Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich engaged in a tense confrontation with Megyn Kelly on Tuesday, clashing with the Fox News host over Donald Trump’s treatment of women on live television.
The exchange first started when Kelly pointed to several polls, including one by Fox News, indicating Hillary Clinton leading in a number of key swing states, prompting Gingrich to allege the media was biased against the Republican nominee.
“Let me point out something to you,” Gingrich said. “The three major networks spent 23 minutes attacking Donald Trump that night and 57 seconds on Hillary Clinton’s secret speeches. You don’t think this is a scale of bias worthy of Pravda and Izvestia?”
But it was when Kelly then turned to broach the allegations of sexual misconduct against Trump, describing the real estate magnate as a “sexual predator,” that Gingrich appeared to lose control.
“You’re fascinated with sex and you don’t care about public policy,” he said.
“You know what, Mr. Speaker,” Kelly responded, visibly taken aback. “I’m not fascinated by sex but I am fascinated by the protection of women and understanding what we’re getting in the Oval Office and I think the American voters would like to know…”
Some prominent Trump supporters took to Twitter to commend Gingrich:
.@NewtGingrich just destroyed @MegynKelly. Shows she is totally biased against Mr. Trump & not very smart. Mr. Trump has long known!!
— Dan Scavino Jr. (@DanScavino) October 26, 2016
Conservative pundit Amanda Carpenter, who just hours before penned a Washington Post piece asking why men in her own party refused to defend her against Trump’s sexism, said that the “Kelly File” encounter proved her point:
Gingrich accuses Kelly of being obsessed with sex and then immediately demands she obey his command to mouth specific words about sex. Yech.
— Amanda Carpenter (@amandacarpenter) October 26, 2016
