If you remember Kelly from her early days at Fox News, when she was Megyn Kendall, you may recall that her seemingly dogged investigation of the accuser in the Duke Lacrosse rape case, that often came straight from the defense attorneys, set her star rising at Fox.
But if Kelly is half as concerned with the dizzying array of inconsistencies and reversals in the Reade case as she seemed to be in the Duke case, she’s keeping it to herself so far.
The first of two clips Kelly released to the public is called, “The MK Interview: Tara Reade responds to Joe Biden; calls for him to drop out.” That’s the big news from it, folks. Nothing about why Reade decided to sit down with Kelly after claiming security concerns made her cancel an interview with Fox News' Chris Wallace – right after Biden called on the National Archives to release any complaint about him from Reade nor why she subsequently revealed she never alleged harassment or assault in her complaint.
Kelly didn’t even mention Biden’s request for the complaint in the clip. Instead, she noted that Biden has said women should start off with the presumption that they’re telling the truth when they allege sexual abuse, then asked pointedly, “Do you think he’s afforded you that presumption?”
That provided a series of predictable, Fox-friendly, anti-Biden soundbites, including Reade’s call for Biden “to be held accountable.” Throughout, Kelly nodded with predictable, Fox-friendly looks of sympathy. It all concluded with Kelly saying, “You want him to withdraw” and Reade replying, “I wish he would, but he won’t” followed by the not-so-hard-hitting query, “Do you want an apology?” Reade replied, “It’s a little late,” and clip over.
The other clip was just as Fox-friendly and uninformative. In that one, Kelly gave the appearance of being a hard-nosed reporter while she outsourced all the work to someone else. “Does [Biden] get the chance to defend himself and vet these claims?” Kelly asked, still without mentioning anything about the complaint thingy. “Would you go under oath [and submit to] cross examination?” Reade replied, “Absolutely.” Reade was not so gung ho about taking a polygraph. “I’m not a criminal,” she said. “Joe Biden should take the polygraph.” But in a few moments, she said she’d take one if Biden did. “But I’m not a criminal,” Reade added.
And that was the end of the other teaser.
According to Gabriel Sherman, Kelly wants to return to Fox News. Sherman also reported that Fox does not want her back. Will this interview change minds? Get Kelly a job at another conservative outlet? Stay tuned.
