April 14--Donald Trump spent an hour in a one-on-one meeting Wednesday with his Fox News Channel nemesis, Megyn Kelly, who is seeking a prime-time interview with front-runner for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination.
Kelly had hoped to announced on her program "The Kelly File" that Trump would be a guest on her May 23 prime-time special airing on the Fox broadcast network.
But no agreement was reached on the appearance.
"Mr. Trump and I discussed the possibility of an interview, and I hope we have news to announce on that soon," she told viewers.
The meeting at the real estate billionaire's office at Trump Tower in Manhattan was his first since his troubled relationship with the anchor became one of the story lines of the campaign season after FNC's Republican primary debate on Aug. 6. In that debate, Kelly pressed Trump on his history of making derogatory comments about women.
Trump responded angrily in interviews he gave afterward and attacked Kelly on Twitter with harsh remarks about her journalistic abilities. While he has continued to appear on other Fox News programs, he chose not to appear on "The Kelly File" or at the second GOP debate that aired on the channel before the Iowa caucuses. He did appear at a third Fox News debate, with Kelly as one of the moderators, held March 3 in Detroit.
In a statement issued earlier Wednesday, Fox News Chairman and Chief Executive Roger Ailes acknowledged that he had talked with Trump several times in recent weeks about appearing on Kelly's special.
Fox News has a good reason to be heavily invested in making Kelly's prime-time special a success. Her contract with the cable network expires next year, and she said in a recent interview that she is unsure about renewing. She recently signed with Creative Artists Agency, which has a history of landing big paydays for TV news personalities.
Kelly, 45, joined Fox News in 2004 after a career as a trial attorney. She has been a top-rated cable news anchor since she was added the channel's prime-time lineup in 2013. Her confrontation with Trump has made her an even bigger star -- she did a glamorous cover shoot for Vanity Fair -- expanding her following beyond the conservative viewers that typically tune in to Fox News.
A prime-time broadcast platform for Kelly would surely be an enticement to stay in the job. But the Fox network has never had a successful newsmagazine, even in the days when the genre proliferated and was the most popular in television during the 1990s.
Based on Trump's ability to draw ratings, a sit-down with Kelly would be certain to turn the special into a TV event.
Twitter: @SteveBattaglio
