First, earlier today, someone else posted a piece on the gift revelations in Megyn Kelly’s soon-to-published book but now that more details are emerging I’ve included them here.
Second, the fact that Kelly is coming out with this information just before her book hits the stores proves she’s shaky on ethics even though she turned down the Trump freebies.
Fox News host Megyn Kelly says Donald Trump unsuccessfully tried to give her gifts during the presidential campaign in what she called his attempt to influence journalists by "[working] the refs."
In her book, “Settle for More,” set for release on Tuesday, "The Kelly File" host says Trump, the now president-elect, even offered a free stay at one of his hotels.
“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.
…“Trump tried to work the refs, and some of the refs responded,” she said, while stressing she never accepted any offer from the billionaire, chalking it up to a simple ethical choice.
The hotel room offers included a "girls weekend" at a downtown Manhattan Trump hotel, and one for her husband and her at Trump's exclusive Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida.
thehill.com/...
A more recent article reports Trump pressured Ailes to pressure Kelly:
Kelly also said Trump was close to her former boss, Roger Ailes. "Every time he started in, I'd get a call from Roger (who was getting calls from Trump)," Kelly wrote. "Was I being fair to Trump? Was I being too hard on him? He felt the bar for skeptical Trump coverage should be higher."
… Vanity Fair blasted her for not opening up about behind-the-scenes interactions with Trump before he won the White House race last week.
"These are major accusations that speak to back-door dealing and suppression of the press," VF's Emily Jane Fox writes. "...Kelly is a journalist. She has a responsibility to tell the truth. If voters didn't care about that truth, that is on them. It is her job to report relevant facts and let the people decide what to do with them. To not only withhold these stories until after the election, but to also hang onto them in order to sell books is one of the more calculating, cynical footnotes in a highly cynical, calculating election season."
www.syracuse.com/...
And from the above mentioned Vanity Fair piece titled: Megyn Kelly just blew the goodwill she’s built, a quote from Kelly’s book indicates Trump knew in advance about the ‘fat pig’ debate question:
On Thursday evening, two days after Trump won the election, The New York Times published an early review of the book, Settle for More, which details just how dark her dealings were with Trump and Ailes, his long-time friend and advisor.
According to the review, the day before that fateful primary debate, a very worked up Trump called Fox News executives claiming he heard that Kelly’s first question was “very pointed” and “directed at him.” It was, in fact, as we all now know. As for how Trump knew about it, she lets her readers decide.
… What is equally as deserving of a raised brow, however, is the fact that Kelly waited to tell the American public about this until after the election. These are major accusations that speak to back-door dealing and suppression of the press. Now, it is worth pointing out that these qualities aren’t exactly something the American public was unaware of, and generally speaking, a majority of the American public didn’t seem to care about them when they cast their votes on Tuesday.
www.vanityfair.com/...
A thousand cuts…
As an ardent HRC supporter, I think a number of reasons collectively led to her loss. And I will be the first to say mistakes HRC and her campaign advisors were among those reasons. But since we can now add suppression of the press to list, it’s even more amazing that she won the popular vote.
I’ve set my eyes on the midterm elections and will do all I can to get Democrats elected – and I don’t care if they’re pure. We need every Democrat we can get into congress to mitigate the damage Trump and the republicans will do the next four years..
Will you join me?