Donald Trump will sit down with Megyn Kelly for a primetime special on Fox Broadcasting, the Fox News anchor announced during “The Kelly File” on Monday.
“Megyn Kelly Presents” is set to air Tuesday, May 17, at 8 p.m. on Fox, “the ‘American Idol’ Fox, the ‘Empire’ Fox, not the Fox News Channel, the big Fox,” Kelly said on her show. Extended portions of the interview will also appear on “The Kelly File” the following night.
“I look forward to what promises to be a compelling and wide-ranging sit-down,” Kelly said.
Kelly explained that the special comes on the heels of their “heart-to-heart earlier this month at Trump Tower.” It will mark their first interview since the August 2015 Fox News debate, which Kelly moderated, angering the GOP front-runner when she asked him about comments he’s made about women.
“You’ve called women you don’t like fat pigs, dogs, slobs, and disgusting animals,” she said. “You once told a contestant on ‘Celebrity Apprentice’ it would be a pretty picture to see her on her knees. Does that sound to you like the temperament of a man we should elect as president, and how will you answer the charge from Hillary Clinton that you are part of the war on women?”
The next day, Trump told CNN that the Fox News anchor had “blood coming out of her eyes, blood coming out of her wherever.” He has since called her “highly overrated,” “so average in so many ways” and a “lightweight reporter,” among other things.
In January, Trump refused to participate in another Fox News debate and instead hosted a fundraiser for veterans on the same night.
Fox News said in a statement at the time:
“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.”
