Terence Patrick Moran (born December 9, 1959) is an American independent journalist who was most recently the Senior National Correspondent at ABC News. Based in Washington, D.C., Moran covered national politics and policy, reporting from the White House, the US Supreme Court, and the campaign trail for all ABC News programs. Previously, Moran served as ABC's Chief Foreign Correspondent from 2013 to 2018, as co-anchor of the ABC News show Nightline from 2005 to 2013, and as Chief White House Correspondent from 1999 to 2005. On June 8, 2025, after Moran made posts critical of Donald Trump and Stephen Miller, Moran was suspended indefinitely by ABC News and was later fired.
Early life and education Terence Patrick Moran was born on December 9, 1959 in Chicago, Illinois, and grew up in Mount Prospect, Illinois, and Barrington Hills, Illinois. He graduated from Lawrence University in 1982, where he edited the school newspaper, The Lawrentian.
Career Early career Moran began his journalism career at The New Republic magazine and then worked as a reporter and editor at the Washington D.C.–based Legal Times. While at the Legal Times, he wrote an article based on information given to him by David Boaz which Bernard Siegan agreed with Boaz. From 1992 through 1997, Moran worked as a news correspondent and anchor for Court TV. Moran covered the Anita Hill-Clarence Thomas hearings on sexual harassment allegations and a $105 Million jury award against General Motors where a young man died in a GM truck, but was later reversed by a three-judge panel in the Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit. Moran rose to national prominence, covering the trials in Los Angeles of Lyle and Erik Menendez and O. J. Simpson. Moran reported that there was no censorship at the Menendez' trial. Moran reported on the Bosnian war crimes trials at The Hague and the U.S. Supreme Court confirmation hearings for justices Clarence Thomas, Stephen Breyer, and Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Marshall Sella of New York magazine wrote of Moran in May 1995 that he managed to instill into the Simpson case a sense of dignity.
ABC News (1997–2025) 1997–2005
Moran joined ABC News in 1997 as the Law and Justice Correspondent. Moran served as the primary correspondent assigned to the U.S. Supreme Court from 1998 to 1999. In September 1999, Moran was promoted to weekend White House Correspondent for John Cochran who took over for Sam Donaldson while he had throat surgery. Moran was promoted in December 2000 ABC News' Chief White House Correspondent from December 2000 to January 2001 where he covered the presidency of Bill Clinton. He covered Vice President Al Gore's presidential campaign. While on the campaign trail in buses and planes, Moran reviewed the Lincoln-Douglas debate. In September 2000, Moran reported that Gore spent nine days in Florida making George W. Bush campaign extensively in the state. Moran would cover the presidency of George W. Bush from January 2001 to late November 2005. In March 2001, Moran and Jim Wooten reported on Slobodan Milošević's arrest and the reasons behind it. Milošević was indicted for his role in the Yugoslav Wars on war crimes. In January 2002, Moran claimed he was offended when he overheard two print reporters talking inside the briefing room. In a question and answer press conference, Moran asked President Bush about the Harken Energy scandal. Ari Fleischer, who served as the 23rd White House Press Secretary, for President Bush, from January 2001 to July 2003, told the President that he thought Moran's editors told him to ask the question though he thought of the question himself. One month after the September 11 attacks (9/11), Moran reported from the Pentagon where there was a service for the one hundred eighty-nine dead. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and President Bush spoke at the ceremony on ABC World News Tonight with Peter Jennings. Moran mentioned that the President would speak to the nation and the world in a prime time speech. In January 2004, Moran reported on This Week that President Bush campaigned as "a unifier, not a divider" in 2000 where Moran concluded with that Bush failed as that. Moran said Bush was a "divisive president" and "divisive figure". During President Bush's term, he questioned why the President was taking the nation to war on "a series of false pretenses". On November 7, 2005, Moran also asked about two impressions; Saddam Hussein and the Iraqi oil fields which the President said, "Yes. Well. I'm–some people have the right impressions and some people have the wrong impressions." In that same interview, Moran asked about how terrorists would come after Americans for going to war with Hussein and Iraq which he responded, "Well that's like saying we should not be going after Al Qaida because we might irritate somebody, and that would create a danger to Americans. My attitude is, you've got to deal with terrorism in a firm way. And if they see threats, you deal with them in all different kind of ways". John Powers wrote in his book Sore Winners: American Idols, Patriotic Shoppers, and Other Strange Species in George Bush's America that Moran had the guts to suggest that President Bush eluded questions on the world's opposition to war. Moran interviewed Vice President Dick Cheney about surveilling and waterboarding prisoners. In March 2003, Moran reported that the reporters at President Bush's speech on the Invasion of Iraq on the start of the Iraq War that reporters looked "like zombies". In February 2004, Moran spoke with First Lady Laura Bush. She responded to him on Terry McAuliffe's AWOL charge, "I don't think it's really fair to lie about allegations about someone." Moran would ask how she knew President Bush was on Guard Duty in Alabama. First Lady Bush responded, "Because he told me he was." The reelection committee pitched her as the president's secret weapon after the David Kay fiasco. On June 22, 2004, Moran reported on the Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraib, Guantanamo Bay, and other lesser known prisons where torture was taking place on ABC World News Tonight with Peter Jennings. In 2004, Moran was named anchor of ABC World News Tonight Sunday. During the 2004 Presidential Election, Moran asked "The question for the Swfit Boat Veterans is, are their charges accurate?" of John Kerry. In May 2005, Moran was interviewed by Hugh Hewitt. Moran said, "There is, I agree with you, a deep anti-military bias in the media, one that begins from the premise that the military must be lying and that American projection of power around the world must be wrong." In June 2005, Moran reported from Fort Bragg on President Bush's speech with Charles Gibson and George Stephanopoulos in New York City.
Nightline Moran began in 2005 as co-anchor of Nightline along with Martin Bashir and Cynthia McFadden. Nightline began airing live each night while also switching to three topics a night. Frazier Moore of the Associated Press after Ted Koppel left Nightline said it shifted into full default mode with its three anchors. Moran reported from Baghdad the week of November 28.
In April 2006, Moran said of how Nightline was five months after Koppel left, "I think we're beginning in a way that's convincing our audience that we're going to remain serious." In May 2006, Moran reported on Arlington National Cemetery, Section 60, where members of the fallen in Afghanistan and Iraq are laid to rest. It was Memorial Day. Jack Bryant was interviewed about his son, Jay, who had been killed on November 20, 2004, when his convoy had been attacked. Moran asked, "Weren't you disappointed when he didn't return home?" Bryant answered disingenuously. In reflection, Bryant wished he could have told Moran that he was devastated. In Matt Welch's book, McCain: The Myth of a Maverick, Moran said, "Everywhere he goes, McCain takes on all comers. All questions." In May 2007, Moran and Matt Stuart reported that former Vice president Al Gore was harshly critical of President Bush in his book, The Assault on Reason. In April 2007, Moran wrote a blog item entitled "Don’t Feel Too Sorry for the Dukies." The Duke lacrosse team had forty-six members. Three of them raised $800 for strippers. In Dylan Gwinn's book Bias in the Booth: An Insider Exposes How the Sports Media Distort the News, Gwinn thought Moran and others were wrong about the Duke three. The Duke three were falsely accused of rape by Crystal Mangum. On April 11, 2007, North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper dropped all charges and declared the three players innocent. Cooper stated that the charged players were victims of a "tragic rush to accuse." Om September 24, 2007, Moran interviewed Kanye West along with West's mother Donda. In October 2007, he and Rym Momtaz reported on GodTube, the Christian response to YouTube. In January 2008, Moran would interview Vice President Cheney, this time on Nightline, about torture at Guantanamo Bay. In February 2008, Moran said, "The new son of Camelot. Ted and Caroline Kennedy pass the torch to Barack Obama to carry the legacy of JFK". David Wright proclaimed, "The audacity of hope had its rendezvous with destiny. ... Obama is now an adopted son of Camelot". On March 19, 2008, Moran, interviewed Democratic presidential candidate Obama. On September 16, 2008, Moran and Arash Ghadishah reported on how Lisi Harrison's The Clique had taken young American women by storm. A few days later, he reported on the Republican party's candidate John McCain changing his mind on such things like regulating Wall Street. McCain was a champion of financial deregulation in 1999 with the repeal of the Glass-Steagall Act.
In early February 2009, Moran reported on Jerry Falwell's death. In March 2009, he reported on Alzheimer's disease. In 2009, someone in America developed it every seventy seconds. By the mid 21st century, someone will be diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease every thirty-three seconds. On April 8, 2009, Moran reported the Mexican government sent troops to Juarez, Mexico. In mid April, he reported that Mexican President Felipe Calderon vowed to take on the drug cartels in the Mexican drug war. In May 2009, Moran reported from Ciudad Juarez, Mexico where drug violence persisted. In July 2009, Moran interviewed President Obama. In August 2009, Moran and Mary Mash reported on healthcare reform that President Obama moved for. In October 2009, he interviewed Pastor Mark Driscoll. "An idol is someone or something that occupies the place of God in your life," he said. "[It] gives you identity, meaning, value, purpose, love, significance, security. When the Bible uses the word 'idol', that's what it's getting at." Driscoll's theory is every person has a deep inner need to worship something. In December 2009, Moran, Ariane De Vogue, and Devin Dwyer reported on the United States Supreme Court's decision on Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission which effectively struck down restrictions on corporations and unions, however, the ruling does not effect existing prohibition on direct contributions to candidates.