Bill O’Reilly, the former Fox News Channel host ousted under public pressure after revelations of $45 million in settlements with Fox employees who accused him of sexual harassment and verbal abuse came to light, said that although tapes released by President Trump’s former personal lawyer Michael Cohen could possibly foreshadow problems for Trump, he personally didn’t hear anything worthwhile in the audio. The audio recorded by Cohen reveals him talking with Trump about how to make a payoff to former Playboy model Karen McDougal, allegedly for her silence, just weeks before the 2016 presidential election. McDougal claims she had a nearly yearlong affair with Trump shortly after his son Barron was born.
Last week on Newsmax TV—where O’Reilly landed after his firing by Fox—O’Reilly joined off-the-wall radio host Wayne Allyn Root for one of his frequently scheduled segments on Root’s show. On air, O’Reilly and Root discussed the release of a tape recording during which Trump and Cohen discuss how to pay-off one of Trump’s former mistresses, to which Root asked O’Reilly what he could interpret from the tape’s contents. O’Reilly went into overdrive casting doubt on the contents of the recording.
“I don’t hear anything,” O’Reilly said of his takeaway from the Cohen tape. “I mean, I have no idea—and there’s no context to it. And I don’t know what they were discussing, and I don’t make my analysis based on false premises. So I, Bill O’Reilly, don’t know the setup to the call, it was abruptly cut off. President Trump pointed that out in a tweet. I don’t know what was said afterward. The other stuff was garbled. I don’t trust Michael Cohen, or whoever represents him, to tell the truth. I certainly don’t trust CNN to tell the truth,” O’Reilly said.
He added, “So, I don’t know. Therefore, I’m not going to even venture a guess about what that was about.”
O’Reilly went on to say that he didn’t think Cohen was “going to be practicing law anytime soon.”
Newsmax is a right-wing, web-based media outlet helmed by Trump confidant Christopher Ruddy.
