By Tessa Berenson
Fox News contends there is no conflict of interest in having Megyn Kelly host the upcoming Republican debate, after frontrunner Donald Trump complained on Twitter.
On Saturday, Trump tweeted that the host of The Kelly File had too much ‘bias’ to be a fair moderator for Thursday’s debate:
In a statement, a Fox News spokesperson said, “Megyn Kelly has no conflict of interest. Donald Trump is just trying to build up the audience for Thursday’s debate, for which we thank him.”
Based on @MegynKelly's conflict of interest and bias she should not be allowed to be a moderator of the next debate.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 23, 2016
Trump’s problem with Kelly extends back to a Republican debate she moderated in August, when she pressed him on derogatory comments he has made about women, a question that, though pointed, was not outside the norm of questions typically asked at debates. “Mr. Trump, one of the things people love about you is you speak your mind and you don’t use a politician’s filter. However, that is not without its downsides, in particular, when it comes to women. You’ve called women you don’t like ‘fat pigs,’ ‘dogs,’ ‘slobs,’ and ‘disgusting animals’” she began. “Your Twitter account has several disparaging comments about women’s looks. You once told a contestant on Celebrity Apprentice it would be a pretty picture to see her on her knees. 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?”
After the debate, Trump announced that the question was “unfair” and insinuated that Kelly was hormonal when she asked him the question, saying she had “blood coming out of her wherever.”
Kelly maintains that she is not biased against Trump, a position Fox supports. “I certainly will not apologize for doing good journalism,” she said of Trump’s criticism following the August debate.
In a recent Vanity Fair interview, Kelly said Trump tried to curry favor with her before he announced his candidacy by sending her signed press clippings. “But I can’t be wooed,” she said. “I was never going to love him, and I was never going to hate him.”
This article originally appeared on Time.com
