(Julianna Frieman, Headline USA) SiriusXM’s Megyn Kelly ripped into anchor George Stephanopoulos, who she called “Little Napoleon,” Monday over ABC News’s $15 million payoff to President-elect Donald Trump.
On her podcast, Kelly played a clip of Stephanopoulos on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert justifying his defamatory remarks on air to Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., incorrectly saying Trump was found “liable for rape.”
Kelly claimed she would never run her mouth like the ABC News anchor did to Colbert about his ongoing lawsuit.
She said Stephanopoulos was “stupid” and “absolutely foolish” for his brazen appearance on the show.
“You don’t do it because it could come back to haunt you,” Kelly told guests Emily Jashinsky and Eliana Johnson. “He knows that, I’m sure the ABC lawyers told him that. He had swagger around this. He was like, ‘I know I’m only four-foot-two but I’m gonna take down the president! F- you big man, I’m George Stephanopoulos!’”
Kelly claimed Stephanopoulos’s “Napoleon complex” got the best of him.
“He felt the need to try to act like a tough guy,” the radio host said.
Johnson said Stephanopoulos digging his heels in on his defamatory comments gives “pretty good grounds” to prove malice.
Kelly said ABC News could have avoided the entire lawsuit by having Stephanopoulos go on air and apologize for his factual inaccuracy.
“That’s it! That shows a potential jury or judge you didn’t have actual malice in your heart. You did your best to correct the record. It doesn’t necessarily totally exonerate you, but as a practical matter, it does,” Kelly said. “And instead, you had him out there, again, Little Napoleon, trying to show how tough he was because he obviously had something to prove.”
Stephanopoulos’s comments shaming Mace, a rape survivor, for supporting Trump were made in March.
In May, the ABC News anchors appeared on Colbert’s show, Kelly said, then noting that the outlet’s motion to dismiss the case was denied in July.
“Hello folks, we’re knocking on the door of Christmas and Hanukkah right now. We’re in December,” Kelly said. “So, once they lost the motion to dismiss, they easily could have settled it then.”
Kelly suggested Stephanopoulos has something to hide, saying, “I really think something about George sitting was what made them fold because it’s not unprecedented for talent to have to sit.”
Julianna Frieman is a freelance writer published by the Daily Caller, Headline USA, The Federalist, and The American Spectator. Follow her on Twitter at @JuliannaFrieman.
