President Donald Trump is defending Fox News Anchor Bill O’Reilly after a report claimed he paid 5 women $13 million dollars to settle harassment claims.
“I don’t think Bill did anything wrong,” Trump told the New York Times, who also disagreed with O’Reilly’s choice to settle. “I think he’s a person I know well — he is a good person.” Trump has frequently appeared on O’Reilly’s show, while also praising other Fox programming.
O’Reilly has been under fire since April 1 when a separate Times report claimed that he not only settled with women accusing him of harassment, but for then asking the women to never speak about it publicly. Four of the allegations specifically cited sexual harassment.
Since that report, at least two dozen advertisers have pulled out of the O’Reilly’s show on Fox, The O’Reilly Factor.
Trump himself has been accused of making unwanted sexual advances toward women. He has denied these allegations. And when a leaked Access Hollywood tape showed Trump and then-host Billy Bush making lewd comments about women, Trump said it was just “locker room talk.”