Fox News host Megyn Kelly claims that President-elect Donald Trump offered her free hotel rooms and gifts in return for favorable coverage during the election.
This is not the first time that the combative television journalist has clashed with Trump. Trump reacted angrily during a Republican primary debate when Kelly asked him a question that inferred he was sexist.
Kelly’s latest accusation is leveled in her yet-to-be-released memoir, Settle for More, according to an Associated Press report. She writes that then-Republican nominee Trump offered to provide free airfare to his Florida resort Mar-a-Lago where she and her husband could stay free of charge.
The journalist also alleges that Trump offered free stays at the Trump International Hotel & Tower in New York City for her and her friends. Kelly says she refused the offers but never mentioned the offers during the campaign.
In her book Kelly writes, “This is actually one of the untold stories of the 2016 campaign: I was not the only journalist to whom Trump offered gifts clearly meant to shape coverage.”
Kelly also suggests that Trump heaped praise on journalists. “This is smart, because the media is full of people whose egos need stroking. Trump tried to work the refs, and some of the refs responded,” she writes.
The newswoman maintains that her coverage of Trump was fair and balanced like Fox News’s motto and that there was no “directive to cover Trump negatively or to ignore him.”
In October during her nighttime show, “The Kelly File,” Kelly engaged in an on-air argument with former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, a staunch Trump supporter, after she wondered “if Trump is a sexual predator.”
Kelly’s book is slated for distribution next Tuesday.