Rep. Scalise: Who Is Paying Former ABC News Chief to Produce Jan. 6 Hearings?

House Republican Whip Steve Scalise is wondering aloud exactly who is footing the bill for the Hollywood-like production of Democrats’ Jan. 6 prime-time hearings.

On Fox’s The Ingraham Angle, Scalise said, “One important question that we’ve asked the mainstream media to ask Speaker Pelosi [is] who paid this Hollywood producer,” referring to James Goldston, the former president of ABC News, who is producing the hearings.

“It’s against the law to use taxpayer funds to produce a documentary trying to promote their political agenda or go after their political opponents,” he added, hurling some criticism at what House Republicans are arguing is the extremely partisan bent of the hearings.

Scalise pressed the question, saying, “How did he get paid? Because he’s not allowed to get taxpayer money … and if he did it for free, that’s an in-kind contribution, which is also illegal.

“How did that transaction even occur is an interesting question because there may be violations of law,” he added.

Goldston was notably serving as the president of ABC News when the network allegedly quashed coverage of Jeffrey Epstein accuser Virginia Roberts Giuffre in 2015, which reportedly happened, in part, because Buckingham Palace threatened the network for including Prince Andrew in its coverage.

House Republicans have gone on an aggressive media defense with a multitude of scheduled appearances on Fox and other right-leaning networks as the primetime Jan. 6 hearings dominate the nightly air.

Earlier this week, on a call with reporters, Republican Study Committee chairman Jim Banks (R-Ind.) said that the Democrats were unwise to set their hearings opposite Fox News’ regular nightly line-up, which during a regular week handily beats the other nightly news shows in the ratings category.

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