The producer who was fired for leaking ABC News anchor Amy Robach’s hot mic revelation that the network killed off her Jeffrey Epstein sex slave story is revealed in Megyn Kelly’s comeback interview.
And DailyMail.com can reveal the staffer is Ashley Bianco, 25, an Emmy-winning producer for CBS This Morning, who contacted the former Fox News star directly in order to have her voice heard, a source said.
Bianco attended Emory University and worked as a producer on Good Morning America at ABC for three years, according to public records and social media. Robach co-anchors the morning show.
Bianco was fired from CBS on Thursday after the network was informed by her old employer ABC that she had ‘leaked’ footage of Robach ranting about ABC shutting down her Epstein story out of concern of pushback from the British royal family.
When contacted for comment, Bianco hung up on DailyMail.com. Following her firing, Bianco has removed her social media.
Kelly teased the interview on Twitter on Friday, writing: ‘I just joined Instagram – have a feeling you’ll be interested in my first post – coming Friday morning. Pls follow me there at: @therealmegynkelly. Have some news coming your way…’, incorrectly writing her Instagram handle, which is just @megynkelly.
The interview will be Kelly’s first step in making her comeback since she parted ways with NBC where she had signed a $69 million deal hosting the third hour.
Megyn Kelly has stepped back into the spotlight and announced she interviewed the staffer who was fired from CBS after ‘leaking’ ABC News anchor Amy Robach’s hot mic revelation that her network killed off her Jeffrey Epstein sex slave story, DailyMail.com can reveal
DailyMail.com can reveal the staffer is Ashley Bianco, an Emmy-winning producer, who contacted the former Fox News star directly in order to have her voice heard, a source said
On Tuesday, Project Veritas published a video it obtained of Robach in a discussion with her producer about the nixed story back in August, venting: ‘I’ve had this interview for years. I’ve had this interview with Virginia Roberts. We would not put it on the air’
On Tuesday, Project Veritas published a video it obtained of Robach in a discussion with her producer about the nixed story back in August, venting: ‘I’ve had this interview for years. I’ve had this interview with Virginia Roberts. We would not put it on the air.’
The 46-year-old was referring to Jeffrey Epstein’s underage sex slave who accused the pedophile of lending her out for sex with his friends, including Prince Andrew.
Robach said ABC didn’t let the story go to air because the palace threatened to sue the network and there were concerns Prince William and Kate Middleton would no longer grant ABC any interviews.
There has been a good deal of backlash against ABC ever since the video first emerged, with many people pointing out that none of the network’s news programs have mentioned the story.
CBS is also facing backlash for firing Bianco after ABC informed its counterparts at CBS that Bianco was responsible for the leak and was now working for their news division, according to journalist Yashar Ali.
The hot mic video was also recorded just two months after ABC News president James Goldston was pictured dining with Prince Charles and President Trump at Winfield House during the administration’s state visit to London back in June.
Then-Prime Minister Theresa May and Sarah Huckabee Sanders were also seated at the same table as the three men.
Bianco was fired from CBS on Thursday after the network was informed by her old employer ABC that she had ‘leaked’ footage of Robach ranting about ABC shutting down her Epstein story out of concern of pushback from the British royal family
The interview will be Kelly’s first step in making her comeback since she parted ways with NBC where she had signed a $69 million deal hosting the third hour
On Friday morning, a film crew was spotted leaving Kelly’s apartment and loading up their gear into a rental van
Robach is visibly frustrated in the video, as she details having filmed the interview with Roberts years before Epstein’s arrest.
‘I’ve had the story for three years. I’ve had this interview with Virginia Roberts. We would not put it on the air,’ says Robach at the start of the video.
‘First of all I was told, “Who’s Jeffrey Epstein? No one knows who that is this is, this is a stupid story.”‘
There were also legal issues too she reveals and concerns about possible backlash.
‘Then the palace found out that we had her whole allegations about Prince Andrew and threatened to sue us a million different ways,’ explains Robach.
‘We were so afraid we wouldn’t be able to interview Kate and Will, so I think that had also quashed the story.’
‘Then the palace found out that we had her whole allegations about Prince Andrew and threatened to sue us a million different ways,’ Robach explains.
‘We were so afraid we wouldn’t be able to interview Kate and Will, so I think that had also quashed the story.
‘And then Alan Dershowitz was also implicated because of the planes.’
Robach believes her story never made the air because the palace threatened to sue the network and that there were concerns that Prince William and Kate Middleton would no longer grant the station interviews
The footage of Robach was released on Tuesday, where she vented that ABC didn’t air her interview with Virginia Roberts, a sex slave of Jeffrey Epstein’s. Roberts has accused Epstein of lending her out for sex with his friends while she was underage, including to Prince Andrew
Dershowitz, Epstein’s former lawyer, who flew on the so-called ‘Lolita Express’, according to flight logs. In legal documents Roberts claimed to have had sex with Dershowitz on the jet with another girl present. He has denied the claims.
A clearly frustrated Robach goes on to detail what the interview entailed at the time she was trying to get it on air.
‘[Virginia] told me everything. She had picture, she had everything. She was in hiding for 12 years, we convinced her to come out. We convinced her to talk to us,’ Robach says.
‘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 and I freaking had all of it. I I’m so pissed right now like every day I get more and more pissed cause I’m just like, oh my god, what we had was unreal.’
Robach also said that at the time, one of the attorneys for the victims said: ‘There will come a time when we will realize Jeffrey Epstein was the most prolific pedophile this country has ever known.’
She then adds: ‘And I had it all three years ago.’
The video was obtained by Project Veritas through an ABC insider.
Robach was speaking in the wake of Epstein’s death, which she gave her opinion about as well while speaking to her producer.
‘So do I think he was killed? 100% Yes, I do,’ Robach says.
She notes that Epstein ‘made his whole living blackmailing people,’ before stating: ‘There were a lot of men in those planes. A lot of men who visited that Island, a lot of powerful men who came into that apartment.’
There is then a call for other members of the media to share any video or recordings they might have that shows outlets choosing not to run stories about Epstein.
‘Project Veritas intends to continue its investigation into corruption in the Mainstream Media,’ the non-profit activist group stated.
Amy Robach was spotted skipping work on Wednesday, heading to the gym to blow off some steam instead, following her explosive hot mic revelation where she said ABC shut down her Jeffrey Epstein story, exclusive DailyMail.com photos show
‘We encourage that Brave insiders at these organizations come forward with any information they have, so that the public knows what is really going on within these media companies.’
Robach also released a statement on Tuesday.
‘As a journalist, as the Epstein story continued to unfold last summer, I was caught in a private moment of frustration. I was upset that an important interview I had conducted with Virginia Roberts didn’t air because we could not obtain sufficient corroborating evidence to meet ABC’s editorial standards about her allegations,’ said Robach in a statement after the release of the video.
‘My comments about Prince Andrew and her allegation that she had seen Bill Clinton on Epstein’s private island were in reference to what Virginia Roberts said in that interview in 2015. I was referencing her allegations – not what ABC News had verified through our reporting.’
She then added: ‘The interview itself, while I was disappointed it didn’t air, didn’t meet our standards. In the years since no one ever told me or the team to stop reporting on Jeffrey Epstein, and we have continued to aggressively pursue this important story.’
The Duke of York has vehemently denied Roberts’ allegations, which were struck from the record by a judge in legal proceedings in 2015 as being ‘immaterial and impertinent’.
A Buckingham Palace spokesperson said this is a matter for ABC.