Political journalist and author Mark Halperin was pulled Thursday from his contributor’s role at MSNBC after a report that he sexually harassed five women during his tenure at ABC News.
Five women who worked with Halperin when he was political director of ABC News in the early 2000s told CNN that he propositioned them or touched them in appropriately while on the job. Three women said Halperin pressed up against them while having an erection. None of the women complained to ABC’s human resources department about his behavior, according to the report. The accusers spoke to CNN on the condition of anonymity.
In a statement to CNN, Halperin acknowledged that he mistreated female employees at ABC News and issued an apology.
“During this period, I did pursue relationships with women that I worked with, including some junior to me,” Halperin, 52, said Wednesday night. “I now understand from these accounts that my behavior was inappropriate and caused others pain. For that, I am deeply sorry and I apologize. Under the circumstances, I’m going to take a step back from my day-to-day work while I properly deal with this situation.”
By Thursday morning, Halperin, who regularly appears on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” and other NBC News programs, was on leave indefinitely.
“We find the story and the allegations very troubling. Mark Halperin is leaving his role as a contributor until the questions around his past conduct are fully understood,” the cable network said in a statement.
Halperin was political director at ABC News from 1997 to 2007. He left the network to become one of the most prominent political journalists in the country, appearing frequently on television and co-writing the best-seller “Game Change” with John Heilemann about the 2008 presidential campaign, which was made into a HBO film.
Halperin and Heilemann produced and starred in “The Circus,” a Showtime documentary series on the 2016 presidential campaign. They also coanchored “With All Due Respect,” a daily political program on Bloomberg TV and MSNBC.
