Megyn Kelly says media partly to blame for Capitol riot: They ‘couldn’t check their’ feelings about Trump

Journalist Megyn Kelly in a recent interview laid some of the blame for the deadly rioting by supporters of former President Trump at the feet of the media, saying members of the press couldn’t check their “personal feelings about him.” 

“They hated him so much, they checked their objectivity,” Kelly told BBC Newsnight. “It wasn’t just CNN, all of them did. They just couldn’t check their own personal feelings about him.”

Part of the reason for the rioting at the Capitol earlier this month, Kelly said, was “because there has been a complete lack of trust, a destruction of trust in the media, and people don’t know where to turn for true information.”

“He’s been called a narcissist… [but] you don’t become president of the US if you’re not a narcissist.”

Speaking to @maitlis last night, journalist @megynkelly says Donald Trump’s temperament “sullied his legacy on his way out of the door” https://t.co/tQ874THGUx#Newsnight pic.twitter.com/GSxRbrqBKP

— BBC Newsnight (@BBCNewsnight) January 20, 2021

Moments before hundreds of protesters stormed the Capitol, Trump spoke at a rally on the National Mall, repeating unproven claims of a “stolen” election and urging his supporters to march to the complex as lawmakers met inside to certify President Biden’s victory. 

The House impeached Trump a week later on one charge of “inciting insurrection” in connection with the attack. A Senate trial is expected to begin the week of Feb. 8. 

“The media should have tried harder to take a hard look at his policies and see him clearly,” Kelly, a former Fox News and NBC host, said during the BBC interview last Wednesday, adding that Trump was a “larger than life” figure who “sucked up all the oxygen in the room” because he was so “personally controversial.” 

Trump and his supporters regularly lashed out at members of the press during his time in office, accusing them of peddling “fake news” and displaying personal bias against Trump. Images and video taken the day of the rioting at the Capitol show some demonstrators berating or assaulting members of the media covering the protest. 

Kelly and Trump famously clashed at a Republican primary debate during the 2016 presidential campaign after she pressed him over disparaging comments he had made about women.