Megyn Kelly took MAGA stars such as Laura Ingraham to task for their attempts to move on from the Jeffrey Epstein story, saying they let their “loyalty” to Donald Trump supersede their job.
Kelly said on the latest episode of her daily podcast that she was appalled that Ingraham has brushed the story aside after banging the Epstein drum repeatedly for years.
“You now have some MAGA influencers, clearly on direction of the White House, saying, ‘OK, I’m done,’” Kelly said, singling out Ingraham specifically for signaling she will be “moving on” from the story. “She was part of it,” Kelly added. “I like Laura, but she 100% stood up there and fanned this flame.”
Kelly and Ingraham worked together at Fox News from 2007 to 2017 before Kelly decamped to NBC News and then ultimately launched an independent operation after she was fired for endorsing blackface Halloween costumes.
Ingraham did not mention the Epstein case once on Tuesday night’s The Ingraham Angle, with Epstein’s sole mention coming from a guest’s aside as the two spoke about Sen. Adam Schiff (D-CA).
Fox News did not respond to an immediate request for comment on Kelly’s remarks.
Ingraham’s Tuesday night show reflected Fox News’ general silence on the issue, largely in line with President Donald Trump’s demands. Trump declared on Wednesday that supporters who raised questions over the Epstein case were “weaklings” who have “bought into this bulls--t, hook, line, and sinker.”
Kelly has meanwhile cast herself as an avatar of MAGA anger over the Department of Justice’s decision to close the case and debunk multiple conspiracy theories surrounding Epstein, the late financier and sex offender who died by suicide in federal custody in 2019. She asked the crowd at Charlie Kirk’s Turning Points USA conference whether they still cared about the case, prompting a chorus of cheers, and she claimed Attorney General Pam Bondi was guilty of “incompetence.”
Kelly on Tuesday also went after Kirk for saying that he would stop discussing the Epstein case “for the time being,” playing a clip his remarks. “Let’s not pretend that some of the president’s most loyal advocates aren’t very, very interested in Epstein. They are, all right?” Kelly said. “However, some in the media let their loyalty to the president trump their journalistic obligation.”
Kirk claimed on Tuesday that his remarks were taken “out of context” and promised to continue discussing the case, saying he simply wanted to also talk about other topics after a weekend full of Epstein.
Kelly said she herself, however, had a journalistic obligation to cover the Epstein story and not be part of the “CNN of Trump 2.0,” a network she claimed willfully brushed aside questions of former President Joe Biden’s mental acuity.
“I’m just saying journalists—people like me who do consider themselves as journalists—you have an obligation not to just trust. You kick the tires,“ she said. ”That’s your job. You approach all stories and everything fed to you by an administration official, like them, love them, respect them, trust them or not, with a hefty dose of skepticism.”
