Chief White House strategist Steve Bannon once told former Fox News chairman Roger Ailes that Megyn Kelly was “the devil,” warning “she will turn on you,” Politico reports.
During Donald Trump’s campaign, conservative media heavyweights Breitbart and Fox News had “colliding visions for the Republican Party,” and vied for the president’s soul. And despite at one point seeming like they could be allies in the fight against the “mainstream liberal media,” the relationship between the two companies “began to sour” over former Fox News star Megyn Kelly.
“The big rift between Breitbart and Fox was all over Megyn Kelly. She was all over Trump nonstop,” Bannon explained in an interview. He also said he told Ailes that Kelly was untrustworthy.
“I told him then, I said, ‘She’s the devil, and she will turn on you,” Bannon said.
Kelly drew the ire of then-candidate Trump during the 2016 presidential election, when she asked him about his treatment of women during a August 2015 Republican.
“You’ve called women you don’t like fat pigs, dogs, slobs and disgusting animals,” Kelly said to Trump. That question ignited a feud that continued for over a year.
He later described the moment in an apparent reference to Kelly’s menstrual cycle, saying she “had blood coming out her eyes” when she asked the question.
"She gets out and she starts asking me all sorts of ridiculous questions," Trump said. "You could see there was blood coming out of her eyes, blood coming out of her wherever. In my opinion, she was off base."
Kelly was later instrumental in bringing down Ailes. In July 2016, Kelly corroborated former Fox News host Gretchen Carlson’s clams that the former Fox News chairman sexually harassed her. Nine days later, Ailes resigned with a reported $60 million payout.
