Former Fox News anchor Juliet Huddy said today that Donald Trump tried – and failed – to kiss her on the lips many years ago, right around the time of his marriage to Melania.
Huddy, who reportedly settled a sexual harassment case against Bill O’Reilly for an amount in the high six figures, discussed her experience with Trump on a show hosted by fellow Fox alum, Bill Schulz. The New York Post’s Page Six caught the interview.
At the time of the kiss, which Huddy thinks was in 2005 or 2006 (Trump married Melania in 2005) Huddy was more shocked than offended when Trump tried to kiss her on the lips.
From Page Six:
Huddy said of Trump, “He took me for lunch at Trump Tower, just us two. He said goodbye to me in an elevator while his security guy was there, rather than kiss me on the cheek he leaned in to kiss me on the lips. I wasn’t offended, I was kind of like, ‘Oh my god’.” She said she want to meet a friend and Trump then invited them both back to see “The Apprentice” set, “And everything was copacetic after that.”
But she added, “I was surprised that he went for the lips. But I didn’t feel threatened … It was a weird moment. He never tried anything after that, and I was never alone with him.”
But she said Trump later joked about his clumsy pass at her when appearing on her Fox News morning talk show a few years later. Huddy explained, “Trump was a guest and he came on stage, He said, to the audience and producers, not on camera, ‘I tried hitting on her but she blew me off.’ He was laughing. At the time I was not offended by it …
[...]
“Now I have matured I think I would say, ‘Woah, no’, but at the time I was younger and I was a little shocked. I thought maybe he didn’t mean to do it, but I was kind of making excuses. The elevator incident and the lunch was 2005 or 2006,” she added.
Huddy was very "disappointed" when Trump said he didn’t believe the sexual harassment accusations against O’Reilly. “I thought, ‘You know what, f–k you.’ He [Trump] has met me a bunch of times and he knows I am not [a liar],” she said.
Huddy also appeared on the CBS Evening News tonight where she talked about how nondisclosure agreements covered up Bill O’Reilly’s harassment.
Watch Huddy explain that she signed her nondisclosure agreement because, "I hoped, "I'm just going to close my eyes and just-- just make this go away." The video is via Media Matters.