Former Fox and NBC News personality Megyn Kelly proclaimed on her Sirius XM podcast that she did not believe at first that Jeffrey Epstein was a pedophile because “somebody very, very close to this case” told her Epstein preferred the “barely legal type.”
Kelly, 54 and an alumna of Albany Law School, seemed only to create more confusion when she followed up: “Like, he liked 15-year-old girls. And I realize this is disgusting. I’m definitely not trying to make an excuse for this. I’m just giving you facts, that he wasn’t into, like, 8-year-olds. But he liked the very young teen types that could pass for even younger than they were but would look legal to a passerby.”
There is no state or territory in the U.S. where the legal age of consent is 15.
Kelly’s comments sparked a near-unanimous furor. CNN political commentator Karen Finney called the remarks “completely stupid.” The left-wing analysis site The Daily Beast labeled Kelly’s rhetoric in a headline featured in its own coverage as “Diet Pedophilia.” Kelly’s remarks were trending on X, with one user quipping that she has now been renamed “Megan R. Kelly.”
Kelly’s comments sparked a near-unanimous furor.
Kelly’s comments come as Trump and his administration have been in a furor over the recent final signatory of a discharge petition in the House supported by all Democrats and a crucial few Republicans to force a vote on the full release of the Epstein files.
The enraged president posted the following on his own social media site, Truth Social, on Friday, Nov. 14, as a reaction to that news:
The Democrats are doing everything in their withering power to push the Epstein Hoax again, despite the DOJ releasing 50,000 pages of documents, in order to deflect from all of their bad policies and losses, especially the SHUTDOWN EMBARRASSMENT, where their party is in total disarray, and has no idea what to do. Some Weak Republicans have fallen into their clutches because they are soft and foolish. Epstein was a Democrat, and he is the Democrat’s problem, not the Republican’s problem! Ask Bill Clinton, Reid Hoffman, and Larry Summers about Epstein, they know all about him, don’t waste your time with Trump. I have a Country to run!
Some Republicans have partnered with Democrats in forwarding the “files” release, including Republican U.S. Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky. Politico reports that “senior GOP officials believe that dozens of House Republicans” could also join.
Full release of the Epstein files was a crucial campaign promise for Trump as a candidate in 2024. That promise backfired earlier this week when Democrats on the House Oversight Committee released emails from the late Epstein that claimed Trump “knew about the girls.” The White House has characterized this a politically motivated attack.
In a written statement, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt claimed that “these stories are nothing more than bad-faith efforts to distract from President Trump’s historic accomplishments, and any American with common sense sees right through this hoax and clear distraction from the government opening back up again.”
Earlier this week, though, Trump reversed course and urged Republican leaders in Congress to support the effort to release all the files. Critics assumed that reversal could come with a heavily redacted version being made available.
This morning, the Senate sent the bill compelling the Department of Justice to release all its case files tied to Epstein to Trump’s desk for his signature. A senior administration official told CNN the president will sign it.
CNN noted: “The speed with which the legislation moved through both chambers of Congress yesterday marked a stark reversal after months of Trump and GOP leaders working to quash it.”