Amy Robach’s reporting on Jeffrey Epstein won’t be featured in an upcoming ABC News special and podcast about the convicted sex offender, according to a network insider.
“She is not in the special or the podcast and the reason is many ABC News reporters who have been covering him over the years are featured in it,” the insider said.
More recent reporting will be used for the two-hour special and eight-episode podcast, which were in the works before Robach’s comments on her 2015 reporting were leaked in November.
The insider noted that Robach, who did not respond to a request for comment, is “very busy” with other duties at the network.
The broadcast special, “Truth and Lies: Jeffrey Epstein,” will air Jan. 9, 2020. The podcast will debut that same day. According to the announcement, the programs will focus on “Jeffrey Epstein and the powerful story of the women who survived his crimes and fought back to reclaim their lives.”
Project Veritas, the right-wing activist group that has tried to conduct previous sting operations to expose journalistic bias, released a video in November of Robach saying she was “disappointed” that her 2015 story on Epstein didn’t run.
“It was unbelievable what we had. [Bill] Clinton — we had everything. I tried for three years to get it on to no avail and now it’s all coming out and it’s like these new revelations,” she said in the clip.
Epstein died in his jail cell by apparent suicide in August while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges.
ABC News released a statement in November that alluded to the pre-planned special and podcast but said that at the time Robach was caught on a hot mic talking about her story, not all of the reporting met their standards to air: “Ever since we’ve had a team on this investigation and substantial resources dedicated to it,” the news organization said. “That work has led to a two-hour documentary and six-part podcast that will air in the new year.”
As mentioned above, the series has expanded to now include two additional podcasts.