Megyn Kelly stumps Trump spokeswoman Katrina Pierson on why she believes Trump but not his female accusers

On Thursday's Kelly File, Megyn Kelly dug into magazine writer Natasha Stoynoff's first-person account in People of an alleged sexual assault by Donald Trump at his Mar-a-Lago estate in 2005. Kelly interviewed People deputy editor J.D. Hayman and Trump campaign spokeswoman Katrina Pierson, along with video of Trump himself denying the accusation and questioning its timing.

"Katrina, you tell me, why would this woman, at great harm to herself, come out 11 years later and make an accusation like this, and make it up out of whole cloth?" Kelly asked Pierson. "Well, Megyn, I'm not going to sit here and pretend to know anyone's motive for doing anything that they do," Pierson said, but "I'm just not buying that" the women came forward, 26 days before the election, because Trump denied forcing himself on women at Sunday's debate. "Mr. Trump has denied this, the witness that she herself has named has come out and denied this publicly, said that that never happened," Pierson said. "The butler?" Kelly asked, referring to the loyal Anthony Senecal. "Absolutely," Pierson said. "Well," Kelly noted, "she doesn't say the butler saw Trump, in her words, trying to shove his tongue down her throat."

"Mr. Trump has denied this. I take him at his word for this," Pierson reiterated, and Kelly jumped in: "But why don't you take him at his word on the bus, where he said he does do this?" "Because that was on a Hollywood Access bus, he was with another guy, in private, doing what guys do in a machismo way," Pierson said. "The fact that they were having a private conversation leads many to believe what he says was true, this is guy to guy, and Trump's saying, 'I can't even control myself, I just kiss them without even asking,'" Kelly said. "But two guys that are talking about girls, one-upping each other, making each other laugh, that's a little bit different," Pierson argued, one woman to another.

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Kelly pointed out that we don't really know if Stoynoff's account is true, and that Trump is in a tough spot politically because it's his word against hers — well, multiple women's accusations. And that's true, though Stoynoff got some public backup from her former journalism professor and mentor Paul McLaughlin.

J.D. Heyman noted to Kelly that People isn't a political publication, and you can watch his interview below. Peter Weber