MSNBC's Morning Joe panel criticized Hillary Clinton on Monday for wanting a debate moderated by ABC's George Stephanopoulos, who served as White House Director of Communications during her husband's presidency.
The campaigns of both Clinton and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I., Vt.) have discussed holding a debate before New York holds its primary on April 19. However, they have not agreed on who will host it, when it will be or the venue.
Stephanopoulos, who serves in a variety of roles for ABC, including anchor of This Week and co-anchor of Good Morning America, has also donated to the Clinton Foundation.
"Wait a minute, she wants to do a debate with George Stephanopoulos as the moderator?" co-host Mika Brzezinski asked.
"That was one of the proposed ideas," co-host Willie Geist said.
"Didn't he work for her?" Brzezinski asked.
"Yes, and there was some speculation this weekend, is that one of the reasons why the Sanders campaign said ‘absolutely not,’" NBC correspondent Kristen Welker said.
"Didn't he donate to the Clinton Foundation?" Brzezinski asked.
"Yes, he did," Welker said.
Brzezinski still seemed puzzled by the choice of Stephanopoulos as the moderator.
"Am I overstating the concern about trying to choose a moderator on GMA by the Clinton campaign that actually worked for the Clintons?"Brzezinski asked.
Panelist and former Democratic Tennessee congressman Harold Ford, Jr. defended Stephanopoulos and the Clinton campaign. Ford is supporting Clinton's campaign.
"In all fairness to George, George has been a pretty impartial guy as he's gone about his work," Ford said.
"Yeah, but if I'm debating against you, I'm not going to let you have your chief of staff moderate our debate from the House days and you wouldn't let my chief of staff," host Joe Scarborough said.
"Right, but ... it was her husband's communications director," Ford said.
The Washington Free Beacon broke the news last year that Stephanopoulos was a Clinton Foundation donor, which forced him to disclose the conflict of interest on the air. He also had to inform viewers of his donations when interviewing Clinton in subsequent broadcasts of This Week.