Megyn Kelly: Trump tried to influence coverage with gifts

[rooster59]

Megyn Kelly: Trump tried to influence coverage with gifts

LYNN ELBER, AP Television Writer

 

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Megyn Kelly says Donald Trump tried unsuccessfully to give her gifts, including a free stay at one of his hotels, as part of what she called his pattern of trying to influence news coverage of his presidential campaign.

 

In her memoir "Settle for More," to be released Tuesday, Kelly says Trump may have gotten a pre-debate tip about her first question, in which she confronted him with his critical comments about women. Her book also details the insults and threats she received after Trump's tirades objecting to her reporting. The Associated Press obtained an advance copy of the book Saturday.

 

Kelly, host of Fox News Channel's "The Kelly Report," said Trump routinely attempted to gain favorable treatment from other journalists and commentators.

 

"This is actually one of the untold stories of the 2016 campaign: I was not the only journalist to whom Trump offered gifts clearly meant to shape coverage," Kelly said. He also attempted to woo them with praise, she said, adding, "This is smart, because the media is full of people whose egos need stroking."

 

"Trump tried to work the refs, and some of the refs responded," she said.

 

When it became obvious that some reporters were "in the tank" for Trump, she alleges in one chapter, "certain TV hosts" would work with the candidate in advance on occasional Trump criticism so they would appear unbiased. She didn't identify them by name or media outlet.

 

Resisting Trump's attempts to buy her goodwill with an offer to comp her "girls' weekend" stay at his downtown New York City hotel or fly her and her husband to visit his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida was an easy ethical decision, Kelly wrote.

 

Harder still was rejecting the ratings bonanza that the colorful GOP contender could deliver with his "unscripted, unguarded" approach that made for great TV but was the equivalent of "television crack cocaine," Kelly wrote.

 

She and her producer agreed they had to provide balance and be judicious in their coverage, asserting this was not a "directive to cover Trump negatively or to ignore him."

 

It was at the first GOP primary debate last August that Kelly questioned Trump about derogatory comments he'd made about women. The day before, Trump had called Fox News executive Bill Sammon to say he had heard that Kelly's first question would be a pointed one aimed at him, she wrote.

 

"'How could he know that?' I wondered," Kelly said, not answering the question but clearing her Fox colleagues on the debate team of any suspicion of leaking it to him. Trump was agitated out of proportion in the phone call, she wrote, calling it "bizarre behavior, especially for a man who wanted the nuclear codes."

 

Kelly was cast by Trump as his nemesis after the first GOP debate in which she asked him about labeling women as "fat pigs, dogs, slobs, and disgusting animals." In an interview with CNN's Don Lemon, Trump called her questions ridiculous, adding, "You could see there was blood coming out of her eyes. Blood coming out of her wherever."

 

Before another Fox debate, Kelly recalled being backstage with her family and getting an unsettling insight on how her children were being affected by the harsh rhetoric.

 

"I'm afraid of Donald Trump. He wants to hurt me," she quoted her 5-year-old daughter, Yardley, as saying. When Kelly told her that wasn't so, the child replied, "Well, he wants to hurt you, so he wants to hurt me too."

 

 

-- © Associated Press 2016-11-13

[ClutchClark]

6 minutes ago, rooster59 said:

Before another Fox debate, Kelly recalled being backstage with her family and getting an unsettling insight on how her children were being affected by the harsh rhetoric.

 

"I'm afraid of Donald Trump. He wants to hurt me," she quoted her 5-year-old daughter, Yardley, as saying. When Kelly told her that wasn't so, the child replied, "Well, he wants to hurt you, so he wants to hurt me too."

 

Sounds like Megan did not do a very good job of shielding her children from the grown-ups world or helping the young children to process what they were seeing.

 

So Megan now writes a book where she dishes dirt on Trump and various co-workers? Not a class act. I expected better than this sort of petty vindictiveness. 

 

Whats the old saying about a woman scorned?

[JHolmesJr]

i cant imagine anyone reading her book apart from her copy editor.

 

 

[Pimay1]

I wouldn't believe this bimbo on a stack of bibles.

[Ulysses G.]

He was probably offering her gifts hoping to score. Can't say that I would blame him. 

[Pimay1]

2 minutes ago, Ulysses G. said:

He was probably offering her gifts hoping to score. Can't say that I would blame him. 

We certainly differ on our taste but that's why they make Ford and Chevrolet.

[Sphere]

41 minutes ago, rooster59 said:

She and her producer agreed they had to provide balance and be judicious in their coverage.....

 

Balanced and judicious.....which network would that be?

[maoro2013]

Trump had a totally antagonistic media and even after his win they won't leave him alone

[tezzainthailand]

1 hour ago, ClutchClark said:

 

Sounds like Megan did not do a very good job of shielding her children from the grown-ups world or helping the young children to process what they were seeing.

 

So Megan now writes a book where she dishes dirt on Trump and various co-workers? Not a class act. I expected better than this sort of petty vindictiveness. 

 

Whats the old saying about a woman scorned?

Well, whether she's right or wrong, you can expect a flood of books coming out on the President elect and few of them will be favourable. It's all out there, on record, on video, his verbal assaults on minorities and women, his demonisation of Muslims and Mexicans, his treatment of workers and the undeniable audio evidence of him saying his star status gives him the right to sexually assault women. There will be plenty of books to believe and with far more detail.

[coma]

Typical of a spiteful journalist wench. 

[hdkane]

1 hour ago, Sphere said:

 

Balanced and judicious.....which network would that be?

Fox comes across as biased in much of its coverage because it is the single conservative mainstream outlet for news...the others have a liberal bent...you just don't notice it because it is omnipresent...

[Krataiboy]

Well, if the Don did try and buy favours from the US media,  then the strategy sure backfired. I can't remember there ever being such a concerted and hateful Press  campaign against a US Presidential candidate.

 

Maybe this is why the American public - who, in common with their counterparts in the UK, probably loathe journalists even more than career politicians - came out in droves to support the Republican underdog.  

 

American contacts tell me that many Trump supporters  were too intimidated by the hysterical hate campaign to admit their preference until polling day. This would certainly explain the failure of the pre-election surveys to predict the eventual result.

 

Two US citizens who have just arrived in our soi to winter in Thailands admit they decided at the last minute to vote for Trump as a protest against the one-sided and undemocratic nature of the pre-election debate.

 

So well done, Magan and Co - you got  precisely the result you deserve.

[zydeco]

Any hard evidence for her claims?  If not, she just further discredited herself.  We do have plenty of evidence from Wikileaks that the press conspired with Clinton and the DNC.  And we also know that Murdoch ordered Kelly and Fox News to "destroy" Trump.

[FlorC]

Well Newt Gingrich said Megyn was "fascinated with sex" ....https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2016/10/25/you-are-fascinated-with-sex-that-megyn-kelly-newt-gingrich-showdown-was-one-for-the-ages/?hpid=hp_hp-top-table-main_fix-kellygingrich-1128pm%3Ahomepage%2Fstory

 

Instead of gifts , maybe DT should have been doing the thing he was bragging about in the audio tape.

Edited November 13, 2016 by FlorC

[CharlieK]

20 minutes ago, FlorC said:

Well Newt Gingrich said Megyn was "fascinated with sex" ....https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2016/10/25/you-are-fascinated-with-sex-that-megyn-kelly-newt-gingrich-showdown-was-one-for-the-ages/?hpid=hp_hp-top-table-main_fix-kellygingrich-1128pm%3Ahomepage%2Fstory

 

Instead of gifts , maybe DT should have been doing the thing he was bragging about in the audio tape.

 

she shows how biased she is. Typical Fox news don't get the answers you want, end the interview.

[Morch]

Notably, there are the usual expected insults and misogyny. Some "but Hillary" style deflections. And dismissing the whole thing. Not much by way of addressing the OP or the claim raised as such.

 

Being aware of Trump's habit of legally going after people saying not-so-nice-things about him , doubt she would have published (and that it was published) without prior legal advice. At least some of the above posters were not that critical of her as a reporter prior to primary elections.

 

Now, let's entertain for a moment the notion that it did happen as described - does it bother you? (without "but Hillary", HRC lost already).

 

And yes, as someone pointed out and as I mentioned on another topics, there's bound to be a whole lot of book deals from either camp.

 

Edited November 13, 2016 by Morch

[Prbkk]

2 hours ago, zydeco said:

Any hard evidence for her claims?  If not, she just further discredited herself.  We do have plenty of evidence from Wikileaks that the press conspired with Clinton and the DNC.  And we also know that Murdoch ordered Kelly and Fox News to "destroy" Trump.

 

If that's the case they were doing a very poor job of destroying Trump, at least from my limited viewing of it.

[sgtsabai]

I wish there was a "liberal" media instead of a corporate media. The liberal media myth was spread yrs. ago by the right wing trying to discredit the truth. By reading some of the posts on TV they apparently did a good job of misinformation.

 

I personally hope the attacks continue and continue and continue on the orange monster, both in the media and in the streets. If only we had a real media, the truth, just like it was for the Cheney/Bush et al regime has always been there, the corporate lame stream media won't cover it. Then again, most on the right can't accept the truth.

[FlorC]

4 minutes ago, sgtsabai said:

If only we had a real media

There are real media who give a different view than the corporate MSM , but they get booted here as "conspiracy theory" websites . And guess what they hate hcr as much as cheney/bush or obama.

[elgordo38]

Forsooth young maid Megyn are thou hinting that Sir Donald is some kind of varlet. Thou must be mistaken. He is the new knight in shining armor ready to take his throne in the White House. His intentions were well intended. Thou surely are mistaken. 

[elgordo38]

7 hours ago, maoro2013 said:

Trump had a totally antagonistic media and even after his win they won't leave him alone

???????

[elgordo38]

2 hours ago, Prbkk said:

 

If that's the case they were doing a very poor job of destroying Trump, at least from my limited viewing of it.

Gryphons are hard to destroy. 

[elgordo38]

8 hours ago, rooster59 said:

Her book also details the insults and threats she received after Trump's tirades objecting to her reporting

Speaking to the tirade part he is not even in office yet. You have seen nothing yet. Oh Megyn your lying just to sell books. The Donald would never try to bribe you how dare you. Quote 

Harder still was rejecting the ratings bonanza that the colorful GOP contender could deliver with his "unscripted, unguarded" approach that made for great TV but was the equivalent of "television crack cocaine," Kelly wrote. unquote. How dare you say the future leader of the "free" world would use unscripted unguarded approaches. Yes the media was definitely against "The Donald" He fought back with all his might and overcame all these injustices. Then I woke up. 

 

[Mansell]

Some TV's here really don't like women very much and use every opportunity to slam them.....Oh that's right you are Trump supporters and either learned it from him or already had this misogyny in your hearts. Mommy not nice to you when you were a child. Sob!

[harleyclarkey]

 

Geez, what a stupid woman. 

 

Does she think all her fellow wonderful reporters  are squeaky clean?

These bastions of honest and unbiased reporting won't go to any function unless they are fuelled up with expensive food and drink. That they don't take airline tickets? Holidays? Freebies? Meals?

 

Get a grip "Began" (sic) and stop trying to be the hero.

[Basil B]

9 hours ago, Ulysses G. said:

He was probably offering her gifts hoping to score. Can't say that I would blame him. 

 

He is well known for just grabbing what he wants...

[connda]

If Fox really wants to position itself as center-right conservative, they should find news anchors that don't come across like progressive liberals in need of a safe space.

[Ulysses G.]

8 hours ago, sgtsabai said:

I wish there was a "liberal" media instead of a corporate media. The liberal media myth was spread yrs. ago by the right wing trying to discredit the truth.

 

Forgive me for dismissing your very biased opinions. Many journalists say otherwise.

 

http://www.westernjournalism.com/top-50-examples-liberal-media-bias/

 

 

[Prbkk]

They could do a lot worse than trying to get someone like Maria Bartiromo ...she's not 'loony' right, doesn't pull punches, knows her stuff. She was just terrific when at CNBC with the late, great Mark Haines. But I think she married a zillionaire, so probably not interested.

[Torrens54]

15 hours ago, Ulysses G. said:

He was probably offering her gifts hoping to score. Can't say that I would blame him. 

Yep but she has much higher standards and is way too smart for the Dirty Old Man.