C-SPAN’s Steve Scully suspended after admitting to lying about Twitter hack

C-SPAN suspended political editor Steve Scully indefinitely on Thursday after he confessed to lying about his Twitter account being hacked following an exchange with former White House aide-turned President Trump critic Anthony Scaramucci.

Scully was slated to moderate the second presidential debate between Trump and Democratic nominee Joe Biden scheduled for Thursday night. The Commission on Presidential Debates canceled the event Friday after the president declined to do the debate virtually after testing positive for COVID-19.

C-SPAN announced last week it was conducting an investigation into the alleged hack. 

Scully had come under fire from the president who called him a “never Trumper” during an interview on Fox News. Scully tweeted “@Scaramucci should I respond to Trump” in response. Scaramucci, the former White House communications director who is now a vocal critic of Trump, told Scully to ignore it.

In a statement Thursday, C-SPAN lauded Scully’s 30-year track record of “fairness and professionalism” and noted he understood that he “made a serious mistake.”

“So after some distance from this episode, we believe in his ability to continue to contribute to C-SPAN,” the network said.

Scully said in a statement he had grown frustrated by criticism of him being chosen as a moderator for the second debate.

“For several weeks, I was subjected to relentless criticism on social media and in conservative news outlets regarding my role as moderator for the second presidential debate, including attacks aimed directly at my family,” Scully said in a statement on Thursday. “Out of frustration, I sent a brief tweet addressed to Anthony Scaramucci. The next morning when I saw that this tweet had created a new controversy, I falsely claimed my Twitter account had been hacked. These were both errors in judgment for which I am totally responsible for. I apologize.”