Former ABC News correspondent Terry Moran stood by his social media post that attacked President Donald Trump and White House aide Stephen Miller on Monday, and spoke out on his departure from the network, saying that ABC felt like he was "bad for business."
Speaking to The Bulwark's Tim Miller, Moran said his exit from ABC News, which came after he was suspended over the social media post, was a calculation by the network.
"That's a bureaucratic thing. I don't know. Actually, it wasn't bureaucratic. It was their calculation and the Stephanopoulos press, I shouldn't get too close to the line," he said, referring to ABC paying Trump $15 million to settle a defamation suit in December. "But it was a business decision. From my perspective, it looked like a business decision. And I became bad business, it feels like."
ABC NEWS STAFF DISAPPOINTED BY TERRY MORAN'S 'VERY STUPID' ATTACK ON TRUMP THAT LED TO SUSPENSION
In a June 8 social media post, Moran called Trump and Miller "world-class haters."
"Miller is a man who is richly endowed with the capacity for hatred. He's a world-class hater," Moran wrote in the post. "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 maintained that his post on X was true and described it as something that was in his heart.
"It was something that was in my heart and mind. And I would say I used very strong language, deliberately, because he, I felt, and it wasn't any - you see him all the time doing the same, spitting venom and lies into our debate, degrading our public discourse, debasing it and using the power of the White House and what he's been given to grind us down in that bile. And, that's very disturbing to me," Moran said.
The former ABC correspondent said he was "rocked" and full of "fear" the morning after he posted on X.
TERRY MORAN OUT AT ABC NEWS FOLLOWING X POST ATTACKING TRUMP, STEPHEN MILLER
"And I realized that this was going to be a very serious situation and had to stand up, you know, and deal with it. And activity is one of the best things to assuage fear. But also, I thought about it in my own conscience first. And I thought, as I tell you, I wrote it because I thought it was true. And at the end of the day, when all the bad stuff has happened, my children will know that whatever it means, it means that," Moran said.
ABC News did not immediately return a request for comment.
An ABC News staffer told Fox News Digital that there was "no alternative" to letting Moran go after his social media post.
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"It's just sad honestly," the ABC News staffer told Fox News Digital. "It's sad for him, a long-time colleague, friend, a good person, family man… It's just unfortunate, but there was no alternative, especially in these times."
