Megyn Kelly and Newt Gingrich trade blows in charged interview about Trump

Colin Campbell
·Editorial Director

Fox News host Megyn Kelly battled former House Speaker Newt Gingrich in a striking Tuesday night interview.

“You are fascinated with sex and you don’t care about public policy!” Gingrich exclaimed amid the back and forth.

Kelly’s interview with Gingrich, a leading Donald Trump surrogate, started off friendly enough but got increasingly tense as she pressed him on Trump’s flagging poll numbers and campaign firestorms. Things boiled over when Gingrich accused the media of widespread bias and Kelly argued that the sexual misconduct allegations against Trump are newsworthy.

“If Trump is a sexual predator, that is —” Kelly began, as Gingrich interjected.

“I’m sick and tired of people like you using language that’s inflammatory, that’s not true,” he said after they talked over one another.

“Excuse me, Mr. Speaker, you have no idea whether it’s true or not,” she countered.

“Neither do you,” he shot back. “That’s very unfair of you to do that, Megyn! I think that’s exactly the bias that people are upset by,” he added, after they continued to interrupt each other.

Kelly pointed to the recently unearthed “Access Hollywood” tape, in which Trump boasted that his celebrity status lets him grope and forcibly kiss women. Trump denied ever acting upon those words, but roughly a dozen women have since emerged to say they were victims of his alleged misconduct, including sexual assault.

“I think your defensiveness on this may speak volumes, sir,” she said. “No, no, let me make my point. And then I’ll give you the floor. What I said is if Trump is a sexual predator, then it’s a big story. And what we saw on that tape is Trump himself saying that he likes to grab women by their genitals and kiss them against their will.”

Gingrich then accused Kelly of ignoring Hillary Clinton’s scandals, as well as the alleged sexual misconduct of her husband, former President Bill Clinton. After Kelly said she covered the allegations against Bill Clinton, Gingrich said, “I dare you: Say, ‘Bill Clinton, sexual predator.’”

“We’re going to have to leave it at that. And you can take your anger issues and spend some time working on them, Mr. Speaker,” Kelly said to conclude the interview.

“And you too,” he said.

Trump has fiercely attacked Kelly since the summer of 2015, when the Fox News host was a moderator at a debate and confronted him over derogatory comments he’s made about women’s appearances. His campaign responded to the Tuesday night interview by saying she was “not very smart.” On Wednesday, Trump himself applauded Gingrich for his performance.

“Congratulations, Newt, on last night. That was an amazing interview,” Trump said at an event touting his new hotel in Washington, D.C. “We don’t play games,” he added.