Megyn Kelly, Howard Kurtz gawk at 'totally overblown' Melania Trump nude-photos-visa-fraud allegations

On Thursday's Kelly File, Megyn Kelly took a sardonic look at the new questions over whether Melania Trump is in the U.S. illegally. "Ironically, the story started when the New York Post dug up some decades-old nude pictures of Melania from when she just started her modeling career in New York City," Kelly said. "Then some journalist said, 'That's a story I would like to be assigned to,' and started digging and digging and digging, and Trace Gallagher was one of the ones who raised his hands." "Only looked at them once, Megyn," Gallagher quipped before running through the allegations.

Kelly then brought on Fox News media critic Howard Kurtz, who was, well, critical of the media. "So they're hot on the trail of the most relevant issue to voters," Kelly sighed. "You know, America awaits the answers." "What?" Kurtz deadpanned. "Oh, sorry, I was distracted by those old modeling photos." "Well, she's a beautiful woman," Kelly said "Look, this Melania story is so totally overblown," Kurtz said, "and we were actually having a debate about what kind of visa she had in 1995, and whether she was allowed under the terms of that visa, depending on what it was, to do some modeling work on the side. Who cares?"

"There's only going to be more of this, right?" Kelly asked. "This is about politics, and trying to get him for his stance on illegal immigration, and it's only going to get uglier between now and November." "I get that illegal immigration is one of Donald Trump's signature issues, and if it could be proven that his wife — who he didn't know at the time, of course — had come here illegally, that would be news," Kurtz conceded. "That has not been proven."

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

In fact, CNN's Jessica Schneider reported on Thursday night that while Melania's story doesn't quite add up, the photographer who took the 1995 pictures says she wasn't paid for posing nude, so she didn't violate any immigration laws. Schneider also said that, according to an immigration lawyer she spoke with, any minor violations would probably be forgiven at this point if she were paid for work in the U.S. before 1995. So, nothing to see here. And certainly, if the story were about, say, President Obama's right to be in America, Donald Trump would look at the evidence and drop it immediately.