ABC News has permanently cut ties with senior national correspondent Terry Moran for a since-deleted tweet in which he called Trump administration deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller a “world class hater.”
The decision came Tuesday after the network suspended Moran for the social media post on Sunday.
“We are at the end of our agreement with Terry Moran and based on his recent post – which was a clear violation of ABC News policies – we have made the decision to not renew,” a spokesperson told TheWrap of their contract with the journalist. “At ABC News, we hold all of our reporters to the highest standards of objectivity, fairness and professionalism, and we remain committed to delivering straightforward, trusted journalism.”
Moran tweeted late Saturday his disdain for Miller and his role within the Trump administration. “The thing about Stephen Miller is not that he is the brains behind Trumpism,” he wrote in the since-deleted missive. “Yes, he is one of the people who conceptualizes the impulses of the Trumpist movement and translates them into policy. But that’s not what’s interesting about Miller. It’s not brains. It’s bile. Miler is a man who is richly endowed with the capacity for hatred. He’s a world-class hater.”
The tweet was quickly picked up by GOP figures like Trump Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, who called it “unhinged and unacceptable.”
Vice President JD Vance also slammed Moran’s message. “An ABC journalist @TerryMoran posted this absolutely vile smear of Stephen Miller. It’s dripping with hatred. Remember that every time you watch ABC’s coverage of the Trump administration,” Vance wrote on X. “As it happens, I know Stephen quite well. And he’s motivated by love of country. He’s motivated by a fear that people like Terry Moran make rules that normal Americans have to follow, but well connected people don’t.”
“It’s why he fought so hard to get President Trump elected and why he works to hard to implement the agenda,” Vance added before insisting the network should issue an apology to Miller.
Moran posted his message following news that Trump sent 2,000 National Guardsmen to Los Angeles to quell protests against ICE raids in the city. In response, he was suspended from the news network later Sunday.
“ABC News stands for objectivity and impartiality in its news coverage and does not condone subjective personal attacks on others,” a representative from ABC News told TheWrap at the time. “The post does not reflect the views of ABC News and violated our standards — as a result, Terry Moran has been suspended pending further evaluation.”
Trump has been at odds with ABC since George Stephanopoulos said on “The Week” the president was found “liable for rape” by a jury in a separate lawsuit brought by author E. Jean Carroll. The jury found Trump was “liable for sexually abusing and defaming” Carroll, but the judge in the case also noted that finding “does not mean that she failed to prove that Mr. Trump ‘raped’ her as many people commonly understand the word ‘rape.’” Trump and the network controversially settled the lawsuit in December.
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