在一次新的采访中,梅根·凯利回到聚光灯下,回忆起唐纳德·特朗普总统的“可怕”时期带头攻击她2015年,在共和党总统初选辩论中,她质疑他对待女性的方式。
凯利是2015年8月福克斯新闻共和党辩论的主持人之一,他询问特朗普关于包括罗茜·欧唐内在内的女性的历史性贬损言论。“你觉得这听起来像是我们应该选举为总统的男人的气质吗?你将如何回应希拉里·克林顿(希拉里·克林顿可能是民主党提名人)的指控,即你参与了对妇女的战争?”凯利问当时的共和党候选人。
对此,特朗普表示:“我一直对你很好,尽管根据你对待我的方式,我可能不会。但我不会那么做。”他后来告诉美国有线电视新闻网的唐·莱蒙,在辩论中凯利“有血从她的眼睛里流出,血从她的任何地方流出”。
凯利后来成为了特朗普为期九个月的攻击运动右翼网站布莱巴特——她现在告诉美国公共广播公司前线“有时很吓人”
“我的生活被炸飞了九个月,”凯利在接受《华尔街日报》采访时说前线纪录片美国的巨大鸿沟:从奥巴马到特朗普其中的片段已于周五发布。“有时候很可怕,布莱巴特不停地点着火。我有三个非常年轻的孩子。安全威胁正在升级。”
凯利补充道:“我们正在尽全力向他们传达他们需要停止的信息。这是一个辩论问题,只是一个辩论问题。他处理得很好。所以别想了。他们不可能不在乎。”
在纪录片的片段中,前布莱巴特主席、前特朗普首席战略家史蒂夫·班农表示,辩论结束后,布莱巴特“紧随梅根·凯利之后”。“我们要把她从兽群中剔除出来,然后不停地打她,”班尼回忆道。“那是所有战争爆发的时候。”
班尼声称前福克斯新闻主席罗杰·艾尔斯打电话给他,要求他停止对凯利的攻击。“我说,‘我们不会后退,我们明天会上传更多的故事,’”班农说。
根据这部纪录片,最终,艾尔斯在凯利问题上站在特朗普和布莱巴特一边,因为他不想疏远福克斯新闻的右翼观众。凯利说:“罗杰觉得他必须让观众中布莱巴特一方留在船上,因为特朗普对我和福克斯的攻击,他们处于危险之中。”。
凯利说布莱巴特对她的刻薄比特朗普更伤人。她觉得特朗普并没有真正攻击她,而是利用她来进一步臭名昭著。
凯利说:“我认为特朗普意识到这是一个很好的故事情节,他一直在火上浇油。”。“我不认为特朗普是一个真正的坏人...我认为他是一个精明的政治家,知道该做什么和说什么才能当选。”
MEGYN KELLY REFLECTS ON 'SCARY' TIME WHEN TRUMP ATTACKED HER FOR QUESTIONING HIS TREATMENT OF WOMEN
Megyn Kelly has returned to the spotlight to recall in a new interview the "scary" period when President Donald Trump led attacks on her in 2015, after she questioned his treatment of women during a Republican presidential primary debate.
Kelly was one of the anchors of the August 2015 GOP debate on Fox News, and asked Trump about his historic disparaging comments about women, including Rosie O'Donnell. "Does that sound to you like the temperament of a man we should elect as president, and how will you answer the charge from Hillary Clinton, who was likely to be the Democratic nominee, that you are part of the war on women?" Kelly asked the then GOP candidate.
In response, Trump said: "I've been very nice to you, although I could probably maybe not be, based on the way you have treated me. But I wouldn't do that." He later told CNN's Don Lemon that Kelly "had blood coming out of her eyes, blood coming out of her wherever" during the debate.
Kelly was subsequently on the receiving end of a nine-month campaign of attacks from Trump and the right-wing website Breitbart—a period she now tells PBS' Frontline was "scary at times."
"My life was blown up for nine months," said Kelly in the interview for the Frontline documentaryAmerica's Great Divide: From Obama to Trump, clips of which were released Friday. "It was scary at times and Breitbart kept lighting the fire over and over. I had, and have, three really young kids. And the security threats were escalating."
Kelly added: "We were doing everything in our power to convey to them they needed to stop. It was one debate question, Just one debate question. He handled it fine. So get off of it. They couldn't have cared less."
In a clip from the documentary, former Breitbart chairman and ex-Trump chief strategist Steve Bannon said that Breitbart went "right after Megyn Kelly" following the debate. "We're gonna cull her out from the herd and just hit her nonstop," Bannon recalled. "That's when all war broke out."
Bannon claimed that former Fox News chairman Roger Ailes called him to ask him to stop the attacks on Kelly. "I said, 'We're not backing off, we're going to put more stories up tomorrow,'" said Bannon.
Ultimately, according to the documentary, Ailes sided with Trump and Breitbart over Kelly because he did not want to alienate Fox News' right-wing viewers. "Roger felt he had to keep that Breitbart wing of the viewership on board, that they were at risk thanks to Trump's attacks on me and Fox," said Kelly.
Kelly said that the Breitbart vitriol directed at her was more hurtful than Trump's. She felt that Trump wasn't genuinely attacking her, rather using her for further notoriety.
"I think Trump recognized it was a good storyline and he kept fuel going under that fire," said Kelly. "I don't think Trump is a truly bad man ... I think he's a savvy politician who knows what to do and what to say to get elected."