Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich engaged Megyn Kelly in an epic showdown over her anti-Donald Trump “bias” on Kelly’s Fox News show Tuesday night.
Gingrich accused Kelly of being “fascinated with sex” after Kelly used the term “sexual predator” to describe Trump. Gingrich challenged Kelly to call Bill Clinton a sexual predator, but Kelly refused to do so, staunchly defending the Clinton ticket and even saying that the polls show people don’t care as much about Bill Clinton’s sexual indiscretions as they do about Trump’s alleged incidents.
At the end of the segment, Kelly accused Gingrich of “anger issues.”
Here are the fireworks:
NEWT: I am sick and tired of people like you using language that is inflammatory that’s not true!
MEGYN: Excuse me, Mr. Speaker…You have no idea whether it’s true or not.
NEWT: Neither do you.
MEGYN: That’s right. And I’m not taking a position on it, unlike–
NEWT: Oh yes you are. When you used the words, you took a position. And I think it is very unfair of you to do that, Megyn.
MEGYN: Incorrect.
NEWT: I think that is exactly the bias that people are upset by.
MEGYN: I think that your defensiveness on this may speak volumes, sir.
NEWT: No, may I just suggest to you–
MEGYN: No! Let me make my point and then I will give you the floor. What I said is, IF Trump is a sexual predator then that’s a big story. And what we saw on that tape was Trump himself saying that he likes to grab women by the genitals and kiss them against their will. That’s what we saw. Then we saw ten women come forward after he denied actually doing it at a debate to say, ‘That was untrue. He did it to me! He did it to me!’ We saw reporters, people who had worked with him, people from Apprentice, and so on and so forth. He denies it all. Which is his right. We don’t know what the truth is. My point to you is, as a media story, we don’t get to say that the ten women are lying. We have to cover that story, sir.
NEWT: Sure. Okay, so it’s worth 23 minutes of the three networks to cover that story, and Hillary Clinton in a speech in Brazil…saying her dream is an open border where 600 million people could come to America. That’s not worth covering?
MEGYN: That is worth covering.
NEWT: You want to go back through the tapes of your show recently? You are fascinated with sex and you don’t care about public policy.
MEGYN: Me, really?
NEWT: That’s what I get out of watching you tonight.
MEGYN: Well, you know what, Speaker, I’m not fascinated by sex. But I am fascinated by the protection of women and understanding what we’re getting in the Oval Office. And I think the American voters would like to know–
NEWT: Ok, and therefore we’re going to send Bill Clinton back to the East Wing, because after all you are worried about sexual predators.
MEGYN: Yeah, listen, it’s not about me, it’s about the women and men of America. And the poll numbers show us that the women of America in particular are very concerned about these allegations and in large part believe that they ARE a real issue. Don’t dismiss the women summarily!
NEWT: Do you want to comment on whether the Clinton ticket has a relationship to a sexual predator?
MEGYN: We on the Kelly File have covered that story as well, sir.
NEWT: No I want to actually hear you use the words. Bill Clinton, sexual predator. I dare you. Bill Clinton, sexual predator.
MEGYN: Mr. Speaker, we’ve covered–
NEWT: Disbarred by the Arkansas bar. Disbarred by the Arkansas bar.
MEGYN: Excuse me. Excuse me.
NEWT: $850,000 penalty?
MEGYN: Excuse me, sir. We on the Kelly File have covered the Clinton matter, as well. We’ve hosted Kathleen Willey, we’ve covered the examples of him being accused as well, but he’s not on the ticket, and the polls also show that the American people are less interested–
NEWT: He’ll be in the East Wing.
MEGYN: In the deeds of Hillary Clinton’s husband than in the deeds of the person who asks us to make him president, Donald Trump. We’re going to have to leave it at that. And you can take your anger issues and spend some time working on them, Mr. Speaker.
NEWT: And you, too.