This is a rush transcript from "The Kelly File," October 13, 2016. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.
MEGYN KELLY, HOST: Breaking tonight with the sexual abuse accusations against him mounting, an angry Donald Trump is fighting back tonight with some explosive allegations of his own, making charges that are riling up his supporters and starting to scare some of his critics.
Welcome to "The Kelly File," everyone. I'm Megyn Kelly. With less than a week to go until the next and last presidential debate, Mr. Trump confronting serious new allegations head on. Over the last few days, more women are coming forward formally accusing him of sexual assault. The claims range from alleged groping incident on an airplane 30 years ago to multiple episodes inside Trump's Florida home over the last decade. Hours ago at a campaign rally in Florida, Donald Trump responding, not only denying the allegations but turning on his critics, and accusing the media, Washington and the Clinton campaign of working together to bring him down. Watch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, R-PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: The claims are preposterous, ludicrous and defy truth, common sense and logic. The corporate media in our country is no longer involved in journalism. They're a political special interest, the Clinton machine is at the center of this power stretch. Hillary Clinton meets in secret with international banks to plot the destruction of U.S. sovereignty in order to enrich these global financial powers, her special interest friends and her donors.
(CROWD CHANTING "LOCK HER UP! LOCK HER UP! LOCK HER UP!")
TRUMP: Honestly, she should be locked up.
(CROWD CHEERING)
She should be.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KELLY: We have a huge lineup for you tonight and a lot of ground to cover. In moments, we'll be joined by JD Heyman, the deputy editor of People. One of his reporters is now accusing Donald Trump on the record of forcibly kissing her more than a decade ago.
Next, we'll speak to Marc Thiessen and former Clinton campaign travelling Press Secretary Mo Elleithee on what we're seeing in the polls tonight.
Plus, Katrina Pierson, the Trump campaign national spokesperson is here and then Charles Krauthammer takes a step back on how presidential campaign unlike any other could be changing this country. But first we begin with new reaction to Donald Trump's remarks today, which some in the media criticize as hateful, contemptuous and even dangerous.
David Wohl is an attorney. Ben Shapiro is an editor-in-chief of DailyWire.com. Great to see you both.
DAVID WOHL, ATTORNEY: Hi, Megyn.
And Ben is the author of the new book, "True Allegiance." Ben, let me start with you because the anti-defamation league is coming out, speaking about Donald Trump's language in part of that that sound bite you just heard there saying, we really need to avoid rhetoric and troops that have been historically used against Jews and spur anti-Semitism. Keep hate out of this campaign. Your thoughts on Mr. Trump's tone and rhetoric today.
BEN SHAPIRO, DAILYWIRE.COM EDITOR-IN-CHIEF: I mean, I'm more concerned about the fact that Donald Trump is constantly talking in terms of conspiracies that are going to overwhelm the American voter, and actually is a tactic of the left to talk about how the American people are being victimized by some shadowy forces beyond their control. And what you really need to do is just hand power to a very powerful gentleman to fix all of that. That's what troubles me more. As far as the illusion to international bankers, I assume he's talking about Goldman Sachs. But again, this sort of large conspiracies, these conspiracies at large don't speak well of his campaign and they don't speak well of the people who are buying into them.
KELLY: Before I get to David, Ben, you used to work for Breitbart and the head of Breitbart, the former head, the CEO, Steve Bannon is now running the Trump campaign or CEO of the campaign. The critics say that that speech today was straight out of the, quote, "alt-right play book," that messaging that we're hearing which has been criticized as, you know, having racist undertones, having anti-Semitic undertones. Did you hear that or is that not fair?
SHAPIRO: Well, I'm always hesitant to cite anti-Semitism as the rational for rhetoric like that. I will say that Donald Trump's campaign and what he has been doing since he hired Steve Bannon has been sort of a burn it down mentality. This is no longer about winning an election. This is now about rallying a certain group of supporters in order to believe that Donald Trump is really being destroyed by some evil conspiracy that stabbed him in the back. He's creating a stab in the back myth before he loses so that he can go back to those people and then mark it off of them or declare victory even if he gets destroyed at the polls.
KELLY: What do you make of it David because, you know, he's obviously feeling angry and feeling conspired against and one gets the impression he can feel it slipping away right now. But that, you know, query whether that kind of a speech is going to help him win voters. What are your thoughts?
WOHL: Well, Megyn, I mean, honestly if you look at the media and the WikiLeaks releases. The substance of the WikiLeaks releases. If this was against Donald Trump and he had done all the WikiLeaks exposing, the media would be talking about nothing else, the idea that they're talking about the women, for example, the women who were obviously collaborated and coordinated to make these simultaneous statements about events that happened ten, 30 years ago, you know, the idea that they're giving that all of the attention instead of the extraordinary weight that the WikiLeaks statements and release of the e-mails have, it's ridiculous.
I mean, the Clinton campaign operatives dirty fingerprints are all over these women's statements, their interviews. There's no question about it. This is all about trying to destroy Donald Trump. And if these were credible, Megyn, why weren't there any criminal complaints filed? Why weren't there any civil suits? Why weren't there complaints to the Trump organization?
KELLY: David, you know very well, you know very well the reason for that. You know the fact that a woman doesn't come forward when she's been sexually grope doesn't mean it didn't happen. Most women --
WOHL: But on an airplane?
KELLY: -- suddenly moved past it, with an understanding that they likely will be attacked brutally if they come forward especially against a powerful man.
WOHL: Okay. But Megyn, they release -- okay, but that's one thing. But to release a statements 30 days from the election when the WikiLeaks stuff is coming down on Hillary Clinton like a comet out of the sky --
KELLY: Uh-hm.
WOHL: I'm sorry, I've got a big problem with that.
KELLY: Ben, you know, here on this program, we've covered WikiLeaks. That was our lead last night. We covered the Trump's stuff too. But we did two blocks on WikiLeaks before we even got to Trump. There is a point, that the WikiLeaks news has been largely ignored by many media outlets.
SHAPIRO: I mean, I agree that the WikiLeaks things has been under-covered by the media. There is no question. But the idea that the media was never going to be against the Republican nominee. They weren't going to try and launch them sort of an October surprise on the Republican nominee. They weren't going to try and launch them sort of October surprise on the Republican nominee. I'm not sure what world we're living in anymore. I mean, yes, Donald Trump has been attacked by the media.
But the person who is mainly responsible for stabbing Donald Trump is Donald Trump who continues to stab himself in the chest with his own libido. You know you do that for 20 years and then you're surprised when somebody brings it up a month before the election. The problem for Trump here is that it's not a he said/she said. It's a he said and she confirmed. I mean, if there's no tape last Friday, and then he's not pressed by Anderson Cooper and to denying that any of this activity took place last Sunday. I mean, I predicted that night that the media was going to drop every woman who he'd ever kissed forcibly on him this week.
I mean, it was obvious where this was going. Trump should have known it was going this way. And to claim that it's some sort of victimization campaign with Trump at the center, I mean, welcome to politics.
KELLY: But, you know, David, what we do know about these women --
WOHL: Well, welcome to dirty politics.
KELLY: One of the women who spoke out to the New York Times said, she called them. And, you know, she saw Trump's denial in the debate and she decided she would call them. The People magazine said she had the same reaction.
WOHL: Yes.
KELLY: So, there isn't evidence of collusion. You just suspect it but there's no evidence of it.
WOHL: For them to all come out simultaneously in big media --
KELLY: Right after he denied it at the debate.
WOHL: But Megyn, 30 years ago. I mean, there has to be some level of assessment of this. She has no credibility. She said she was on first class on an airliner when Trump sexually assaulted, groped her, and nothing ever happened, no one ever saw it, there were no witnesses, absolute garbage -- Megyn.
KELLY: You know, David, can I just ask you? Let me just ask you, was there a witness to Juanita Broaddrick?
WOHL: Megyn, I don't know but there's a lot more attention --
KELLY: The Trump supporters are very willing to belief her. So, you can't have it both ways.
WOHL: No, no, no, no. Did Bill Clinton ever deny Juanita Broaddrick? I don't recall him ever denying Juanita Broaddrick or any of the other women. I just remember his silence. The great thing though Megyn --
KELLY: Okay. So, you have to complain, you have to make a record of it when it happens otherwise it didn't happen. Good to know.
WOHL: Bingo. Thank you.
KELLY: I know as a lawyer, I know you know that's not true. I know you know that's not true. We're going to have more on that with another panel but it's good to see you both.
WOHL: Well, but that's an issue of credibility if you don't. That's all.
KELLY: We also have brand new Fox News poll out tonight showing a big change in this race. In a four-way contest, Hillary Clinton is now leading Trump nationally by seven points. She had only a two-point lead just last week and that enthusiasm gap that is plagued Mrs. Clinton this entire race is apparently gone.
Marc Thiessen is a Fox News contributor, and American Enterprise Institute scholar. Mo Elleithee is a former traveling press secretary for Hillary Clinton's 2008 presidential campaign. Also founding director, executive director of Georgetown Universities. And that's too long.
(LAUGHTER)
Let's talk about the polls. Let's just start with the enthusiasm gap there Marc that we just talked about. That was the thing -- there it is right there. That was the thing he really had over her. He used to have, look at that, 13-point advantage over her, just October 3rd. And now she has a three-point advantage over him on enthusiasm. Your thoughts.
MARC THIESSEN, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: Well, it's hard to be enthusiastic about your candidate when he's constantly imploding in front of you. I mean, if you just look at what's happened in the last few weeks, Donald Trump, just the last few weeks, Donald Trump had a terrible debate, first debate with Hillary Clinton where he constantly interrupted her, then he spent days attacking Miss Universe tweeting out 3:00 a.m. about her sex tapes.
Then a video emerges about him bragging about groping women, then he spends days attacking Republicans who distance themselves from him because of his bragging about groping women and the result is, he's going down in the polls, he's going down 12 points among women age 45 and older, ten points among suburban women, seven points among white women, the college degrees, down six points with GOP women.
The only thing that's shocking is that it hasn't gone down further. So, you know, you've got a situation where you have Hillary Clinton is the second most unpopular person ever in the history to run for president but she's got the luck of being running against the most unpopular person ever to run for president of the United States.
KELLY: Uh-hm. Mo, you tell me. Because you've actually run these presidential campaigns and others like them. What are we seeing now? I mean, do you anticipate that Trump is seeing some internal numbers that are even worse than these and that's causing him to lash out like we're hearing? We just got numbers today from Bloomberg on Pennsylvania and Pennsylvania which has been neck in neck just a couple of weeks ago is now Clinton 51, Trump 52. That is almost a 20-point gap in her favor when it comes to women. They're tied when it comes to men. He's got a one-point advantage of her with men. So, I mean, the numbers -- and by way among women, 69 percent of Pennsylvanians say they were bothered a lot by that "Access Hollywood" tape.
MO ELLEITHEE, FORMER CLINTON TRAVELING PRESS SECRETARY: Yes. I don't know if he's seeing numbers that are worse. It's hard to believe that he could be. I mean, these numbers are absolutely brutal. And you're right, Megyn. It's not just the national numbers. We're seeing it in the states. The one battleground state that in the last couple of weeks the Trump people could sort of hang their hat on was Ohio.
And the latest poll that came out of Ohio shows that his lead there has evaporated and it's now a dead even. I think he's got a one-point lead there. No Republican has ever lost college educated women, right? That is sort of a bedrock of the Republican coalition and he's losing them badly. As Marc just pointed out, a double digit drop in the last week.
KELLY: But now, Marc, the Republicans who think that somehow they're going to make a point by voting Democrat up and down the ticket could possibly give Hillary Clinton the House and Senate, your thoughts on that.
STIREWALT: It's an absolute disaster. I mean, you know, if you think about what will happen if Hillary Clinton is elected, and especially if she gets a Republican Senate and Republican House, she's immediately going to replace Justice Antonin Scalia and shift the court in a liberal direction for a generation and she may -- you think about it, Justice Ginsburg, Justice Breyer and Justice Kennedy are all, you know, in their 80s. They could retire at any time.
She could potentially nominate four Supreme Court judges. So, this implosion that Trump is having is horrific. And you look at this race, you know, the FOX News poll shows that almost 50 percent of Republicans wish somebody else was their nominee. And they're right. If Scott Walker was running right now, if Marco Rubio was running right now, George Pataki was running right now. He would be crushing Hillary Clinton. But Donald Trump is the only person who seems to be able to save us, save Hillary Clinton from herself and she --
KELLY: I got to go. But Mo, quickly, do you think there's any chance that the Democrats take the Senate and or the House?
ELLEITHEE: I sense sort of a balance in Democrats stop over the past week. There are a number of Senate races and House races that weren't not necessarily top tier on everyone's radar that suddenly Democrats are starting to invest money in. I don't know that they'll get there. But it's certainly looking doable.
KELLY: Good to see you both.
STIREWALT: Thanks, Megyn.
ELLEITHEE: Thanks.
KELLY: One of the most explosive new charges against Trump comes from a People magazine reporter who says, Trump grabbed her moments after his very pregnant wife Melania left the room, as this reporter was there documenting their one year wedding anniversary at Mar-A-Lago. The deputy editor for People Magazine is here tonight to talk about what's happened since that reporter came forward.
Before the Trump's national spokesperson Katrina Pierson weighs in for the campaign.
Plus, you heard Mr. Trump making charges about the media today. Is he right? We'll check the record in moments. Don't go away.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: Let's be clear on one thing. The corporate media in our country is no longer involved in journalism.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KELLY: Breaking tonight. Just hours after the New York Times reported on two women who claimed they were touch inappropriately by Donald Trump, we also learned of another woman who says she too was assaulted. In 2005, People Magazine writer Natasha Stoynoff was sent to Trump's Florida estate to profile his first year of marriage with wife Melania. It was their anniversary and Melania was very pregnant. During the interview, Stoynoff was briefly left alone with the real-estate mogul while Melania went upstairs to change her wardrobe.
That's when the reporter now claims Trump abruptly pinned the reporter against the wall and started kissing her. Stoynoff writes, quote, "I wasn't in a locker room when he pushed me against the wall. I was in his home as a professional and his beautiful pregnant wife was just upstairs." Those accusations are now being addressed by Trump who adamantly denies the charges.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: Why didn't they make it part of the story. I was one of the biggest stars on television with "The Apprentice" and it would have been one of the biggest stories of the year. And by the way, the area was a public area. People all over the place. These people are horrible people. They're horrible, horrible liars. And interestingly, it happens to appear 26 days before our very important election. Isn't that amazing?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KELLY: Joining me now, People Magazine deputy editor JD Heyman. JD, thanks for being here. So, Natasha Stoynoff writes the story now coming out with her story. And first, let me ask you, did you know about this prior to her writing it?
JD HEYMAN, DEPUTY EDITOR, PEOPLE: Only very recently. I hadn't known it at the time. We didn't work together at the time. This is something she kept very private for many years.
KELLY: What made her want to write it now?
HEYMAN: Well as you said at the top of the hour very clearly, the release of the tapes, the Bush tapes, the "Access Hollywood" conversation and what crystalize it for her was when Donald Trump responded to a question at the presidential debate and said that he had never touched or kissed a woman without her consent.
KELLY: Uh-hm.
HEYMAN: And I think that made her very determined to tell her tale.
KELLY: What about earlier in the campaign, JD? You know, his treatment of women has been an issue for a long time. Why didn't she come forward earlier?
HEYMAN: Yes. Well, I think the reasons are, the reasons why any woman doesn't come forward. I mean, she has felt a great deal of shame, fear. She was not a public person in that way. She's not a political person. It bothered her. It increasingly did bother her. But until he actually said those words that we all heard on the tape, she thought that, you know, she might have been an isolated case. She doubted herself. Hearing that articulation of what he said was his behavior confirmed for her that this was what he says, his modus operandi with women.
KELLY: Uh-hm.
HEYMAN: And that was I think bizarrely a relief for her. And then when she heard him say no, I've never done this. That was I think in a way, a call for her to speak her truth.
KELLY: She writes about it in the piece saying, like many women, I was ashamed and blamed myself for his transgression. I minimized it. It's not like he raped me. I doubted my recollection and my reaction. I was afraid that a famous powerful wealthy man, could and would discredit and destroy me, especially if I got his coveted people feature killed. Today, we heard from Trump on Natasha Stoynoff who she knew fairly well. She had been covering him, she says, for quite a bit --
HEYMAN: Yes.
KELLY: -- when this happened and this is what he said about her. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: Take a look. You take a look. Look at her, look at her words. You tell me what you think. I don't think so. I don't think so.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KELLY: Do you think that's a reference to her appearance?
HEYMAN: I think it's hard to mistake what that's a reference to. And I would say to your guest at the top of the hour as to why women don't come forward, I think that's a pretty good illustration of why she felt she couldn't come forward.
KELLY: Do you think she's going to come out and speak publicly on camera?
HEYMAN: Listen, you know, I don't really know. I think this has been a very difficult journey for her. I think that she, you know, she is a journalist, she is a professional. She works very hard at her job. She had something happen to her that was very upsetting and this is a new role for her. I don't think that she feels quite comfortable being exposed. I think if you asked anybody in that kind of position what that exposure feels like, it's not easy. And, you know, I just want to underscore because this had been discussed earlier within, she had no awareness, we had no awareness of other women's stories. There's no coordination with anyone. This is a person we worked with.
KELLY: No one reached out to you from the Clinton campaign?
HEYMAN: No. Absolutely not. Absolutely not. We're not a political magazine. We don't have an ideology.
KELLY: Yes. People Magazine. You want to sell magazines. You don't want to pick a side in a presidential election. I understand that.
HEYMAN: Well, no, absolutely. And by way, Mr. Trump has been covered pretty glowingly by big media for many, many years. So, I think that's a strange thing to say. This was one person's story, and it was a story we thought was important to tell.
KELLY: Thank you for being here.
HEYMAN: Thank you for having me.
KELLY: Joining me now, Katrina Pierson, Trump campaign national spokesperson. Katrina, I mean, you tell me, why would this woman, at great harm to herself, come out 11 years later and make an accusation like this and make it up by the whole --
KATRINA PIERSON, TRUMP CAMPAIGN NATIONAL SPOKESPERSON: Well, Megyn, I'm not going to sit here and to pretend to know anyone's motive for doing anything that they do. But what I will say the question is, 26 days before an election. And they all have the exact same answer. And oh, it was the debate. And I'm just not buying that. Mr. Trump has denied this. The witness that she herself has named that come out and denied this publicly. Said that that never happened, Mr. Trump has never treated a woman that way in his presence --
KELLY: The butler?
PIERSON: It would never put him in that position to even deal with anything like this. Absolutely.
KELLY: Yes. But she doesn't say the butler saw Trump in her words trying to shove his tongue down her throat. And she goes on to talk about how then they went back they said, Trump looked at her and said, have you ever been at Peter Luger for steaks, I'll take you. We're going to have an affair, I'm telling you. He referenced the infamous cover of "The New York Post" during his affair with Marla Maples and said you remember, best sex I ever had. It's very detailed. I mean I'm not saying it is true. I don't know whether it's true or not true. But it's certainly is very detailed, is it not?
PIERSON: Well, I mean, just like within the last hour, Megyn, one of the other women has already changed her story. So no it's definitely not true or true. Mr. Trump has denied this. I take him at his word for this.
KELLY: Why don't you take him at his word on the bus where he says he does do this?
PIERSON: Because that was on a "Hollywood Access" bus, he was with another guy in private doing what guys do in a machismo way whether you like it or not, that's how that happens.
KELLY: Yes. But the fact that they were having a private conversation leads many to believe what he said was true. This is guy to guy and Trump saying --
(CROSSTALK)
PIERSON: No, Megyn.
KELLY: I just kissed them without even asking.
PIERSON: But two guys that are talking about girls one upping each other, making each other laugh, that's a little bit different. It's not like they were sitting there, plotting on how to actually go about doing it. That's completely different.
KELLY: Listen. Let me ask you this.
PIERSON: But in this case Mr. Trump has denied these allegations.
KELLY: He's denied them all. And I want to say this. We don't know whether they're true. We don't have time to adjudicate these matters one by one before Election Day.
PIERSON: But that's my point. But that's exactly my point, Megyn --
KELLY: And Trump, no, I'm giving you that. And Trump finds himself in an impossible position because all he can do is say it's not true and we're not going to have an adjudication.
PIERSON: Except the American people, they are a little smarter than that. Simply because this did happen on the exact same day WikiLeaks has come out. We have found out so much of the corruption and the lies and collusion between the Clinton campaign and media as well as the banks, that they don't want to talk about this. The media doesn't want to talk about this. Megyn, tonight I'm here in North Carolina. Remember the hurricane that came through? Twenty three people died.
The Trump women's tour has left the campaign this week because people are hungry here. Food banks are trying to feed 600 families this week and the rivers still haven't receded. So, we have a problem in the United States and our countrymen don't even know that the people of North Carolina need help because they're so focused on what Hillary Clinton wants to allege about Donald Trump. It's disgusting.
KELLY: Katrina, it's good to see you. Thanks for being here.
PIERSON: Great to be here, Megyn. Thank you.
KELLY: So, the string of accusations being made against Trump are raising new legal questions about some of these cases. Could actually be considered criminal, sexual assault.
Joining me now, Jonathan Turley, professor at the George Washington University School of Law. Good to see you, Professor. So, let's just start with that and then I want to get into Trump's defamation threats, his defamation case he's threatening against the times. Would this be, you know, if he grabbed this People Magazine reporter and kissed her against her will, is that a sexual assault?
JONATHAN TURLEY, LAW PROFESSOR, GEORGE WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY: Well, it's certainly can be assault. Usually state laws refer to touching intimate parts, it can be breasts or buttocks. But it can be the level of sexual assault is relatively low. What was described on the plane by Ms. Leeds, it would very likely satisfy that definition. She said that he reached under her skirt and fondled and groped her. That type of thing would satisfy the definition for sexual assault.
KELLY: But that happened 30 years ago and would be outside the statute of limitations.
TURLEY: Well, it would be under -- the interesting thing is it's outside the statute of limitations for a civil suit by Leeds. It's actually is not outside of the statute of limitations under the criminal side. Because it occurred on an airplane and federal law doesn't have a statute of limitations I know off for that particular offense.
KELLY: No.
TURLEY: Now, it wouldn't make a very good case to prosecute because there weren't any witnesses, contemporary objections.
KELLY: Right.
TURLEY: This is not something that will likely occur. But he's going to be very, very careful. You know, he can tweet himself into litigation. You know, these women certainly do have seen the statute of limitations expire. But if he attacks these women, they can allege defamation of their own --
KELLY: Uh-hm.
TURLEY: -- and he could find himself as a defendant in these cases.
KELLY: So, let's talk about that. Because he's coming out. Trump is a litigious man. And, you know, he says, that is protecting his business, people are afraid to come after him because they're going to get sued, and indeed they might. The "New York Times" might get sued but that moved by Trump. And he sent a threatening letter to the "Times" which first broke the news of these two women, one who says a 22-year-old secretary says, he grabbed her and kissed her in the lobby of Trump Tower and one who say, he groped her 30 years ago on a plane. That case would be fraught with peril for Trump. Explain.
TURLEY: Well, first of all, there is a point where litigious becomes frivolous. And when you file frivolous lawsuits you can be hit by sanctions. I don't see the basis for suing "The New York Times." Ironically, it was "The New York Times" that was the plaintiff in "The New York Times" versus Sullivan.
KELLY: Right.
TURLEY: Which set the standard for defamation.
KELLY: Which basically means you cannot sue a public figure, a public figure cannot sue for defamation unless you can prove that the person was out to get them and consciously, you know, printed something that was false. But the thing is the times could turn around and seek so much discovery against him because they can defend themselves with the defense that this was true. So, it's going to try to prove that this was true.
TURLEY: Well, it would be a field day for "The New York Times." "The New York Times" is reporting correctly that women had accused a presidential candidate of sexual assault. Now that's news on any level. I mean you can't argue that that's not news.
KELLY: Uh-hm.
TURLEY: Now, they weren't saying that these were true. They were reporting something that's very significant. Now, Mr. Trump has every right to say that didn't happen.
KELLY: Right.
TURLEY: These things happened 30 years ago. But to say that "The New York Times" shouldn't report that is a bit odd. Now, you can question the timing. I can see that. But to suggest that a newspaper should be sued for reporting something of that kind is very disturbing.
KELLY: Uh-hm. The "Times" is welcoming it. They want him to sue and here we are 26 days out.
TURLEY: Yes, they are.
KELLY: Great to see you, Professor Turley.
TURLEY: Thanks, Megyn.
KELLY: As we've mentioned, we've seen already some troubling things in this White House race. It's going to a much darker place for both sides in just the last few weeks.
Charles Krauthammer is here on how this race may be changing this country. Stay tuned.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ANNOUNCER: From the world headquarter of Fox News, it's "The Kelly File" with Megyn Kelly.
KELLY: New reaction tonight how the media is handling the latest sexual misconduct accusations against Donald Trump. Trump supporters are slamming the allegations and their timing and defending the nominee.
Joining me now to discuss it, Monica Crowley, Fox News contributor and former foreign policy assistant to President Nixon, Kat Timpf, National Review reporter and a contributor to The Greg Gutfeld Show on Saturday at 10 p.m., and Krystal Ball, a Clinton supporter and senior fellow at the New Leaders Council. Great to see you all.
Monica, you've been a defender of Trump all along and yet also a defender of women. And so I'm very curious as to your take on this. I mean, you have at least six women now coming forward on the record. Do you think it was all coordinated? Is that -- do you believe that?
MONICA CROWLEY, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR AND FORMER FOREIGN POLICY ASSISTANT TO PRESIDENT NIXON: Well presidential campaigns have always involved some October surprises to try to derail other candidates. I mean, that's just the way the game is played, whether you like it or not. But when you look at the pattern here, Megyn, what you see is that three days before the first debate the "The New York Times" publishes the tax return story.
And then two days before the second debate you have the Access Hollywood tape leaked even though NBC News had it since August. And now a couple of days before the third debate, you have the "The New York Times" publishing these allegations from these women. So it does look like a coordinated attack.
And given the WikiLeaks disclosures of the very scandalous collusion between the media and the Hillary Clinton campaign, I think it does raise a lot of issues. This is not a coincidence. But every presidential campaign and candidate have to deal with things that are thrown at them. The question is not what they're hit with. The question is how they respond.
KELLY: Kat, you went on a tweet storm last night that got a lot of attention because you -- you were taking real issue with the attempt to discredit all of these accusers by just saying why did they wait so long, why did they wait so long, why did they wait so long.
KAT TIMPF, NATIONAL REVIEW REPORTER AND CONTRIBUTOR TO THE GREG GUTFELD SHOW: Yeah, a coordinated attack. That's really taking it pretty far. It's typical for women in this situation to wait so long. The whole reason that powerful women -- powerful men go after less powerful women is because they don't have power and they can't say anything.
Of course when that guy is about to become the president and when they have an audio tape of him bragging about what he did to them, that might spur them. And yes, when one comes forward, it does make it easier for others to come forward. I think that you should at least consider it's possible that maybe a 22-year-old didn't at the time feel comfortable taking on a billionaire with a lot of influence and power when she was a secretary.
And at least consider that and think about it before making accusations like saying it's a coordinated attack. These women aren't having fun. Look at my twitter mentions for even just saying that, a party you want to be a part of.
KELLY: By the same token, Krystal, the same thing is true of Juanita Broaddrick and Paula Jones and Kathleen Willey. They're getting attacked too, and their stories completely dismissed.
KRYSTAL BALL, CLINTON SUPPORTER, SENIOR FELLOW AT NEW LEADERS COUNCIL: That's absolutely the case, Megyn, and here is the saying. I'm not here to defend Bill Clinton and I'm not voting for Bill Clinton this November. I mean, right now, what we have is a presidential candidate who brags about sexually assaulting women and now we've had woman after woman come out and confirm exactly what he himself confessed.
I mean, in terms of timing, imagine that you're an ordinary citizen living a private life. Can you imagine how scary it would be to inject yourself in the middle of this campaign and be scrutinized, having your public information, private contact details released and everybody decides whether you're enough for King Donald? I can understand a lot of these women.
KELLY: Monica, I'll give you the last word, but especially when you've already seen, some very prominent women, come under attack relentlessly, who, you know, he never let up on for months and months and months. And I'm not just referring to yours truly. You tell me how, you know, this 22-year- old secretary was probably feeling about coming forward and accusing him.
CROWLEY: Yeah, look, I don't know and none of us know the truth about any of this. We weren't in the room so we don't know. We are in a he said, she said situation. I just think from a political standpoint, it is a question of how Donald Trump is going to handle this going forward. There could be something of a backlash effect if voters start to perceive that this is a pile on and it could actually perform the impossible.
TIMPF: More evidence against somebody -- you're saying more evidence against somebody is going to make people think he's not guilty? What planet.
(CROSSTALK)
CROWLEY: Remember that the backlash actually worked in Bill Clinton's favor.
KELLY: Go ahead.
TIMPF: I saying more evidence, more evidence, more people accusing him, you think it's going to make him look more sympathetic?
CROWLEY: That's what happened with Bill Clinton.
KELLY: Okay.
TIMPF: No.
CROWLEY: It had a backlash effect.
KELLY: We're going to leave that. Thank you, ladies. Up next, Charles Krauthammer on 2016 and America.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KELLY: As we've been discussing tonight over the past couple of weeks, we've already seen a troubling White House race go to a much darker place on both sides. While the critics have had a field day with Trump supporters and his treatment of women, the Clinton campaign has some serious issues of its own, including questions about her honesty, her foundation, and how her team views people of faith.
Joining me now, syndicated columnist and Fox News contributor, Charles Krauthammer. Charles, good to see you. If there's one thing I hear from people more than anything else on the streets these days is that they just feel disgusted that they can't wait for this thing to end and they feel, they feel low, they feel grossed out by the state of our electoral politics. Do you think it's particularly bad this time this year?
CHARLES KRAUTHAMMER, SYNDICATED COLUMNIST AND FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: Well it is particularly bad. This is the, I would say, lowest least honorable political campaign I've seen in 35 years. But the good news is that it is reflected in the fact that these are the two most unpopular candidates in American history. There is a sense in the country that this is particularly bad. It would be worse if that weren't true.
And I think what you have also is on two sides the worst of our politics. With the Clintons and what we're seeing in the e-mails is mostly insider baseball. But it shows the utter rank cynicism of Hillary Clinton and that's one of the reasons her ratings are so low. On the Trump side, it's now gone way beyond cynicism into squaller. That's really where we are.
And he's insisting on bringing down the house upon him like Solomon, meaning bringing her down, her husband down, the republican party down. This is an all-out fight of a man with his back against the wall. And you are right, after a day or two of this people feel they want to take a shower. But I would tell you this does not -- there are going to be people who are going to draw historical lessons from this. I think not.
This is an example of what can happen in a celebrity-soaked culture, in a place where reality television has such a great influence, and we are seeing a kind of monstrous soap opera on the political stage. I suspect future candidates are not going to want to repeat either of their performances.
KELLY: How did we get to this point, right? We were just talking about the race in 2012 when it was like being capital and, you know, whether Barack Obama was running an empirical presidency, right? How did we fall so far so fast?
KRAUTHAMMER: Well because on one side you have a very cynical politician in Hillary Clinton who doesn't have a message because, as we see in her own e- mails, they're not even sure why she's running with, what she stands for, et cetera. It's all contrive, all thought out. On the other side, we have a reality television star who has no qualities that would make him fit for the office, is without a doubt the least qualified and the least tempered mentally fit for office that we've seen in a long time.
You put them together and you have a campaign with no substance. It might have started out with substance, you know, and essentially you could say immigration or trade. Essentially what is happening to some parts of the white electorate, also nonwhite who are being left behind, that's fine. But we are not even near discussing that now.
We are now at the bottom of the barrel. That's how we got here. It's the choice of the candidates. And it is quite remarkable that the parties have elected the weakest possible candidates for their side and the only one who would have a chance of winning because the other side is nominated is a weaker candidate.
KELLY: Now with 26 days to go, you can feel the populous bracing itself, Charles, bracing itself for what's next at the debate or is there another October surprise, or how low can they go. Have we hit rock bottom or are we going even deeper?
KRAUTHAMMER: No. There is no -- in this campaign there is no visible bottom. We'll only hit bottom on election day because there will be no time to go any lower. But the trajectory is only one way. And Trump is ready to bring down the house. Bring down almost literally the house around him. He's bringing out, you know, parading around with accusers of Clinton, fine.
But then when other people accuse him of similar behavior, he calls them liars and promises to bring evidence. Why doesn't he bring it now? Isn't this time to bring it? Look, this has sunk so low that I agree with you, I don't know of anybody who doesn't want to see this end as quickly as possible.
But again, I don't believe in apocalyptic thinking. This is not something people are going to draw great statements about our politics. Yes, it is expressing a lot of this sort of the celebrity madness, the fact that Trump won the nomination in the first place. But I think Americans -- Churchill once said, Americans always end up doing the right thing after they've tried everything else first.
KELLY: Right.
KRAUTHAMMER: Well this is trying everything else first. We are right in the middle of it and it is ugly.
KELLY: Perhaps the right thing is coming our way, when and in what form remains to be seen. Charles, great to see you.
KRAUTHAMMER: My pleasure.
KELLY: Imperial presidency, not empirical. Imperial, like a king. Up next, speaking of kings, Brian Kilmeade is here on the sudden downfall, downfall of the once beloved Ken Bone. Say it ain't so. That's next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(START VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: One more question from Ken Bone about energy policy. Ken?
KEN BONE, BREAKOUT FIGURE OF SECOND PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE: What steps will your energy policy take to meet our energy needs while at the same time remaining environmentally friendly and minimizing job loss for fossil power plant workers?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KELLY: With that one question, Ken Bone went went from audience member at last week's debate to instant media star. But in a tale as old as time, it wasn't long before the hero became the villain. Brian Kilmeade, co-host of "Fox and Friends" is here on the rise and fall of Ken Bone. Brian?
BRIAN KILMEADE, CO-HOST, "FOX & FRIENDS": This isn't an easy story for me to do but someone has to do it. All right. Let's start with the back story, cue the music. Ken Bone gets the word that he's need for the audience. Yes, he's an undecided voter. He is one of 40 to make the cut, 67 million people will be watching. Ken knows exactly what he's going to wear. He's going to be the olive green suit.
The problem, he has gained 75 pounds since that picture. He rips the seat of the pants of that suit. Ken needs his second best outfit. There is only one stop to go, one place to go, Kohl's, where he gets a sweater that almost fits him. It's a red sweater and he pulls it over and quickly put himself to the studio, where in that red sweater, he sits for one hour.
For one hour, he sits there and waits for his moment. And then suddenly, it happens, cue the different music. He would take the energy topic and suddenly America would fall in love with the man, with the square-like, boxy-figure figure and a unique look. He would have the instant fame of a Kardashian.
He would do interview after interview. And suddenly, he had sponsorship deal. How do I know? When asked if Ken had decided who to vote for, he said, yeah, Uber, Uber Select. That's why Uber Select is his choice. He suddenly has sponsorship deal. And he has a Halloween costume, it's a female costume.
KELLY: No.
KILMEADE: And before it could hit the shelves, it flew off the shelves. There is. Exactly like Ken Bone. Much better abs than Ken Bone, I might add. Cue the third selection of music. Disaster strikes. A headline hit. The New York Daily News decide that Ken Bone is not just undecided, he's an ignorant bone head.
KELLY: Oh, come on.
KILMEADE: . because he asked a bad question. His sweater didn't fit. And his question could have been answered by looking at the website. He's got all the clicks in the world and it shows that the media that created Trump created Ken Bone. Therefore, we are saying his star has dimmed, sooner it will be destroyed. Welcome to America in 2016. Good-bye, Ken Bone. We barely knew you.
KELLY: Nicely done, Brian Kilmeade. Come on, don't be shy. Brian Kilmeade is here today watching. I can see this is going to be the basis for your next novel. Ken Bone is going to be a star yet. Thank you, sir.
KILMEADE: I got to go.
KELLY: We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KELLY: So to hear a surprising story about Brian Kilmeade, yours truly, and Donald Trump, you need to pre-order my book "Settle for More" right now at barnesandnoble.com or amazon.com. This story has never been told before and it will shock you. Lots of fun stories in there about my time here at Fox including my very favorite interview here on "The Kelly File" and my absolute least favorite. Settle for more. Pre-order now. Who do you think it is? See you tomorrow night.
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