Fox News’ Megyn Kelly: Donald Trump Doesn’t Get to Control the Media

Megyn Kelly took time on The Kelly File Tuesday to address Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump’s recent decision to skip the next GOP debate because of her presence as a moderator.

Trump alleges that Kelly was unfair in her questioning of him in the last Fox News-hosted debate in August. Kelly forcefully maintained her stance — that she’s simply a journalist asking the difficult questions that need to be asked. “In the months since, Mr. Trump has repeatedly brought up that exchange as evidence of alleged bias on my part,” Kelly said directly to her viewers. “I maintain it was a tough but fair question, and we agreed to disagree.”

Later, Kelly, alongside fellow Fox News personality Britt Hume, theorized this is all about control. “Trump is not used to not controlling things as the chief executive of a large organization, but the truth is, he doesn’t get to control the media,” she said. “And while he’s made his position on me clear after that first debate, Roger Ailes has made his position clear too.”

In a statement released Tuesday, Fox News wrote the following:

“As many of our viewers know, Fox News is hosting a sanctioned debate in Des Moines, Iowa, on Thursday night, three days before the first votes of the 2016 election are cast in the Iowa Caucus. Donald Trump is refusing to debate seven of his fellow presidential candidates on stage that night, which is near unprecedented. We’re not sure how Iowans are going to feel about him walking away from them at the last minute, but it should be clear to the American public by now that this is rooted in one thing — Megyn Kelly, whom he has viciously attacked since August and has now spent four days demanding be removed from the debate stage. Capitulating to politicians’ ultimatums about a debate moderator violates all journalistic standards, as do threats, including the one leveled by Trump’s campaign manager Corey Lewandowski toward Megyn Kelly. In a call on Saturday with a Fox News executive, Lewandowski stated that Megyn had a ‘rough couple of days after that last debate’ and he ‘would hate to have her go through that again.’ Lewandowski was warned not to level any more threats, but he continued to do so. We can’t give in to terrorizations toward any of our employees. Trump is still welcome at Thursday night’s debate and will be treated fairly, just as he has been during his 132 appearances on Fox News & Fox Business, but he can’t dictate the moderators or the questions.”

Trump responded to that statement by tweeting: “The statement put out yesterday by @FoxNews was a disgrace to good broadcasting and journalism. Who would ever say something so nasty & dumb.” He added: “I refuse to call Megyn Kelly a bimbo, because that would not be politically correct. Instead I will only call her a lightweight reporter!”

In an interview with Entertainment Tonight, Kelly said she thinks it’s possible he will show up. This was before Trump’s campaign insisted again he won’t, however. “I’ll be surprised if he doesn’t come,” Kelly told Jen Peros. “I know he says he doesn’t want to now, but I’ll really be surprised because I feel like the people of Iowa are still persuadable. He’s in a tight race with Ted Cruz. I don’t know why he wouldn’t take one last opportunity to make his case to them in such a huge forum.