--- title: Fox News: Megyn Kelly is Not Conflicted Over Donald Trump description: Fox News contends there is no conflict of interest in having Megyn Kelly host the upcoming Republican debate, after Donald Trump complained. canonical: https://time.com/4191702/donald-trump-megyn-kelly-fox-debate/ author: Tessa Berenson article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-01-23T23:41:44.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-19T07:46:40.541Z article:section: Politics og:title: Fox News: Megyn Kelly is Not Conflicted Over Donald Trump og:description: Fox News contends there is no conflict of interest in having Megyn Kelly host the upcoming Republican debate, after Donald Trump complained. og:url: https://time.com/4191702/donald-trump-megyn-kelly-fox-debate/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt646aa79e0f7afa6f/69887a662dce0182cb9e77ce/gettyimages-472733998.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3657 og:image:height: 2057 og:image:alt: 2015 Time 100 Gala og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Fox News: Megyn Kelly is Not Conflicted Over Donald Trump twitter:description: Fox News contends there is no conflict of interest in having Megyn Kelly host the upcoming Republican debate, after Donald Trump complained. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt646aa79e0f7afa6f/69887a662dce0182cb9e77ce/gettyimages-472733998.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Fox News: Megyn Kelly Is Not Conflicted over Donald Trump > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, twice a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=0e2bd0ed-9d90-48d6-b53f-eeb2b758cab6&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1)  by [Tessa Berenson](https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Jan 23, 2016 11:41 PM UTC  Megyn Kelly attends the 2015 Time 100 Gala at Frederick P. Rose Hall, Jazz at Lincoln Center on April 21, 2015 in New York City. Megyn Kelly attends the 2015 Time 100 Gala at Frederick P. Rose Hall, Jazz at Lincoln Center on April 21, 2015 in New York City. Taylor Hill—Getty Images  by [Tessa Berenson](https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Jan 23, 2016 11:41 PM UTC Fox News contends there is no conflict of interest in having Megyn Kelly host the upcoming Republican debate, after frontrunner Donald Trump complained on Twitter. On Saturday, Trump tweeted that the host of _The Kelly File_ had too much ‘bias’ to be a fair moderator for Thursday’s debate: > [](https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/690940125014917120) In a statement, a Fox News spokesperson said, “Megyn Kelly has no conflict of interest. Donald Trump is just trying to build up the audience for Thursday’s debate, for which we thank him.” Trump’s problem with Kelly extends back to a Republican debate she moderated in August, when she pressed him on derogatory comments he has made about women, a question that, though pointed, was not outside the norm of questions typically asked at debates. “Mr. Trump, one of the things people love about you is you speak your mind and you don’t use a politician’s filter. However, that is not without its downsides, in particular, when it comes to women. You’ve called women you don’t like ‘fat pigs,’ ‘dogs,’ ‘slobs,’ and ‘disgusting animals'” she began. “Your Twitter account has several disparaging comments about women’s looks. You once told a contestant on Celebrity Apprentice it would be a pretty picture to see her on her knees. Does that sound to you like the temperament of a man we should elect as president, and how will you answer the charge from Hillary Clinton, who was likely to be the Democratic nominee, that you are part of the war on women?” After the debate, Trump announced that the question was “unfair” and insinuated that Kelly was hormonal when she asked him the question, saying she had “[blood coming out of her wherever](http://time.com/3989652/donald-trump-megyn-kelly-blood-wherever/).” Kelly maintains that she is not biased against Trump, a position Fox supports. “I certainly will not apologize for [doing good journalism](http://time.com/3992052/megyn-kelly-donald-trump-feud/),” she said of Trump’s criticism following the August debate. In a recent [_Vanity Fair_ interview](http://time.com/4166439/megyn-kelly-donald-trump-woo/), Kelly said Trump tried to curry favor with her before he announced his candidacy by sending her signed press clippings. “But I can’t be wooed,” she said. “I was never going to love him, and I was never going to hate him.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4191702/donald-trump-megyn-kelly-fox-debate/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4191702/donald-trump-megyn-kelly-fox-debate/"},"headline":"Fox News: Megyn Kelly Is Not Conflicted over Donald Trump","datePublished":"2016-01-23T23:41:44.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-19T07:46:40.541Z","description":"A second round for one of the most memorable fights of the 2016 campaign","url":"https://time.com/4191702/donald-trump-megyn-kelly-fox-debate/","keywords":["2016 Election","2016 Election","Donald Trump","fox news","Megyn Kelly","Republican"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt646aa79e0f7afa6f/69887a662dce0182cb9e77ce/gettyimages-472733998.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Tessa Berenson","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt646aa79e0f7afa6f/69887a662dce0182cb9e77ce/gettyimages-472733998.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"2015 Time 100 Gala","caption":"2015 Time 100 Gala","creditText":"Taylor Hill—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/2016-election/","name":"2016 Election"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4191702/donald-trump-megyn-kelly-fox-debate/","name":"Fox News: Megyn Kelly Is Not Conflicted over Donald Trump"}}]}] ```