BEFORE HER RETURN, MEGYN KELLY BREAKS SILENCE WITH 6-WORD ANNOUNCEMENT THAT SAYS A LOT
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Katie Couric was blindsided with an awkward question Tuesday night during an episode of BravosWatch What Happens Live.
Couricappeared to be all smiles as she sat alongside Oscar winner Sally Field until host Andy Cohen tooka question from a fan over the phone.
What do you think of the shake-up at the Todayshow with Tamron hall leaving and the addition of megyn kelly? asked the caller. Have you had a chance to talk to Tamron about the changes?
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Courics expression quickly changed from genuine smile to forced grin as she did her best tochoose her words carefully to avoid any appearanceshe was taking sides in the matter.
I havent talked to Tamron, I dont know Tamron very well, Couric said.
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I do know Megyn a bit and unfortunately I think people sometimes turn morning shows into soap operas that theyre not because they feel so intimately connected to the people on the show, she added. They get very territorial and proprietary about it. And they read things into relationships.
The 60-year-old Couric is well versed in the behind-the-scenes headlines that go along with morning news programs. She took over as co-host ofToday 1991 after Deborah Norville went on maternity leave, and ratings during Courics time on the program were so strong that Norville never returned. Couric remainedas co-host of Today until 2006.
I think it will all work out, and I think the show is great, Couric said. I wish Tamron well, but Im just not getting involved in the drama of it all.
NBC confirmed in February that Hall would be leaving the network at the end of the month when her contract expired, even though she was offered a renewal.The news came just days after Hall learned shed be losing her 9 a.m. time slot to Kelly.
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Sources close to Hall said she felt insulted NBC was pushing her aside for someone more popular.
Tamron doesnt know Megyn, but of course its insulting, the source told Page Six. (Halls)show was beating Kelly Ripa and Nightly News would rate well when she would fill in for Lester Holt.
A launchdate for Kellys new program has not been announced.
During the 2016 presidential campaign, Fox News host Megyn Kelly was one of the networks most popular hosts, and executives thought of her as the network"s star of the future. Kelly held her own against then-presidential candidate Donald Trump in a nationally televised Republican debate, and drew increasingly high ratings on her nightly show,The Kelly File.
But by the start of 2017, Kelly was suddenly out, announcing on Facebook that she made the decision to leave the network that made her famous to join NBC News.
The move came in the aftermath of accusations she made in her book Settle for More about being a victim of sexual abuse from former Fox News Chairman Roger Ailes. Ailes was ultimately ousted from the network over multiple cases of alleged misbehavior towards female staffers, which included a lawsuit from Kellys former colleague, Gretchen Carlson.
Most observers assumed her decision to leave Fox News was largely due to her experience dealing with harassment from Ailes, but in a New York Times report, Bill O"Reilly reportedly played a large role in causing Kelly to abandon a network that had offered her upwards of $2o million a year.
OReilly is currently embroiled in his own scandal following the revelation he paid millions of dollars to five former Fox News personalities to settle claims of verbal and sexual harassment. The embattled host abruptly announced he was going on vacation last week following the loss of over 60 advertisers from his popular show, The OReilly Factor.
Kellys beef with OReilly came after a 2016 interview on CBS This Morning, when OReilly took exception to Kellys comments about Ailes and defended Fox News against the claims made in her book.
Look, its open season, an irritated OReilly told CBS host Norah O"Donnell. Lets whack the Fox News Channel. Ive had enough of it. Its a good place to work. All right?
According to Times reporters Emily Steel and Michael Schmidt, OReillys comments angered Kelly, who shot off an email to executives at the network to complain that OReillys words could cause future victims of harassment at the network to remain silent.
Despite the email, OReilly brought up the interview later that day on The OReilly Factor and appeared to rip both kelly and women who claimed to be victims of misbehavior at Fox News.
"If someones paying you a wage, you owe that person or company allegiance," O"Reilly said. "If you dont like whats happening in the workplace, go to human resources... or leave."
That experience, along with a deep skepticism about whether the network was truly committed to changing its culture after Mr. Ailes was forced out, was a factor in Ms. Kellys decision to leave Fox News for a new role at NBC News, according to two people familiar with the matter, the Times reported.
Neither Kelly or Fox News immediately responded to a request to comment.
Mr. OReilly cannot comment on what Megyn Kelly thought, or did or did not do, except to say she never raised any such issue with him, nor did anyone else, said Marc E. Kasowitz, a lawyer for OReilly. At this time, it is apparent to any objective observer that Mr. OReilly is being subjected to a malicious campaign intent on harming his reputation and family through speculation and innuendo.
OReilly remains on vacation, with the future of his role at the network up in the air. A spokeswoman for Fox News says OReilly will return April 24, but multiple reports say the Murdoch family is awaiting the results of an investigation of his behavior by the law firm Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison before deciding the popular hosts fate.
Kelly was most recently seen hanging out with new colleaguesSavannah Guthrie and Lester Holt at The Hollywood Reporter"s 35 Most Powerful People in Media party.
NBC has yet to announce when Kelly will officially start her new show, slated for 9 a.m. on weekdays, though Guthrie said Kelly is "supposed to start some time in May or June."The network also canceled the 9 a.m. hour of the Today show to make room for Kelly, causing Temple grad Tamron Hall to leave the network.
Kelly, who will also host a yet-unannounced Sunday Night show on NBC, is eager to get started.
"I"ve spent enough time staring at the refrigerator, it"s time to do some news," Kelly told the Hollywood Reporter.
Published: April 16, 2017 8:58 AM EDT
| Updated: April 16, 2017 9:50 AM EDT
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Megyn Kelly on her "Year of Trump," dealing with sexual harassment
8:31 AM PST 11/15/2016 by Hilary Lewis
Megyn Kelly sat down with George Stephanopoulos on Good Morning America on Tuesday for the first in a series of TV interviews about her new book, Settle for More, which hits shelves today.
The Fox News anchor made two appearances on the ABC morning show, first joining Stephanopoulos at the top of the program to discuss Donald Trump"s controversial appointment of Breitbart head and his former campaign chair Steve Bannon as his chief strategist.
Joining Stephanopoulos 30 minutes later, Kelly discussed her book, including what she writes about her complicated relationship with Trump over the past year, with whom she had a high-profile, public feud before she met with him in person at Trump Tower and the two moved on.
Kelly and Stephanopoulos also discussed her relationship with Roger Ailes, who, she says in her book, made unwanted advances toward her, including trying to kiss her three times, many years ago, after which she reported his behavior to a supervisor and avoided him.
Ailes has since responded to those allegations by suggesting Kelly is being ungrateful for his support.
Through his attorney, Susan Estrich, Ailes said in a statement, "I categorically deny the allegations Megyn Kelly makes about me. I worked tirelessly to promote and advance her career, as Megyn herself admitted to Charlie Rose.Watch that interview and then decide for yourself. My attorneys have restricted me from commenting further so suffice it to say that no good deed goes unpunished."
GMA aired a portion of that Charlie Rose interview, in which Kelly says Ailes "has been nothing but loyal" and has "had [her] back," after which Stephanopoulos asked Kelly how she could reconcile those two characterizations of Ailes.
"Both things can be true. A woman can be harassed and then go on to have a good working relationship with the man harassing her and that is what happened in my case," she said, pointing out that Ailes stopped harassing her after she avoided him for six months.
"He stopped and we went on to have a healthy working relationship. What he said about promoting me and having my back over the next several years is true. It was one of the reasons why even I found it hard to believe he was a serial harasser. It soon became clear to me upon reading the allegations that at least an investigation was necessary."
When asked if Ailes would still be the head of Fox News if Kelly"s former Fox News colleague Gretchen Carlson hadn"t sued, Kelly said, "I think so."
At the end of the interview, Stephanopoulos tried to get Kelly to offer some insight into her next move, with her Fox News contract up next year. She indicated she doesn"t think her past year dealing with Trump and Ailes poses a problem, saying, "I can go hopefully anywhere I want. I don"t think anything that"s happened this past year has limited that."
"In my opinion, the Murdochs, who are running Fox News Channel now, are honorable men who want to do what"s right and have a great vision for Fox News going forward," Kelly added. "This is my philosophy: Settle for more. So I"m going to do that."
Megyn Kelly: "If Trump Lost And His Supporters Would Be Protesting, The Media Would Yell Sexist!"
Days after Donald Trump won the 2016 presidential election, the New York Times has released a review of Megyn Kelly"s forthcoming memoir, Settle for More. USA TODAY
Megyn Kelly releases a memoir this week.(Photo: Robert Deutsch, USA TODAY)
NEW YORK Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly saidshe thinks Donald Trump was agitated before the first GOP primary debate not because hed learned she was going to confront him about his insulting descriptions of womenbut because he suspected shed ask about his first wifes claim that hed raped her.
In her new memoir, Settle for More, Kelly describes how an unexpectedly anxious Trump complained to Fox News executives last year about what shed do as a moderator of the debate.The questions Kelly and her colleagues planned to ask the candidates were secret. She wrotethat days before the debate, Trump called Fox in an attempt to rein me in. He said he had heard that my first question was a very pointed question directed at him."Kellys first question was in fact for Trumpand about his treatment and descriptions of women. She wondered, she wrote, How could he know that?"
In an exclusive interview Monday with USA TODAY one in which she discussed what she called her "Year of Trump"" and her stand against former Fox News chief Roger Ailes Kelly said she did not believe her question leaked to Trump beforehand.I dont think he had any idea,"she said. What I think he was worried about was his divorce from Ivana Trump. He was afraid I was going to bring that up."
A few weeks before the debate, Kelly devoted a segment of her program, The Kelly File, to an interview with the author of a report on The Daily Beast website. It said Ivana Trump had sworn in divorce papers a quarter-century earlier that Trump had raped her an accusation she later retracted.Kelly saidthat after the segment aired, an angry Trump called and told her that I almost unleashed my beautiful Twitter account on you, and I still may."
It was a threat on which he soon made good.
The author"s Year of Trumpbegan with her now famous question to Trump about whether his history with women would be fodder for Hillary Clintons claims that he was part of a war on women."
It exploded with Trumps insinuation that Kelly was hostile to him in the debate because she was menstruatingand continued until the following April, when the two met in Trumps office.By that time, Kelly said, she was weary of the abuse prompted by Trumps string of insulting social media posts.In the interview, Kelly declined to comment on what she said or did at her Trump Tower meeting to get him to stop.
Donald Trump speaks to moderators Bret Baier, Megyn Kelly and Chris Wallace during the first Republican presidential debate Aug. 6, 2015, in Cleveland.(Photo: John Minchillo, AP)
But as a result of the meeting, she said, Trump and I are in a better place now. We left things on a good note. Hes never come after me the way he had. Even though he held onto his anger toward me like a dog with a bone, he does have the ability to let things go. He proved that."
Readers of Settle for More may not harbor such optimism about the president-elect.Thats because Kelly has written a contemporary Perils of Pauline saga in which a sympathetic heroine fends off the advances literal and digital of two villains: Trump and Ailes, who resigned in July under duress.
The latter, an accused serial sexual harasser (who nonetheless furthered our heroines career at every turn) gets his just desserts; the former becomes president.
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During their one-sided feud, Trump called Kelly a bimbo, a lightweight, a liar, crazy and sick; he urged a boycott against her show; his attorney retweeted a call to gut"her. Strange men turned up outside"her door, she wrote. Death threats were common."She, her husband and their three children vacationed at Disney World with an armed bodyguard in tow.
He couldnt let it go for so long,"she said of Trump, and there was a time when I wondered if hed ever let it go."
Many have commented on the sang-froidwith which Kelly seemed to respond to all this. But she saidshe was afraid for her safety and her familysand for her reputation as a journalist trying to cover the story and not be the story.
In seeking a meeting with Trump, Kelly said, she tookher fate into her own hands settling for more."The books description of the encounter goes much further.I felt like a hostage whose hostage taker was seeing her as a human being for the very first time who needed to believe that he would let her go,"Kelly wrote.
Megyn Kelly in New York May 5, 2016. "Settle for More," her new book is scheduled to be released Nov. 15, 2016. (Photo: Victoria Will, AP)
When Trump greetedher by holding out his arms for a hug, Kelly embracedhim. It felt like a kind gesture,"she wrote.
When he askedfor her cellphone number, sheworried in pique, hed made GOP presidential rival Lindsey Grahams number public but gaveit to him.When he suggestedthey have a picture taken together, she agreed. They posed arm in arm.
In retrospect, she wrote, I look rather like a person whos been through some sort of trauma and is waiting for the Coast Guard helicopter."
The reader may understandwhy Kelly felt she needed to go to Trump. Efforts by Ailes, Foxs pro-Trump host Sean Hannity and others had failed. Nothing stopped it,"she said in the interview. I realized no one was coming to save me. If this was going to end, I was the one who was going to have to end it."
The books penultimate chapter deals with Ailes, whoKelly saidharassed her starting in 2005. In a private meeting in his office, he said he wanted to see her in the very sexy bras she must own.The following year, she wrote, Ailes tried to grab her and kiss her on the lips. As she fled out the door, she recalled, he asked, When is your contract up?
When she finally confided to a supervisor, she said, she was told to avoid Ailes. After that, the problem stopped.
Ailes was sued in July for alleged sexual harassment by former Fox morning show host Gretchen Carlson. A week and a half later after spurning requests to vouch for Ailes Kelly called the co-chairman of Foxs parent company, Lachlan Murdoch, and reported her own experience.Ailes has denied all charges against him.
Kelly was asked by USA TODAY if she thought that Ailes, who continually promoted her even while she was on maternity leave deserved a second chance in the news business.
Absolutely not,"she snapped. I have no doubts now about who he is or what he did. I dont think hed have spent a lifetime doing it and suddenly turnover a new leaf."She said she was disturbed hed advisedthe Trump campaign.
Despite Trumps attacks, Kellys ratings are as high as ever second only to those of her Fox evening lineup neighbor, Bill O"Reilly. Her Fox contract is up next year, and shes the subject of intense speculation over with which network shell sign (ABC is among those interested), for how much (Fox supposedly offered $20 million a year)and to do what (shed like to do more in-depth interviews).
She said she was not concerned by a tweet by Trump campaign social media director Dan Scavino after her on-air tussle last month with Trump surrogate Newt Gingrich. ("She is totally biased against Mr. Trump & not very smart. . Watch what happens to her after this election is over.")
That wasnt Trump, that was Dan Scavino, who used to be Trumps golf caddy,"Kelly said. Im not worried about him."
Trump has observed his truce with Kelly since what she calls their "Trump Tower Accords."He has yet to comment on her book, which goes on sale Tuesday. After her flapwith Gingrich, he tweeted,Congratulations, Newt... that was an amazing interview.We dont play games, Newt, right? We dont play games.
Whatever"s next between Kelly and Trump, she said his campaign against her is anominous precedent:
I have a big mic, and I was established. He couldnt really destroy me," she said, "but think about the message that was sent to other journalists thinking about covering him skeptically. Perhaps they just dont want to spend a year being bullied."
SR1293 – Newt Gingrich BLASTS Fox News" Megyn Kelly Over Her OBVIOUS BIAS Against Donald Trump
Fox News host Megyn Kelly grilled the Democratic National Committee"s interim chairwoman late Wednesday over allegations she leaked the text of a proposed question before a CNN/TV One town-hall event with Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders earlier this year.
An email surfaced last week that contained the exact wording of a question that one of the town-hall moderators, TV One"s Roland Martin, sent to CNN producers before the event. It matched the language in an email Brazile apparently sent to the Clinton campaign one day earlier.
Brazile is thought to have leaked the question to the Clinton campaign, presumably to give her an edge over Sanders, who challenged her during the Democratic primary.
The email in question was part of the recent WikiLeaks release of Clinton campaign chair John Podesta"s leaked emails. In the email, sent to Clinton communications director Jennifer Palmieri, Brazile said she "gets questions in advance."
Kelly asked Brazile how she got that question.
"I did not receive any questions from CNN," Brazile said. "Let"s just be very clear."
Kelly again asked where Brazile got the question.
"You know, as a Christian woman, I understand persecution, but I will not sit here and be persecuted because your information is totally false," Brazile said.
Kelly responded that she was getting her information from Podesta"s emails.
"Well, Podesta"s emails were stolen," Brazile said. "You"re so interested in talking about stolen material, you"re like a thief that want to bring into the night the things that you found that was in the gutter."
Kelly then pointed to CNN host Jake Tapper saying it would be unethical for someone to provide Brazile with a town-hall question in advance. Brazile had at one point been a CNN contributor.
"This is Jake Tapper: "My understanding is that the email to Donna Brazile came from either [TV One"s] Roland Martin or someone around Roland Martin." He said, "This is very upsetting and very troubling,"" Kelly said. "That"s your own colleague at CNN. It"s not Megyn Kelly. Who gave you that question?"
Brazile responded: "Once again, I"ve said it on the record, and I"ll say it on the record, and I"ll keep saying it on the record. I am not going to try to validate falsified information. I have my documents. I have my files. Thank G*d I have not had my personal emails ripped off from me and stolen and given to some criminals to come back altered."
She again said she never received anything from CNN.
Observers have speculated that Russian hackers, whom US intelligence agencies have connected to the email leaks, might alter the contents of hacked materials, but it"s unclear whether that was the case here.
Kelly then focused on the wording in the email sent to Palmieri that said Brazile sometimes "gets questions in advance."
"CNN is saying Roland Martin gave them to you or someone at TV One," Kelly said. "And they were provided to Hillary before that town hall."
Brazile again dodged the question, addressing CNN without addressing TV One.
"Well, anybody who knows me, and there are a number of your colleagues as well, they know me very well, I know how I play it, I know what I do before every debate, I know what I do before every show, even this show, I do my homework, I communicate, I talk, but I can just once again let you know that as far as I know CNN has never provided any questions absolutely ever, nada," she said.
Kelly pressed her again.
"But when you said "from time to time I get the questions in advance," what were you referring to?" she asked.
Brazile responded: "My reference back to you, ma"am with all respect, and I respect you greatly the validity of those emails, if I can only tell you one thing, cause as you know, this whole episode is under criminal investigation, but I can just tell you one thing, a lot of those emails, I would not give them the time of the day. I"ve seen so many doctored emails, I"ve seen things that come from me at 2 in the morning that I don"t even send."
She continued: "There are several email addresses that I once used ... This has not been verified, this is under investigation. And let me just tell you something, if there is anything I have, I will share."
WATCH: Megyn Kelly Tears Kellyanne Conway to Bits Over Trump"s History of Misogyny
Anyone wondering whether Donald Trump"s live tweeting would distract from Tuesday"s vice presidential debate didn"t have to wait long for an answer: Yes.
Just as the rhetorical contest between Mike Pence and Tim Kaine was getting underway, Trump conjured the memory of his nasty, one-sided feud with Fox News Channel"s Megyn Kelly by sniping at the host on Twitter.
It isn"t entirely clear what Trump was responding to, though it appears Kelly was under the impression that Trump campaign manager Kellyanne Conway is among the aides keeping the Republican presidential nominee company during the debate. Those aides reportedly includeSteve Bannon, Hope Hicks, Stephen Miller and Dan Scavino but not Conway, who is with Pence in Farmville, Va.
Trump"s Tuesday-night tweet at Kelly is much milder than some he has sent in the past.
Still, it is hard to see the upside in doing anything to remind voters of one of the ugliest episodes of the campaign especially as Trump tries to combat charges of sexism in the midst of his latest public spat, with former Miss Universe Alicia Machado. And it is hard to understand why Trump would take the spotlight off his running mate and top surrogate on Pence"s biggest night of the election.
Republican Donald Trump skipped the debate where Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly co-moderated. Here"s a look back at the clash that started with an earlier debate in August 2015. (Sarah Parnass/The Washington Post)
