Veteran ABC News reporter Sam Donaldson, 78, was arrested for driving under the influence in Lewes, Del. on Dec. 1, local WGMD radio reports.
The former ABC White House correspondent was pulled over for a traffic violation when Lewes police suspected he had been drinking. Donaldson failed the field sobriety test and was arrested for a DUI, and will appear in court early next year.
Donaldson has been with ABC News since 1967 for the network’s Washington bureau.
NEW YORK — Shortly after Daily Caller reporter Neil Munro interrupted President Barack Obama’s remarks on changes in immigration policy Friday, Editor-in-Chief Tucker Carlson suggested to The Huffington Post that the reporter’s actions were similar to those of former White House correspondent Sam Donaldson during the Reagan years.
In a later official statement, Carlson again mentioned Donaldson when taking issue with ABC News anchor Diane Sawyer dismissing Munro as a “heckler.”
“I don’t remember Diane Sawyer scolding her colleague Sam Donaldson for heckling President Reagan,” Carlson said. “And she shouldn’t have. A reporter’s job is to ask questions and get answers.”
But Donaldson, remembered for his aggressive questioning during the Reagan years and for sparring with White House press secretaries as an ABC News correspondent, rejected the comparison to Munro.
In the email, Donaldson continued:
. . . and there is one more factor, let’s face it: Many on the political right believe this president ought not to be there — they oppose him not for his polices and political view but for who he is, an African American! These people and perhaps even certain news organizations (certainly the right wing talkers like Limbaugh) encourage disrespect for this president. That is both regrettable and adds, in this case, to the general dislike of the press on the part of the general public.Keep on reading…
GEORGE WILL: I believe the Republicans are. Let's look at some numbers. NBC-Wall Street Journal poll says 32 percent of the country, that's all that approves of this. Washington Post says 30 percent -- that's all -- only 30 percent of independents support. Arkansas, 32 percent. North Dakota, 28 percent in North Dakota support it. Sixty- seven percent of Nebraskans against it. Why else, George, did Senator Reid have to use the entire taxing and borrowing power of the federal government, plus a glorious absence of principle, to cobble together 60 votes, including, as we just heard here, 49 states shall have this burden, Nebraska won't? [...]
SAM DONALDSON: I think, George Will, you're right, if, in fact, the bill that I conceive is going to come out of the conference committee -- and I think will pass -- is in stone, and that is the healthcare bill from here on. But that's not...
STEPHANOPOULOS: Which part is he right about?
DONALDSON: Well, he's right that, in fact, it probably would be a terrible mistake.
STEPHANOPOULOS: (Gasps) Oh.
