WASHINGTON: Months after he savaged her on Twitter and elsewhere, Donald Trump tells Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly that people who are bullied “gotta get over it” and fight back. In an excerpt of the interview, which will be on the Fox network Tuesday night, Trump says he’s a counterpuncher who goes after people when they go after him, only 10 times harder. Asked if he was ever bullied, the Republican presidential candidate said no. But he said bullying doesn’t just happen to children. “People are bullied when they’re 55,” he said.
Kelly responded pointedly, with a smile: “Can happen when you’re 45.” She is 45. “You know, it happens, right?” Trump went on, as if he didn’t hear her. “But you gotta get over it. Fight back, do whatever you have to do.”
Trump took offense when Kelly confronted him in the first primary debate about crude remarks he’d made about women. He later suggested her menstrual cycle was behind her aggressive tone, called her “third-rate” and boycotted one of the debates at which she was a moderator, as his feud with Fox News escalated.
In the released excerpt, the two did not directly discuss his criticisms of her. She told ABC’s “Good Morning America” on Monday the tone of the interview was cordial, with tense moments, and predicted viewers “will be feeling a little uncomfortable.”
Kelly said she asked for the interview because she wanted to get her interactions with Trump on a professional footing. “You don’t want to be the story,” she said. “You want to cover the story.”
Ex discredits NYT story
A woman at the center of a New York Times piece detailing Republican Donald Trump’s history with women took issue with the story yesterday, saying she never had a negative experience with the billionaire and does not believe he ever mistreated women.
Rowanne Brewer Lane, a former model who dated Trump for several months starting in the late 1990, said her words were mischaracterized in the Times article, which used dozens of interviews to show a pattern of unsettling personal behavior by the presidential candidate with women.
The Times story said Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee for the Nov. 8 election, asked Lane to change into a bikini shortly after meeting her at a pool party at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida. According to the article, he then introduced her to the crowd outside, saying, “That is a stunning Trump girl, isn’t it?”
On yesterday, Lane told the same story but said she had been flattered by his comment. “They spun it to where it appeared negative,” Lane said on Fox News. “I did not have a negative experience with Donald Trump.”
Trump has deflected criticism about his attitude toward women throughout his campaign. Yesterday, he called the New York Times “so dishonest.” “Their hit piece cover story on me yesterday was just blown up by Rowanne Brewer, who said it was a lie!” Trump posted on Twitter.
Times reporters Michael Barbaro and Megan Twohey defended their story on CBS “This Morning,” saying it showed how Trump behaved privately with women and revealed common themes, including unwelcome advances, aggression and commentary on their appearance. “People can evaluate the story … on its own merits,” Barbaro said.-Agencies
