ABC News anchor Amy Robach said in a newly surfaced video that the network “quashed” reporting that would have exposed the Jeffrey Epstein story three years ago.
The footage, allegedly recorded in August, shows Robach on a hot mic expressing frustration that ABC refused to air an interview she conducted with key Epstein accuser Virginia Roberts Guiffre.
“I’ve had the story for three years. I’ve had this interview with Virginia Roberts,” Robach says in the video. “We would not put it on the air.”
The footage was released Tuesday by right-wing activist group Project Veritas. The organization has been criticized in the past for deceptively editing videos and making false claims, but Robach has confirmed that the video and her remarks are real.
“As the Epstein story continued to unfold last summer, I was caught in a private moment of frustration. I was upset that an important interview I had conducted with Virginia Roberts didn’t air because we could not obtain sufficient corroborating evidence to meet ABC’s editorial standards about her allegations,” Robach said in a statement. “The interview itself, while I was disappointed it didn’t air, didn’t meet our standards. In the years since no one ever told me or the team to stop reporting on Jeffrey Epstein, and we have continued to aggressively pursue this important story.”
Project Veritas leader James O’Keefe told NPR that the video was leaked by an ABC News employee.
BREAKING: @abcnews anchor @arobach caught on 'hot mic' in August disgustedly exposing networks decision to strategically spike bombshell investigation into Jefferey Esptein over THREE YEARS AGO.
— James O'Keefe (@JamesOKeefeIII) November 5, 2019
Says what she had was "unbelievable" #EpsteinCoverup: https://t.co/HagfLpwKDn pic.twitter.com/fPvJc3JCCQ
According to Robach, Guiffre gave information that implicated former President Bill Clinton and Harvard law professor Alan Dershowitz.
“Alan Dershowitz was also implicated in it because of the planes," Robach says. "She told me everything. She had pictures. She had everything. She was in hiding for 12 years. We convinced her to come out. We convinced her to talk to us. It was unbelievable what we had. Clinton--we had everything.”
Robach also says that Buckingham Palace “threatened us a million different ways” over allegations against Prince Andrew.
Convicted sex offender and billionaire financier Jeffrey Epstein was found dead in his Manhattan jail cell on Aug. 10 while awaiting trial on charges of sex trafficking underage girls. Last week, famed pathologist Dr. Michael Baden, who observed Epstein’s autopsy, said his body showed signs of homicide despite an official ruling that he killed himself.