Megyn Kelly to Alex Jones: ‘It’s Not Going to Be Some Gotcha Hit Piece’

Controversial journalist Megyn Kelly has not had a stellar start at NBC News. The ratings for her new show have left much to be desired, and her interview with Russian President Vladimir Putin was far too softball journalistically.

Not only that, previously unaired video from that Putin interview emerged this weekend showing the host completing the interview by flattering the Russian leader. Among other statements, she told him he had “brought dignity back to Russia” during his tenure as leader. The unedited video footage was obtained by HuffPost.

The next episode of “Sunday Night with Megyn Kelly” is built around an interview she did with Infowars founder and host Alex Jones, someone President Trump reportedly personally called and thanked after he won the 2016 presidential election.

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A sponsor has already dropped Kelly’s show and the former Fox News host was disinvited from a charity event because of her interview with Jones, a man many in the media have said believes the Sandy Hook shootings in 2012 never happened — a position he denies having.

The promo for Sunday’s interview was what could be expected: Jones looked like a crazy conspiracy theorist in regard to the Sandy Hook tragedy. Kelly even fed into the hysterics about Jones being a Sandy Hook denier. She said in an official statement that his position was “revolting.”

Jones has now begun releasing audio of conversations between himself and Kelly to prove that she knew his true position on Sandy Hook — and that she sold her interview with him as something entirely different than what it ended up being. Thus far, one phone call has been released between the two, but Jones said he has the unedited interview taped — it was at least partly filmed at his studios in Austin, Texas — and that he will release it after Kelly’s interview drops on Sunday to prove how she spun and edited together Jones’ words.

It’s bad news for Kelly; her show has received almost no good press in its first few weeks on the air. Worse still, a report from The New York Post claims that sources say the episode is being reedited amid the controversy to make Kelly appear “tougher” on Jones. She also may be adding Sandy Hook victims’ families to the broadcast.

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The first phone call released by Jones is painting Kelly in a bad light. “I’ve never done this in 22 years. I’ve never recorded another journalist. I’ve never done this, but I knew it was a fraud. I knew it was a lie,” Jones said in a video promoting the audio’s release. He said he started recording when Kelly seemed to be too positive toward him, raising red flags in Jones’ mind.

“I said Sandy Hook happened,” Jones revealed. “She wouldn’t even put it in the promo pieces.”

He continued before playing the audio for listeners: “In the past, MSM, corporate media could tell the truth, they could lie, they could spin. It was up to them. They were the gods of information.”

The phone call itself does not make Kelly look good. While it’s not uncommon for journalists to speak highly to potential interviewees to ease them into agreement, Kelly apparently sold the interview as something different than what reports and her own promo suggest it actually is.

“I’m not looking to portray you as some kind of bogeyman. The craziest thing of all would be if some people who have this insane version of you in their heads came away saying, ‘You know what? I see the dad in him. I see the guy who loves those kids and is more complex than we have been led to believe,’” Kelly said at one point.

She added about addressing controversies, “I’ll give you the chance to respond. I really just want to talk about you. You. Take the measure of the man. This is your chance to tell people who you are.” (click on page 2 for the rest of the story) [lz_pagination]