Former Fox News host Megyn Kelly recently talked about her “complicated” relationship with former President Donald Trump on Newsmax’s The Balance and told the network that Trump might never forgive her over a question she asked him during the 2016 debates via Media Ite.
Kelly spoke to Newsmax host Eric Bolling on Thursday after she conducted her first interview with Trump since their heated feud during the 2016 Republican primary.
“I like Trump. You know, our relationship is complicated a little, I think on both ends, because of everything that happened around that question, that debate,” said Kelly, in reference to the famous moment in 2016 when she confronted Trump about calling women he didn’t like “fat pigs, dogs, slobs, and disgusting animals.”
The question sparked a bitter feud between Trump and Kelly, with Trump making the infamous remark, “You could see there was blood coming out of her eyes, blood coming out of her wherever.”
“Anyway, it’s a little complicated, but I think we both respect each other,” said Kelly to Bolling. “Kind of like two silverback gorillas, right?”
She continued:
“He knows, even though I like him, I have to ask him tough questions because that’s my job, and I know that even though he’s inclined to like me, he’s still ticked off about that debate question. So there’s a little friction behind our relationship, and I think it works on television, frankly. It’s a dynamic that works, and so at times it got a little contentious, but overall, I think we have a begrudging respect for one another. And as you know, as a journalist, I’ll take it. I’d much rather people respect me than love me, I’m not a politician, so that’s the game I’m in, and he did fine.”
Kelly said Trump knew the interview wouldn’t be a “softball” exchange and that she was “going to go to places like the criminal indictments, which, frankly, he shouldn’t be talking about at all, but he’s chosen to.”
She then praised the former president for agreeing to the interview and for staying considerably longer than he had initially agreed to.
“He got out there, and even after the contentious exchanges, we had a lot of like kind of heartfelt moments about Melania, about his future, so all the credit in the world to him for doing it,” Kelly said, before adding:
“I think we’re just in a better place. I mean, I think he’s never totally gonna forgive me because of the question. I don’t feel I have anything to apologize for, but I think he recognizes that, notwithstanding all that went on between us, that I have been very fair to him, and uh, while I’m not a sycophant for him or anybody else, I’m in the business of holding politicians to account, not pushing for them, not advocating for them. That’s not my role, it shouldn’t be anybody’s role who’s a journalist. He understands I don’t hate him, I don’t suffer from Trump derangement syndrome.”
