Donald Trump Praises Newt Gingrich for His Exchange With Megyn Kelly

By Maggie Haberman

Oct. 26,2016

Donald J. Trump interrupted a promotion for his new hotel in Washington to shower praise on Newt Gingrich for confronting the Fox News host Megyn Kelly on Tuesday night, when the former House speaker said in an interview that she was “fascinated with sex” in her reporting on Mr. Trump’s treatment of women.

Speaking at a gold-gilded lectern at the Trump International Hotel on Pennsylvania Avenue on Wednesday, Mr. Trump pointed a finger toward Mr. Gingrich, who was in the audience at the hotel ribbon-cutting.

“Congratulations, Newt, on last night — that was an amazing interview,” Mr. Trump said. “We don’t play games, Newt, right? We don’t play games.”

Ms. Kelly has been a frequent target of Mr. Trump ever since she was a moderator at the first Republican primary debate in August 2015 and asked him about his past misogynistic comments.

The video of Ms. Kelly interviewing a hostile Mr. Gingrich went viral on social media within hours of airing.

During the exchange, Mr. Gingrich repeatedly rebuked Ms. Kelly for covering accusations from more than 10 women that Mr. Trump groped or sexually assaulted them.

“You are fascinated by sex and you don’t care about public policy,” Mr. Gingrich said.

Ms. Kelly seemed taken aback, and chuckled: “Me? Really?”

Mr. Gingrich then tried to shift the discussion toward sexual assault accusations that have been made against former President Bill Clinton over the years. But when Ms. Kelly pointed out that Mr. Clinton is not running for president, Mr. Gingrich excoriated her.

He urged her to say, “Bill Clinton, sexual predator.” He went on: “I dare you. Say ‘Bill Clinton, sexual predator.’”

Ms. Kelly said that she had covered those accusations as well. Eventually, she cut Mr. Gingrich off, saying, “You can take your anger issues and spend some time working on them, Mr. Speaker.”

A short while later, Dan Scavino Jr., Mr. Trump’s campaign social media director, posted on Twitter about the exchange.

Mr. Gingrich, a Fox News commentator, also went on Twitter on Wednesday, saying that this was an example of “media bias.” He told reporters covering the hotel ceremony that the exchange was merely part of “the business.”