Top-rated SiriusXM podcaster Megyn Kelly gave her fans an update on what has been a chilly relationship with former President Donald Trump during her Monday program.
Her remarks follow what turned out to be a controversial exchange following a GOP presidential debate she co-anchored in 2015 while she was a Fox News host. At one point during the event, Kelly asked Trump about comments he had made about some women in the past.
“You’ve called women you don’t like ‘fat pigs,’ ‘dogs,’ ‘slobs,’ and ‘disgusting animals,’” Kelly said before the then-leading GOP presidential contender interrupted to say, “Only Rosie O’Donnell.”
Kelly said following the exchange, “I’ve been very nice to you, although I could probably maybe not be based on the way you have treated me.”
Days after the event, Trump said during a campaign speech of Kelly, “There was blood coming out of her eyes, blood coming out of her wherever.”
Kelly remained critical of the former president in the years that followed, but she now says that’s all in the past.
“We met just one-on-one,” Kelly told her listeners in reference to seeing Trump at a Turning Point USA event over the weekend.
“His team was standing nearby, but he and I got a one-on-one together for the first time in years. And it was, frankly, great to see him. You know, all that nonsense between us is under the bridge and he could not have been more magnanimous,” Kelly told her fans.
“It was just, the thing about Trump is [he] commands the room. He walks in and — it’s not just because he’s the former president now, because I knew him before that. He — there’s just something about him. It’s like an aura that sort of takes over the room. There’s only one person you can look at,” she went on.
“I remember when he was doing Celebrity Apprentice and Geraldo [Rivera] was on it, [country music star] John Rich was on it. And John Rich, I think it was, invited me to an event for Celebrity Apprentice. And you went there, and the same thing. Trump walks in. The whole room turns. ‘It’s Donald Trump.’ Well, even more so now,” Kelly added.
“He could not have been nicer or more generous and had some interesting thoughts about the debates, whether he’s going to attend. I wouldn’t bet on it. I would not bet on him attending, at least not that first Fox News debate,” she said.
In a wide-ranging interview with Fox News host Maria Bartiromo on Sunday, the former president gave his reasons for not wanting to enter the debate stage against his other primary opponents.
“I want to begin with the state of play of this election, with now the election over a year away and the first GOP primary debate a month or so away. Will you be on that stage? Are you participating in the upcoming debate?” the host asked.
“Well, it’s a — quite an easy question, normally. Ronald Reagan didn’t do it, and a lot of other people didn’t do it. When you have a big lead, you don’t do it,” the former president said.
“And we have a lead of 50 and 60 points in some cases, and some of these people are at zero,” he continued.
“And so you’re leading people by 50 and 60 points, and you say, why would you be doing a debate? It’s not — it’s actually not fair. Why would you let somebody that’s at zero or at one or two or three be popping you with questions?” he said.
“Well, I mean, do you see any risk that, if you don’t show up, Ron DeSantis has a good night, and it cuts into your lead?” the host said.
“Or somebody else has a good night and cuts into his lead because that’s what’s happening. He’s going down, and a couple of them are going up,” the former president said.