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Stephanopoulos Stopped Disclosing His Donations Prior to Interviews With Clinton

AP
January 17, 2016

ABC news anchor George Stephanopoulos has stopped disclosing his donations to the Clinton Foundation prior to his interviews with presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.

Stephanopoulos interviewed Clinton twice over the past week, once Thursday morning on Good Morning America and again on Sunday's This Week.

During both interviews he failed to disclose to viewers that he was a donor to the foundation.

"Secretary Clinton joins us now from Charleston, South Carolina. Good morning, Madam Secretary," Stephanopoulos said prior to interview Clinton Sunday.

On Thursday, Stephanopoulos started off the interview asking Clinton about Chelsea Clinton's attacking Sen. Bernie Sanders (I., Vt.) health care plan and Sanders’ remarks that Chelsea Clinton's attacks were not true.

Neither time did Stephanopoulos disclose to viewers he was a Clinton Foundation donor.

In May, the Free Beacon reported that Stephanopoulos, a former Bill Clinton aide, had given $75,000 to the Clinton Foundation over the years and had not disclosed the donations to viewers.

The story was brought to the forefront when the Free Beacon's Andrew Stiles discovered Stephanopoulos’ donation and requested a comment from ABC News.

The network stood behind the anchor and refused to take any additional action besides issuing an apology.

An ABC News spokeswoman told New York Times that any employee that makes a donation to a charity must disclose it to the network before covering a story related to that organization.

Republican National Committee president Reince Prebius said that he did not want Stephanopoulos anywhere near the Republican primary debate.

While Stephanopoulos did not ask the candidates any questions, he did appear before and after the debate to give commentary.