Terry Moran, the former senior national correspondent for ABC News, has defended his now-deleted social media post that described White House aide Stephen Miller as someone who ‘eats his hate’. Moran was effectively dismissed from the network after the post, which also called President Donald Trump a ‘world-class hater’, sparked backlash.
Speaking on The Bulwark political podcast, Moran said he used ‘very strong language deliberately’ because he felt the description was ‘true’. The post, published on 8 June, was deleted shortly after, but ABC News suspended Moran pending an investigation, citing a policy against ‘subjective attacks on others’. The network later announced it would not renew his contract.
Moran rejected suggestions he was intoxicated when writing the post, describing it as a ‘normal family night’ that ended with him putting his children to bed before typing out his thoughts. ‘I typed it out and I looked at it and I thought “that’s true”,’ he said. ‘And I hit send.’
The post drew condemnation from Trump allies, including White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt, who called it ‘unacceptable and unhinged’, and Vice President JD Vance, who described it as a ‘vile smear’. Stephen Miller himself responded, claiming the incident revealed the ‘corporate press in America’ as ‘radicals adopting a journalist’s pose’.
Moran, who had been at ABC since 1997, has since joined the Substack platform as an independent journalist. He expressed interest in interviewing members of the Haitian community in Springfield, Ohio, who were targeted by false claims about eating pets during the election campaign. Moran noted that most Haitians in Springfield are legally present under temporary protected status and have been vital to the local economy.
