In new memoir, Megyn Kelly says Trump was tipped off to debate question
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In her new memoir, Settle for More, Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly revealed that Donald Trump was tipped off to a question before the first debate of the Republican primary last year, The New York Times reports.
The paper obtained an early copy of the book, due out Nov. 15, in which Kelly writes that before the debate in August 2015, Trump called Fox News executives to say he heard Kelly's first question was to be a "very pointed question directed at him." Kelly wrote she was concerned because this was true — the first question was about Trump's derogatory remarks about women. She does not say who she believes might have been behind the leak, but does go into more detail about earlier threats she received from Trump; after she ran a segment on The Kelly File that he didn't like, Kelly writes that he refused to go on the show again until she called him. She did, and he threatened to unleash his "beautiful Twitter account" against her, adding, "I still may." All of this behavior was "bizarre," she said, "especially for a man who wanted the nuclear codes."
Earlier in the year before he announced his candidacy, Trump tried to woo her, Kelly says, sending her notes and offering a stay for her and her husband at his Florida resort. "This is actually one of the untold stories of the 2016 campaign," she wrote. "I was not the only journalist to whom Trump offered gifts clearly meant to shape coverage. Many reporters have told me that Trump worked hard to offer them something fabulous — from hotel rooms to rides on his 757." Kelly also shared that she was on the receiving end of sexual advances by her boss Roger Ailes, who left the company this summer after former anchor Gretchen Carlson came forward with accusations of sexual harassment. In 2006, she says, Ailes tried to grab her and kiss her on the lips, and as she attempted to run out of the room, he asked, "When is your contract up?" Read more at The New York Times. Catherine Garcia
The Week
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Update 8:39 a.m.: Megyn Kelly has disputed reports that Donald Trump was leaked a question. "For the record, my book Settle for More does not suggest Trump had any debate [questions] in advance, nor do I believe that he did," she tweeted.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
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