Fox News host Megyn Kelly went after media critics who said she was too soft on Donald Trump during her interview this week and accused them of bias.
“It earned the scourge of many in the mainstream media because it was not a takedown of Trump,” Kelly said on her show Wednesday. “These critics failed to disclose their own bias against Trump, against Fox News, against the GOP.”
After months of much-hyped feuding between Kelly and the presumptive GOP presidential nominee, Kelly promised there would be “an electric exchange” between the two in the Tuesday prime-time special on Fox Broadcasting. Megyn Kelly Presents was produced by Barbara Walters’ former producer and was widely seen as part of Megyn Kelly’s positioning for Walters-type stardom. She even ended her show with a plug for her soon-to-be-published book.
But the Trump interview was widely panned by critics as soft and devoid of revelations. Megyn Kelly Presents also gave Fox a third-place finish among broadcast networks in its time-slot, according to preliminary ratings.
On her show Wednesday, Kelly read off snippets of the negative reviews from critics at the New Yorker and the Washington Post, along with previous negative remarks those critics have made about Trump. She also said she “did not want to make” the interview about herself.
Howie Kurtz, host of Fox News’ Media Buzz, was invited on to Kelly’s show to give his own assessment of the media’s response to the interview.
His verdict? “It does bother me when critics from the left who despise Trump just aren’t upfront about that and wouldn’t have been happy with any interview that didn’t leave him a bloody and battered mess,” Kurtz said, adding he thought that Kelly had succeeded in getting Trump to “express some regret at times.” That, he added, is “almost like an apology for him.”
As for Trump, after months of blasting Kelly as a “bimbo” and “crazy,” he tweeted his approval.
Well, that is it. Well done Megyn — and they all lived happily ever after! Now let us all see how "THE MOVEMENT" does in Oregon tonight!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 18, 2016
Kelly said she remains neutral about Trump. “As I said from the beginning, I was never going to love him. I was never going to hate him. Those who assumed either one assumed too much.”