ABC demonstrated a marvelous case of hypocrisy on Sunday when it comes to its transparency and perhaps conflicts of interest. Early on in the morning on Good Morning America, correspondent Ron Claiborne delivered an energetic retelling of a New York Yankees’ victory. “Ron can barely hide his lack of objectivity when it comes to the Yankees,” joked anchor Dan Harris, as Claiborne put on a Yankees hat and announced, “Full disclosure.” But later on, when questioning Clinton Campaign Manager Robby Mook about future donations to the Clinton Foundation, Chief Anchor George Stephanopoulos failed to re-disclose his own contributions to the organization totaling $75,000.
Mook and Stephanopoulos were talking for a while about Donald Trump before the topic of the Clinton Foundation was brought up. “You announced this week that the Foundation would no longer take contributions from foreign governments or corporations, if Secretary Clinton wins the White House,” prefaced Stephanopoulos before asking, “Doesn’t it suggest that taking those contributions when Secretary Clinton was serving as secretary of state was wrong?”
“Well first of all George, the steps that were taken when Secretary Clinton went to State Department were unprecedented,” Mook claimed before rattling off some of the positive work the foundation purports to have done.
Stephanopoulos pressed Mook on if it was a liability for Clinton, quoting the Boston Globe:
“The Clinton Foundation is clearly a liability for Hillary Clinton as she seeks the presidency. The foundation should remove a political and actual distraction and stop accepting funding. If Clinton is elected, the foundation should be shut down.”
Will that happen?
Clinton’s campaign manager continued to claim the foundation was doing everything it could to minimize possible influence and, “To make sure there is no possible conflict of interest.” Ironically, Mook also praised the foundations work in disclosing a list of donors, which is the reason Stephanopoulos had to make a public apology for not disclosing his donations to viewers while reporting on the book “Clinton Cash.”
