On Monday’s Kelly File, Megyn Kelly invited on Boris Epshteyn, a senior Trump campaign adviser, to discuss recent revelations from The New York Times that GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump declared a $916 million loss on his 1995 income tax returns.
During a heated 5-minute segment, Kelly repeatedly pressed Epshteyn on the issue, paraphrasing the argument being made by Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton.
“Boris, let’s just skip over the discussion of whether this is legal,” she said, “because it’s perfectly legal what Trump did. … So let’s just talk about where Hillary seems to be going with the argument, which is, A, what kind of a brilliant businessman loses $900 plus million in a year, and B, what about all the small contractors and stockholders who got completely screwed the year that he lost all that money, and he took advantage of it for years thereafter by not paying any taxes but they were hung out to dry.”
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Epshteyn corrected her by saying that the loss wasn’t in one year, it was accumulated over a series of years. He noted that this is a “very accepted practice. … The reason you do that is because you want to continue as a business, because the government wants you to continue as a business, to employ people, and that’s what Donald Trump has done. He’s employed –“
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Kelly interrupted, “You’re not answering any of my points. … I’m giving you the opportunity to respond to the argument she was making everywhere today, which was, what kind of a businessman has losses like that, and he may have wound up OK, but he screwed the little guys, the contractors and so on who didn’t get paid and the stockholders who got paid out pennies on the dollar.”
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“He didn’t screw anybody,” Epshteyn said, adding that “because [Trump] was able to rebound, he’s employed tens of thousands of people since that time period.”
When Epshteyn noted that General Motors took a loss of $16 billion in 2009, Kelly shot back, “But GM is not running for president as a brilliant businessman.”
Many Trump supporters were not happy with Kelly’s aggressive approach to the interview, seeing it as an an attack on their candidate. They took to social media to lash out at the Fox News host.
Hey @MegynKelly Let's see your #TaxReturn. I'm sure that you pay extra above what is required, right? https://t.co/ccVBq9Rj2y
— Deplorable 8BitGeek (@real8BitGeek) October 4, 2016
So sad. @megynkelly can't defend Hillary so she attacks Trump and scolds her guest when he doesn't stick with her talking points #KellyFile
— Veterans For Trump (@Veteran4Trump) October 4, 2016
@megynkelly anybody interested in Trump's 21 yr.old tax ret.?? anyone interested in Hillary's "foundation" taking $$ frm foreign govt??!
— Robert Mitchell (@Pastor_Robert77) October 4, 2016
The anger extended to Facebook, where Shellayne Henson wrote, “Megyn kelly does it everyday. She is going to vote Hillary and the fact she thinks it’s not obvious is amazing. She slams [Trump] for everything. If anyone could hound the terrible things Hillary does its her, but she doesn’t.”
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Tim Rolan added, “Megan Kelly is a disgrace to what journalism used to be, she shows clear bias against Trump and ignores criminal activities committed by hilary clinton! I would respect her if she reported on hilary’s crimes with the same tenacity that she goes after Trump.”
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