Just before the start of tonight’s GOP debate on Fox News, CNN ran an interview Brianna Keilar conducted with Donald Trump. In it, Trump mentioned he’d gotten an apology today from Fox News.
“On the phone they apologized? You got an apology?” Keller asked. “Yes,” Trump said, but wouldn’t say who the apology came from.
A few minutes after that exchange, we got this statement from a Fox News spokesperson.
“Roger Ailes had three brief conversations with Donald Trump today about possibly appearing at the debate – there were not multiple calls placed by Ailes to Trump. In the course of those conversations, we acknowledged his concerns about a satirical observation we made in order to quell the attacks on Megyn Kelly, and prevent her from being smeared any further. Furthermore, Trump offered to appear at the debate upon the condition that Fox News contribute $5 million to his charities. We explained that was not possible and we could not engage in a quid pro quo, nor could any money change hands for any reason. In the last 48 hours, we’ve kept two issues at the forefront — we would never compromise our journalistic standards and we would always stand by our journalist, Megyn Kelly. We have accomplished those two goals and we are pleased with the outcome. We’re very proud to have her on stage as a debate moderator alongside Bret Baier & Chris Wallace.”