Epstein, who either committed suicide in his jail cell while on suicide watch or was more likely murdered to keep him quiet, was accused and probably guilty of hundreds if not thousands of cases of statutory rape with unwilling young girls procured for him by Ghislain Maxwell, his accomplice. The girls, who are now women, were promised money and careers in modeling or acting in exchange for massages they were to give Epstein and other prominent men like Prince Andrew and Bill Clinton -- although both these latter guys deny it roundly despite evidence to the contrary. The massages eventually turned into unwanted sexual encounters.
The long, sordid judicial history of Epstein's brush with justice isn't worth repeating here other than to say that, for whatever reason, he was treated very, very favorably, until last year. He was indicted on new charges in New York and put in jail. Mysteriously, although he was put in solitary and on suicide watch, he allegedly committed suicide, although there is some debate about that.
Even so, it later came out that Amy Robach of ABC had conducted an interview with one of Epstein's victims three years before, but the story was quashed by the higher-ups who claimed it wasn't ready yet. There is video of Ms. Robach speaking with other media members that was caught on a hot mic and then leaked to the press:
After the video was leaked, ABC went into damage control mode, ultimately -- albeit incorrectly, it would seem -- identifying someone who had left ABC for CBS a couple of weeks before the leak.
Now, ordinarily, ABC would issue the standard denials and then hush up, hoping the story would die down and go away. But ABC didn't do that. Instead, ABC called CBS, who then fired its new employee, despite her denials that she was the source of the leak.
I don't know if NewYork is an at-will state, but it would seem to me that if nothing else, the young lady might have a claim for defamation of character. In the meantime, the networks are playing a shell game with sexual harassment, as evidenced by the relative silence on the Matt Lauer controversy, the NBC attempted whitewash of Ronan Farrow's story on Harvey Weinstein and now ABC's abject silence and startling alacrity to get its former employee fired at CBS.
Yet, all things must come full circle. Ironically, Megyn Kelly, deposed at NBC (of all places), interviewed the former ABC/CBS employee, Ashley Bianco, who vehemently denied being the leaker and stated that the leaker is still working at ABC.
After that, someone claiming to be the actual leaker put out this note, anonymously:
To those wrongfully accused: It is terrible that you have been lashed out at by the company. I know some may put the burden of guilt on me, but my conscience is clear. The actions of the company towards you are the result of their own and not anyone else. The public outcry, from coast to coast, of all people, creeds, and political affiliations, is clear. I have not one doubt that there will always be support for you, and you will have prosperous careers. For neither you, nor I, have done anything wrong...To ABC News: I sit right here with you all in complete shock. I, like many, are at a loss for words on how this has been handled. Instead of addressing this head-on like the company has in the past, it has spun into a mission of seek-and-destroy. Innocent people that have absolutely nothing to do with this are being hunted down as if we are all a sport. I challenge all of you to actually look inwards and remember why this company engages in journalism.
If that is true and accurate, it would seem that Ms. Bianco was not the leaker, the leaker is still at ABC and ABC is playing ostrich.
But the overarching issue is this: When confronted with clear examples of sexual harassment and opportunities to unmask it and lead the charge on informing the public and doing whatever it can to wipe this malignancy from its industry, the networks chose instead to circle the wagons, protect their own and point fingers at others, hypocritically, as sanctimonious, self-righteous Pharisees. They would sooner lynch the President for his execrable comments about grabbing a woman by the pussy than take Lauer to task for actually forcing women to have sex with him, Weinstein for destroying careers of women who refused to have sex with him and muckety-mucks who refused to air a story about one of Epstein's accusers. There are certainly rumors that the Clintons put the kibosh on this. Louder still were concerns that Ms. Robach voiced that by airing the allegations of the victim, Prince Andrew's reputation would be sullied and ABC wouldn't have access to the royals as a result.
Still, the president is fair game for statements he made nearly twenty years ago. He's taken to task for his affairs and other indiscretions -- as he can and should be as a public figure -- while those on the Left are protected by the MSM because they're one and the same. For all the highfalutin platitudes about protecting women and honoring the #MeToo Movement, the networks are more concerned with their own survival and reputation than actually doing something to rectify the problem. Putting on air an interview with Epstein's victim would go far to shining a light on abuse of wome, but the networks prefer to cover it up, point the finger and say, But look at what the president said!
It's shameful.
Why Ms. Robach continues to work at ABC is beyond me. Why any woman continues to work at any of the networks mystifies me...and that includes Fox, where Roger Ailes was another member of that sordid fraternity. The hypocrisy, though, of the networks, the moralizing and gnashing of teeth, rending of garments, over the #MeToo Movement while at the same time giving protection and cover to some of the most violent abusers is incomprehensible.
Somewhere, Edward R. Murrow is spinning in his grave.
(c) 2020 The Truxton Spangler Chronicles
