Kevin McCarthy Threatens to Call ABC Execs before Congress If They Refuse to Answer Questions on Epstein Reporting
House minority leader Kevin McCarthy (R., Calif.) threatened to call ABC network executives before Congress to answer questions about their handling of reporting on alleged serial pedophile Jeffrey Epstein in an interview released Monday.
McCarthy sent a letter on Sunday to ABC News president James Goldston questioning why the network didn’t air reporting on Epstein several years ago.
The right-wing opposition research group Project Veritas had on November 5 released a video of ABC anchor Amy Robach claiming on hot mic that she had the Epstein story in 2016, but that network executives chose not to air it because of threats from the British royal family. In the interview with Robach, Virginia Roberts claims she was raped by Prince Andrew, the second son of Queen Elizabeth II and a former friend of Epstein, when she was a teenager.
Asked by journalist Megyn Kelly how he would respond if ABC ignored his letter, McCarthy suggested he would call for congressional hearings to ask ABC executives why the public interest in exposing a serial pedophile was outweighed by other editorial considerations.
“I would want [ABC] to look at and go back and analyze, did we miss something here?” McCarthy told Kelly.
“I think as a legislator and as somebody who serves in Congress, knowing [that] human trafficking [is] a bipartisan issue, I think we should have hearings on it,” he added.
McCarthy also threatened to expand the hearings to include NBC after Kelly raised allegations that the network similarly killed reporting on a serial sex abuser. Journalist Ronan Farrow alleges the network quashed his reporting on disgraced Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein, after Weinstein threatened to reveal allegations of sexual misconduct against former Today show host Matt Lauer. The accusations against Lauer have since been revealed and led to his resignation.
“When we take on these hearings we should ask the tough questions,” McCarthy said, “and if we find it takes us to another [network], we should ask them as well.”
