hannity on Thursday that the journalist said he was ‘never Trumper and at one point worked for Biden’.
The 60-year-old C-SPAN journalist was a mailroom trainee in Biden’s office when he was in college in 1978.
Scully also volunteered for the Jimmy Carter campaign in 1976 at the age of 16 and worked as a media intern for Ted Kennedy in 1979 – before they both graduated from college.
When Trump was running for the GOP primaries in 2016, Scully tweeted an opinion piece titled No, Not Trump, Not Nothing, calling him ‘an insult to the basic standards of honesty, virtue and citizenship’.
Hannity argued in his program that the Presidential Debate Commission ‘turned into an anti-Trump organization’.
The moderator of the second presidential debate, if any, is a man named Steven Scully. Actually I know him, I’ve met him, actually like him, ‘Hannity said.
He did an internship for Joe Biden. He worked for Senator Ted Kennedy. Was this a factor in the decision of the debate commission? ‘
Chris Wallace was the moderator of the first debate on September 29 and was criticized by Trump after the chaotic duel.
NBC News reporter Kristen Welker will direct the third debate next week in Nashville, Tennessee.
With Trump recovering from Covid-19, the commission said last week that the debate would shift to a digital format, where only Scully would physically exit Miami.
But Trump immediately refused to participate, saying he wouldn’t ‘waste my time in a virtual discussion’, adding that the host could ‘cut you off at will’.
Trump said the negotiating commission was protecting Biden from having to take over the president personally, but Biden’s team said it was Trump who hid from review.
Biden spokesman Andrew Bates said, “It’s a shame that Donald Trump escaped from the only controversy that voters could ask questions – but that’s not surprising.”
Everyone knows that Donald Trump likes to bully reporters, but obviously he does not have the courage to answer for his voters record at the same time as Vice President Biden. ”
The first debate on September 29 was a complex contest, overshadowed by persistent cuts and very little important policy debate.
Trump criticized moderator Chris Wallace after the controversy, and the Fox News presenter called him ‘a complete joke’ after trying to take control of the contest.
The commission announced on Friday afternoon that the second debate was officially closed and focused on the October 22 final contest in Nashville.
The third discussion will be led by NBC News White House correspondent Kristen Welker.
Vice presidential candidates Mike Pence and Kamala Harris faced off in Salt Lake City on Wednesday last week.