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Halperin Apologizes for 'Pain and Anguish' He Caused Female Employees at ABC News

Mark Halperin/ Getty Images
October 27, 2017

MSNBC political analyst Mark Halperin released a statement on Friday evening apologizing for causing his former female employees at ABC News "pain and anguish" after multiple women accused him of sexual harassment when he was the political director there over a decade ago.

CNN reported on Wednesday night that five women accused Halperin of engaging in inappropriate behavior while he worked at ABC. They alleged Halperin's actions ranged from propositioning young female staffers to groping and pressing his erection against them while clothed.

Halperin, who was suspended from MSNBC and NBC News on Thursday, said in a lengthy statement on Twitter that he "deeply regret[s]" his past actions and understands what he did was wrong.

"Towards the end of my time at ABC News, I recognized I had a problem," Halperin wrote. "No one had sued me, no one had filed a human resources complaint against me, no colleague had confronted me. But I didn’t need a call from HR to know that I was a selfish, immature person, who was behaving in a manner that had to stop."

Halperin went on to talk about going to weekly counseling sessions for several years near the end of his ABC tenure to talk about his personal issues and attitudes that caused him to behave inappropriately. He then reflected on the last decade of his career at Time magazine, Bloomberg, NBC, and Showtime, saying it was not like his time at ABC.

"I did not engage in improper behavior with colleagues or subordinates. If you spoke to my co-workers in those four places (men and women alike), I am confident you would find that I had a very different reputation than I had at ABC News because I conducted myself in a very different manner," Halperin continued.

"I know I can never do enough to make up for the harm I caused. I will be spending time with my family and friends, as I work to make amends and contributions," Halperin concluded.

CNN reporter Oliver Darcy, who published the original piece against Halperin, tweeted out different parts of another bombshell story that he published minutes after Halperin's tweet where four more women accuse Halperin of sexual harassment.

"Lara [Setrakian] responds to Halperin denying that he groped her: 'What he said is not true,'" Darcy wrote on Twitter.

 

Published under: Mark Halperin , MSNBC , NBC