Terry Moran on ABC News on November 5, 2024.
David Russell | Disney General Entertainment Content | Getty Images
ABC News said Tuesday it is cutting ties with star national correspondent Terry Moran for his social media post in which he called President Donald Trump and senior White House advisor Stephen Miller “world-class” haters.
Moran, 65, had already been suspended over the quickly deleted post on X over the weekend after drawing fire from Trump administration officials. He had spent 28 years at the network, and had conducted a one-on-one interview with Trump in late April.
“We are at the end of our agreement with Terry Moran and based on his recent post — which was a clear violation of ABC News policies — we have made the decision to not renew,” an ABC News spokesperson said in a statement to CNBC on Tuesday.
“At ABC News, we hold all of our reporters to the highest standards of objectivity, fairness and professionalism, and we remain committed to delivering straightforward, trusted journalism,” the spokesperson said.
CNBC has requested comment from Moran and the White House.
Moran’s ouster from ABC News comes seven months after ABC agreed to pay $15 million in legal settlement with Trump over allegedly defamatory comments made about him by ABC anchor George Stephanopoulos related to a civil trial where Trump was found liable for sexually abusing the writer E. Jean Carroll.
The settlement money was earmarked for a presidential library and museum for Trump, who denies Carroll’s allegations.
In his deleted X post, which focused on Miller, Moran had written that what was interesting about the advisor was not his “brains” but his “bile.”
Moran wrote that “Miller is a man who is richly endowed with the capacity for hatred. He’s a world-class hater.”
The journalist also had written, “Trump is a world-class hater.”
“But his hatred only a means to an end, and that end his his own glorification. That’s his spiritual nourishment,” Moran wrote.
Miller in a post on X responding to Moran’s comment, said, “For decades, the privileged anchor and reporters narrating and gatekeeping our society have been radicals adopting a journalist’s pose.”
“Terry pulled off his mask,” Miller wrote.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, in a statement on Sunday about Moran’s post, called it “unhinged and unacceptable.”
And Vice President JD Vance said that Moran’s post was “dripping with hatred.”
“Remember that every time you watch ABC’s coverage of the Trump administration,” Vance said. “ABC should apologize to Stephen. What Terry posted is disgraceful.”
