US journalist Megyn Kelly says Donald Trump tried to give her gifts, including a free stay at one of his hotels, as part of what she called his pattern of trying to influence news coverage of his presidential campaign.
In her memoir Settle for More, to be released on Tuesday, Kelly says Trump may have received a pre-debate tip about her first question, in which she confronted him with his critical comments about women. Her book also details the insults and threats she received after Trump's tirades objecting to her reporting. The Associated Press obtained an advance copy of the book on Saturday.
Kelly, host of Fox News Channel's The Kelly Report, said Trump routinely attempted to gain favourable treatment from other journalists and commentators.
"This is actually one of the untold stories of the 2016 campaign: I was not the only journalist to whom Trump offered gifts clearly meant to shape coverage," Kelly said.
He also attempted to woo them with praise, she said, adding, "This is smart, because the media is full of people whose egos need stroking."
"Trump tried to work the refs, and some of the refs responded," she said.
When it became obvious that some reporters were "in the tank" for Trump, she alleges in one chapter, "certain TV hosts" would work with the candidate in advance on occasional Trump criticism so they would appear unbiased. She didn't identify them by name or media outlet.
Resisting Trump's attempts to buy her goodwill with an offer to comp her "girls' weekend" stay at his downtown New York City hotel or fly her and her husband to visit his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida was an easy ethical decision, Kelly wrote.
Harder still was rejecting the ratings bonanza that the colourful GOP contender could deliver with his "unscripted, unguarded" approach that made for great TV but was the equivalent of "television crack cocaine", Kelly wrote.
She and her producer agreed they had to provide balance and be judicious in their coverage, asserting this was not a "directive to cover Trump negatively or to ignore him".
It was at the first GOP primary debate last August that Kelly questioned Trump about derogatory comments he'd made about women. The day before, Trump had called Fox News executive Bill Sammon to say he had heard that Kelly's first question would be a pointed one aimed at him, she wrote.
"'How could he know that?' I wondered," Kelly said, not answering the question but clearing her Fox colleagues on the debate team of any suspicion of leaking it to him.
Trump was agitated out of proportion in the phone call, she wrote, calling it "bizarre behaviour, especially for a man who wanted the nuclear codes".
Kelly was cast by Trump as his nemesis after the first GOP debate in which she asked him about labelling women as "fat pigs, dogs, slobs, and disgusting animals".
In an interview with CNN's Don Lemon, Trump called her questions ridiculous, adding, "You could see there was blood coming out of her eyes. Blood coming out of her wherever".
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