--- title: Republican Debate Moderator Megyn Kelly Talks Donald Trump description: The Fox News anchor and moderator of the last debate before Iowa's caucuses tells TIME she wants a discussion about substance, not tweets. canonical: https://time.com/4196506/republican-debate-donald-trump-megyn-kelly-fox-news/ author: Philip Elliott article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-01-27T20:58:03.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-05T08:40:55.619Z article:section: Politics og:title: Megyn Kelly Talks Trump, Twitter and Democrats og:description: The Fox News anchor says she wants a discussion about substance, not tweets. og:url: https://time.com/4196506/republican-debate-donald-trump-megyn-kelly-fox-news/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4b8922781d7f288f/69887ad6524fc07869df678d/trump-kelly.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3452 og:image:height: 1942 og:image:alt: Donald Trump, Megyn Kelly og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Megyn Kelly Talks Trump, Twitter and Democrats twitter:description: The Fox News anchor says she wants a discussion about substance, not tweets. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4b8922781d7f288f/69887ad6524fc07869df678d/trump-kelly.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Megyn Kelly Unfazed By Trump Drama > Sponsored content. 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Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-network-2026q3/newsletters?i=a1f2a827-b9f2-4c16-9e83-40a43813726a&cr=time-nl-network-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Trump's Art of the Duel [Watch (HLS stream): Trump's Art of the Duel](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/mwjW3v8J.m3u8) (2:22)  _Published 2016-01-27. As Donald Trump says he will not participate in Thursday's debate as part of his ongoing feud with Fox News' Megyn Kelly, TIME looks at his strategy in his many long-running disputes._  by [Philip Elliott](https://time.com/author/philip-elliott/)  ## Philip Elliott Senior Correspondent Jan 27, 2016 8:58 PM UTC  by [Philip Elliott](https://time.com/author/philip-elliott/)  ## Philip Elliott Senior Correspondent Jan 27, 2016 8:58 PM UTC Republican frontrunner Donald Trump has had lots of bad things to say about Fox News Host [Megyn Kelly](http://time.com/70888/megyn-kelly-2014-time-100/). He has called her “very biased,” implied that her hormonal cycle affects her journalism and tweeted as recently as Wednesday, “I refuse to call Megyn Kelly a bimbo, because that would not be politically correct. Instead I will only call her a lightweight reporter!” But Kelly isn’t taking the bait. In an interview with TIME just hours before [Trump bailed from Thursday’s Fox News debate](http://time.com/4195465/what-trumps-debate-fight-means/), Kelly even found some nice words to say about the celebrity real estate developer. “He doesn’t care about that P.C. culture,” she said. “It’s a breath of fresh air.” That doesn’t mean Kelly is giving any credence to his criticisms of her. “Working the refs is part of the job,” she said. Asked if she actually had any bias towards any candidate, she answered, “Absolutely not.” On Tuesday, Trump [announced](http://time.com/4195194/donald-trump-skip-fox-debate/) that he would skip this week’s debate if Kelly were involved. Her network said it—not Trump—would pick the moderators, and sent out a press statement taunting Trump as a coward for threatening to walk away from tough questions. Trump promptly quit the debate stage, and said he would counter-program the Fox debate with an [event](https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/692171744845664258) of his own. In retribution, Fox released another statement saying Trump’s campaign manager had threatened to further smear Kelly’s name if she remained the manager. “We can’t give into terrorizations toward any of our employees,” the statement said. For her part, Kelly is trying to stay out of the mess, which began at the first Republican debate, when she asked Trump about some of the crass things he has said about women in the past. She spoke with TIME on Tuesday before Trump withdrew from the debate. Her reps at the network said she was unavailable for a follow-up interview on Wednesday. Kelly knows all the sound and fury is part of Trump’s brand. “I haven’t been on Twitter as much lately,” she deadpans. Speaking more broadly about the tone of the 2016 race, she cautions that some of the candidates have been cavalier in their approach. “They want George Washington’s job. They all need to watch their communications carefully,” she said. Even before the latest chapter in the Trump-Fox spat, Kelly was preparing for a debate that she promises will focus on substance and not personalities. It will be the final time the candidates meet face-to-face before Iowa’s Feb. 1 caucuses. “This is probably Debate 501\. We’ve moved past Debate 101,” Kelly said. As such, her questions are going to be even tougher. But that doesn’t mean she’s going out on limbs or trying to trick candidates, she said. “I won’t be asking any questions to which I don’t know the answers,” she said. It’s an approach she brings to the anchor chair after years as an attorney. “It’s your journalistic responsibility. It’s a security blanket,” she said. That preparation has helped her keep the candidates honest when they try to blow off her questions, whether on the debate stage or on her nightly show, _The Kelly File_. When she quotes one of their earlier statements or cites a statistic, she makes a point of having the original source just off-camera. “You only have to take that lesson once or twice,” she said. It will be Kelly’s second turn as a debate moderator during the 2016 campaign, but perhaps not her last. Asked if she would like to moderate one of the three general-election debates between the eventual Republican and Democratic candidates, she had little hesitation. “Hell yes,” she said. She added that she remains disappointed that the Democrats didn’t partner with Fox News for one of their debates. “They’re crazy not to come over here. We have proven that we are not in the tank for anyone,” Kelly said. “It’s going to be fair, if they did it.” ## Transcript You've called women you don't like fat pigs, dogs, slobs, and disgusting animals. Jeb Bush. Megyn Kelly. Hilary Clinton. Muslims. Lindsey Graham. Rubio. Rand Baul. John McCain. Rick Perry. I'm not a fan of Megyn Kelly. I don't like her. We have very stupid people in our country negotiating for us. I described Jeb Bush as a low energy individual. He's a war hero because he was captured. Hillary, that's not a president. [ BLANK_AUDIO ] [ APPLAUSE ] [ APPLAUSE ] Here, and why don't you apologize for her right now? No, I won't do that because I said nothing wrong. Is there anybody you would like to apologize to right now yourself? [ LAUGH ] No. [ BLANK_AUDIO ] Megyn Kelly's really biased against me. She knows that. I know that. Everybody knows that. Do you really think she can be fair at a debate? [ BLANK_AUDIO ] Here's the problem with political correctness. It takes too long. We don't have time. NBC Wall Street Journal just came out with a poll Headline, Trump way up, Cruz going down. [ BLANK_AUDIO ] You could see there was blood coming out of her eyes. Blood coming out of her wherever. I never attacked him on his look, and believe me, there's plenty of subject matter right there. The simple fact is [ CROSSTALK ]. I didn't want to. Excuse me! One second No [ CROSSTALK ] More energy tonight, I like that. 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