C-SPAN: Debate moderator didn’t post questionable tweet

LOS ANGELES (AP) — C-SPAN said Friday that its political editor Steve Scully, set to moderate the second presidential debate, didn’t initiate a questionable Twitter exchange with Anthony Scaramucci and that Scully’s account apparently was hacked.

The tweet, which appeared Thursday on Scully’s Twitter account, read: ”@Scaramucci should I respond to trump,” according to a screenshot of the since-deleted tweet.

Earlier Thursday evening, President Donald Trump told Fox News host Sean Hannity that he thought Scully was a “never Trumper” who had worked for Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden at one point. Scully served as an intern for then-Sen. Biden for a month in 1978.

Scaramucci, who became a Trump detractor after serving briefly as his communications director, reportedly replied in part to Scully’s twitter account, “Ignore. He is having a hard enough time. ”

“Steve Scully did not originate the tweet and believes his account has been hacked,” C-SPAN said in a statement Friday. “The Commission on Presidential Debates has stated publicly that the tweet was not sent by Scully himself and is investigating with the help of authorities. When additional information is available, we will release it.”

Frank Fahrenkopf, chairman of the Commission on Presidential Debates, said during a Fox News Radio interview Friday with host Brian Kilmeade that Scully “was hacked.”

Scully could not immediately be reached for comment Friday. He was set to serve as moderator of the second Trump-Biden meeting, a town hall format on Oct. 15, but that has been called into doubt by the president’s COVID-19 illness.

In a tweet posted before C-SPAN issued its statement, Trump again referred to Scully as a “Never Trumper,” adding “Fix!!!”

Scaramucci tweeted that he accepted Scully “at his word. … He is an objective journalist.”