'Violated our standards': ABC suspends Terry Moran after Trump rant; White House calls remarks ‘unhinged and unacceptable’

ABC News suspended senior national correspondent Terry Moran on Sunday after he posted a harsh social media rant targeting Stephen Miller, senior White House adviser, and US President Donald Trump. Moran’s comments drew sharp criticism from the Trump administration and US vice president JD Vance.On early Sunday, Moran took to X to describe Miller, the White House deputy chief of staff for policy, as a man “richly endowed with the capacity for hatred.” He wrote, “The thing about Stephen Miller is not that he is the brains behind Trumpism. Yes, he is one of the people who conceptualizes the impulses of the Trumpist movement and translates them into policy.

But that’s not what’s interesting about Miller. It’s not brains. It’s bile. Miller is a man who is richly endowed with the capacity for hatred. He’s a world-class hater. You can see this just by looking at him because you can see that his hatreds are his spiritual nourishment.

He eats his hate.”

Moran also criticised Trump, saying, “Trump is a world-class hater. But his hatred only a means to an end, and that end his own glorification.

That’s his spiritual nourishment.”ABC News responded swiftly, saying, “ABC News stands for objectivity and impartiality in its news coverage and does not condone subjective personal attacks on others. The post does not reflect the views of ABC News and violated our standards — as a result, Terry Moran has been suspended pending further evaluation.”Moran later deleted his posts, but screenshots had already circulated on social media.

JD Vance condemned Moran’s remarks, calling them “an absolutely vile smear of Stephen Miller."The controversy unfolded amid heightened tensions in Los Angeles, where hundreds of protesters attempted to disrupt Border Patrol operations near Paramount, California. In response, Trump deployed 2,000 National Guard troops to control the unrest. During the protests, Miller described the events on X as an “insurrection" and said, “We will take back America.”Terry Moran is known for his outspoken views on politically sensitive topics. Last November, he predicted Trump would win both the 2016 and 2024 elections, describing him as a nationalist with “an authoritarian cast of mind.” Moran said, “The way to understand Trump (as I said on ABC Election Night 2016) is to see him not as a Republican or Democrat, not as a conservative or liberal, but as a Nationalist.”Earlier this year, Moran secured a high-profile interview with Trump marking the president’s 100 days back in office. The interview included heated exchanges about deportations and Trump’s ties to the gang MS-13.White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt also condemned Moran’s posts as “unhinged and unacceptable” and said the administration had reached out to ABC about holding him accountable.