NBC News host Megyn Kelly sought to quell a firestorm Tuesday about her upcoming Alex Jones interview by saying she will “shine a light” on his ties to President Trump.
Social media backlash and advertisers skittish over Ms. Kelly’s sit-down with the Info Wars host prompted her to issue a statement of intent Tuesday on Twitter to put her scheduled June 18 broadcast into proper context.
The interview was an attempt to inextricably link the president with Mr. Jones and his past commentary on the 9/11 terror attacks and the 2012 Sandy Hook massacre, she said.
“How does Jones, who traffics in these outrageous conspiracy theories, have the respect of the president of the United States and a growing audience of millions?” she said the statement. “Our goal in sitting down with him was to shine a light — as journalists are supposed to do — on this influential figure, and yes — to discuss the considerable falsehoods he has promoted with near impunity.”
The statement came in the wake of The Wall Street Journal’s reporte that J.P. Morgan Chase pulled its advertisements from her show.
Mr. Jones did not shy away from the uproar on his YouTube channel, telling fans Monday night that he knew all along what NBC planned to do.
“This is their big gamble,” he said. “This is their big ’take Alex Jones down.’ This is pathetic. The only way I could fail was not doing it and letting them rig it and letting them interview me for four hours to edit it together — and then be able to show people what was really said. [They’re] walking right into a trap. [I] even told them they were. But they think they’re winners. They think they’re invincible. … I’m making it safe for everybody else to speak out just like Trump is doing on a much bigger scale. That’s why they hate him and they sell the hoax [that] he’s failing and why they sell the hoax that he’s a criminal.”
Here is my statement regarding Sunday night’s interview: pic.twitter.com/iS2VfyLt6S
— Megyn Kelly (@megynkelly) June 13, 2017
• Douglas Ernst can be reached at dernst@washingtontimes.com.
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