Biden Campaign Doesn’t Want ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos at DNC Convention After He Said Prez Can't Serve Another 4 Years

The Biden campaign is privately bristling at the prospect of George Stephanopoulos attending the Democratic National Convention in Chicago next month after the ABC News anchor declared the president should end his embattled 2024 re-election bid.

Senior officials — already facing an avalanche of pressure in the wake of President Joe Biden’s performance at the NATO summit in Washington, D.C. — believe Stephanopoulos’ attendance would taint the network’s coverage at a time when the sitting president is expected to formally become the Democrat party’s nominee.

One booster for Biden told RadarOnline.com exclusively: “How could ABC News’ coverage of the convention be impartial if you have George Stephanopoulos front and center after he outed himself as a party elite masquerading as a journalist?

“It simply could not — and would not — be neutral coverage.”

“There is a movement within the campaign that wants ABC News to understand George at the convention would become a sideshow,” a second source said.

There is, of course, one wrinkle — the campaign is assuming 81-year-old Biden can survive the escalating pressure to end his bid to lead the party’s ticket.

As RadarOnline.com was first to report, Stephanopoulos and ABC News were plunged into a fully-fledged crisis when he was caught on camera declaring he did not believe Biden could serve out a second term.

Debra OConnell, the powerful president of the news division, summoned the 63-year-old anchor of Good Morning America and moderator of This Week to an urgent meeting with her top brass after the online video was published.

At that meeting, Stephanopoulos was told if he didn’t fall on his sword and make a swift apology, he risked being taken off the air.

An unnamed spokesperson for ABC News has attempted to suggest the ultimatum was never delivered even though that same flack scrambled to point out that “George expressed his own point of view and not the position of ABC News.”

But ABC News spinsters can’t explain their way out of the turmoil that has broken out behind the scenes inside the Disney-owned broadcaster.

We revealed how supporters of Stephanopoulos’ arch-nemesis, David Muir, are rejoicing in the gaffe.

“David has his supporters and team inside ABC, and George has his,” a network insider told RadarOnline.com.

“The rivalry between David and George is real and makes for tension behind the scenes, and there are private celebrations from those in David’s corner that George plunged the network into an embarrassing scandal.”

The Muir camp believes Stephanopoulos’ comment should mean all hosting duties at the convention are handed to Muir, who is the anchor of ABC World News Tonight and co-anchor of 20/20.

Such a move would effectively sideline Stephanopoulos, the former White House communications director in the Clinton administration.

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The bad blood between Stephanopoulos and Muir has been boiling for years.

In 2021, Stephanopoulos reportedly threatened to walk to a rival network after bosses handed Muir the unofficial role of chief anchor — a role leading coverage of news stories big enough to break into regular programming.

Stephanopoulos had the role, but it was transitioned to Muir, although he did not assume the chief anchor title.

It took Disney boss Bob Iger to broker peace between the network’s two biggest news stars, with a valuable contract extension and production contract offered to defuse the situation, sources said at the time.