Republicans Revolt Over Stephanopoulos's Conflict of Interest at ABC (Video)

Amidst revelations that ABC anchor George Stephanopoulos was an undisclosed contributor to the Clinton Foundation slush fund at the same time he was defending it on the air, some GOPers are finally putting their foot down.

Conn Carroll, formally the White House correspondent for Townhall and currently communications director for Senator Mike Lee (R-UT), had this to say on Twitter:

I’m not letting my boss go on @ABC until @GStephanopoulos recuses himself from all 2016 coverage.

— Conn Carroll (@conncarroll) May 14, 2015

And Rand Paul is the first Republican presidential candidate to say George Stephanopoulos shouldn’t moderate the 2016 debates.

“It’s impossible to divorce yourself from that, even if you try,” the Kentucky senator told the New York Times in an interview. “I just think it’s really, really hard because he’s been there, so close to them, that there would be a conflict of interest if he tried to be a moderator of any sort.”

Ted Cruz also came out against Stephanopoulos participating in the debates, telling reporters on Thursday that Stephanopoulos is a “partisan Democrat” who is “actively supporting” former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign.

“Of course not,” Cruz replied on Thursday when asked if Stephanopoulos should be hosting any debates in 2016. “Debates should not be moderated by partisan Democrats who are actively supporting one of the candidates.”

It turns out, Stephanopoulos has already said he will not be moderating any debates in 2016.

The “Good Morning America” co-anchor and host of “This Week” said that he would not moderate ABC’s GOP debate, which is scheduled to take place in February in New Hampshire. Republican Sen. Rand Paul said Thursday that Stephanopoulos should be prohibited from moderating any debates during the 2016 presidential campaign.

“I won’t moderate that debate,” Stephanopoulos said. “I think I’ve shown that I can moderate debates fairly.

Well, no, actually. He really hasn’t shown that he can moderate debates fairly at all. It was Steppie who introduced the Democrats’ patented 2012 #GOPWarOnWomen theme during the first GOP primary debate in New Hampshire in January of 2012. Who can forget the look on Mitt Romney’s face when he was hit with one pointless question after another about hypothetical contraception bans.

That line of questioning was designed to galvanize low-info, liberal female voters — not to inform the electorate about the candidate’s position on an issue that actually matters.

So while it’s good that at least one obvious partisan is not going to be participating in the debates —

…Stephanopoulos said that he would not recuse himself from coverage of the 2016 presidential campaign, despite urging from the office of Republican Sen. Mike Lee of Utah, which said Thursday that Sen. Lee would be advised not to go on “This Week” unless the host “recuses himself from all 2016 coverage.”

ABC’s remaining Republican viewers should “recuse themselves” from watching the network’s news programs.

Meanwhile, the Stephanopoulos conflict of interest story is getting more conflicting and interesting by the minute…it turns out, WFB missed some of Steppie’s donations to the Clinton Slush Fund.