Media mogul Oprah Winfrey couldn’t escape questions about President Trump during her appearance on “The Ellen DeGeneres Show” Thursday.
A possible presidential run, gun control and a recent “60 Minutes” interview that riled up Mr. Trump were on the agenda this week as Ms. Winfrey sat down with comedian Ellen DeGeneres. The Harpo Productions founder said criticism of her interview with 14 voters in Grand Rapids, Michigan, was tantamount to “hate tweets.”
Mr. Trump called Ms. Winfrey “insecure” on Feb. 18 and said that he hopes she runs for president “so she can be exposed and defeated.”
“Have you been drinking an extra amount since that tweet that the president put out?” the host asked. “Like, I don’t want to harp on it, but — or ’Harpo’ on it — but what was that like for you to find out about that?”
“I don’t like giving negativity power, so I just thought, ’What?’ What I actually really did was I went back and looked at the tape to see if there was any place that that could be true. Did I feel like it was slanted or biased,” Ms. Winfrey responded, THR reported. “I went back and looked at every tape, I called the producer. Because what actually happened was when you do ’60 Minutes,’ you sit in a room with at least seven other people who critique the piece before you air it, before you do the introduction to it, and then they give you the critique.”
She then said a portion of her interview on what others think of America was edited to give it more balance.
“They only used the Democratic side,” Mrs. Winfrey said. “And I said, I remembered the guy Matt had said, ’No, we’re the only people that are worried what other countries are thinking of us.’ And I said, ’I think you should go back and put that in because it makes it more balanced.’ So, I was working very hard to do the opposite of what I was hate tweeted about so, it’s OK.”
Mrs. Winfrey also used the interview to reiterate that she is “definitely not” going to run for president in 2020.
Just watched a very insecure Oprah Winfrey, who at one point I knew very well, interview a panel of people on 60 Minutes. The questions were biased and slanted, the facts incorrect. Hope Oprah runs so she can be exposed and defeated just like all of the others!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 19, 2018
• Douglas Ernst can be reached at dernst@washingtontimes.com.
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