Steve Scully’s question for Anthony Scaramucci raises eyebrows ahead of debate
The moderator of the planned second debate between President Trump and Joe Biden sparked objectivity questions after he publicly asked former White House comms chief-turned-Trump foe Anthony Scaramucci for advice, according to a report.
Steve Scully, political editor of C-SPAN and host of “Washington Journal,” sent Scaramucci what apparently was meant to be a private message, Fox News reported.
“@Scaramucci should I respond to trump,” Scully wrote.
“Ignore. He is having a hard enough time. Some more bad stuff about to go down,” responded “The Mooch,” who was famously fired after his rocky 11-day stint as White House communications director in 2018.
The president had told Fox News host Sean Hannity late Thursday that Scully was a “never-Trumper — and I think somebody said he worked for Biden at one point.”
Earlier Thursday, Trump told Fox News’ Maria Bartiromo that he would not debate Biden virtually after the Commission on Presidential Debates announced a change in the format.
The commission said the Oct. 15 debate would continue in its planned town hall format with Scully as moderator, but the candidates will take part from separate remote locations.
Politico reporter Alex Thompson reacted to Scully’s public question to Scaramucci by saying it was an “odd thing for the next debate moderator to tweet.”
“This is not going to help the idea that Scully is *in any way* an objective and unbiased journalist and moderator,” NewsBusters managing editor Curtis Houck said in a tweet.
Neither the Commission on Presidential Debates nor C-SPAN immediately responded to requests for comment by Fox News.