Megyn Kelly invited Bill Bennett, a conservative commentator and former education secretary, on Thursday's Kelly File to talk about House Speaker Paul Ryan's endorsement of Donald Trump. Instead, she focused most of his interview on late-breaking news: Trump had just told The Wall Street Journal that U.S. federal Judge Gonzalo Curiel has "an absolute conflict" in the Trump University fraud case he's adjudicating because he is "of Mexican heritage." Kelly, a lawyer, read some of Trump's quotes with evident disbelief, then asked Bennett, who also has a law degree, to weigh in.
"Bill, this is — you tell me," Kelly said. "I'm a journalist here at Fox News and I've been doing legal commentary here for 10 years — this is out of line." "Yeah, it's out of line," Bennett said. "And it's a shame, too, because it was a good day for Trump, with the Paul Ryan thing." He agreed with Kelly that ethnicity is no grounds for judging a judge, noting, "I'm Irish, that does not mean I support the IRA." Bennett is at least open to a President Trump, and he seemed more disappointed that Trump has not changed his tone than that the presumptive GOP presidential nominee doesn't appear to understand the law or the importance of an independent judiciary. So Kelly stepped back in.
Trump is "attacking a sitting federal judge — who, by the way, did a lot to fight the drug cartels when he was a prosecutor — based on his ethnicity, suggesting he has an inherent, inherent conflict of interest because of his heritage," she said. "'A Hispanic cannot judge a case against me' — that is what Trump is saying, explicitly, Bill! And let me tell you, when he does this, I guarantee you right now that this judge is getting threats, and vitriol, and who knows what else." Bennett offered a partial concurrence: "Yeah, he's got to pull back, he's got to think things through, he's got to get much better advice." Kelly clarified: "There is no conflict, there is no conflict of interest whatsoever, based on his ethnicity." They finally get to Ryan's endorsement in the final minute, and you can watch the entire exchange below. Peter Weber
The Week
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