Megyn Kelly To Interview Donald Trump For Her First Primetime Special

Megyn Kelly has landed that interview with ratings magnet Donald Trump for her Fox broadcast network primetime special Megyn Kelly Presents on May 17. Extended bits of the interview will air on Kelly’s Fox News Channel show The Kelly File the next night.

“Mr. Trump and I sat down together for a meeting earlier this month at my request,” Kelly said in today’s news.  “He was gracious with his time and I asked him to consider an interview. I am happy to announce he has agreed and I look forward to a fascinating exchange – our first sit-down interview together in nearly a year.”

Fox News, meanwhile, called Trump’s campaign “one of the most historic presidential runs in modern times.” And that, in the interview, Kelly will “for the first time ever…explore how events unfolded with Trump after the August debate” calling her “one of the most prominent voices covering the 2016 presidential campaign of the frontrunner.”

About that August debate: Trump has had it in for Kelly since that first GOP debate of this election cycle, when she asked him, right out of the gate, “You’ve called women you don’t like ‘fat pigs,’ ‘dogs,’ ‘’slobs’ and ‘disgusting animals.’ Does that sound to you like the temperament of a man we should elect as president? And how will you answer the charge from Hillary Clinton, who is likely to be the Democratic nominee, that you are part of the war on women?”

Apparently Kelly struck a nerve. Because, the next day he turned her into a household name, and led to one of the most discussed candidate comments of the election cycle to date, when he complained to CNN’s Don Lemon, of Kelly’s question-asking: “You could see there was blood coming out of her eyes, blood coming out of her…. wherever.”

For months, both sides have been massaging the relationship, to great effect   – Trump tweeting  “Crazy @megynkelly is unwatchable” and “She is sick, & the most overrated person on TV,” while Kelly mesmerized late-night talk show hosts Jimmy Fallon and Stephen Colbert with stories about her “surreal six months” being the target of the GOP frontrunner and “can no longer go on Twitter.”

Last month, Fox News jumped in on the fun, saying “Donald Trump’s vitriolic attacks against Megyn Kelly and his extreme, sick obsession with her is beneath the dignity of a presidential candidate who wants to occupy the highest office in the land,” the day the candidate issued a particularly petulant anti-Kelly tweet.

Which explains why, a couple weeks ago Twitter erupted when MSNBC folks spotted Kelly walking into Trump Tower on Manhattan’s Fifth Avenue, home of her favorite subject when she’s on the late-night TV circuit promoting her big new book deal and her nightly show. That triggered speculation Kelly went to kiss the ring before revealing on her show that she and Trump had kissed and made up, to the extent he will participate in her May sweep special. Bill Geddie has been hired to exec produce – he’s the guy who EP’d Barbara Walters’ 10 Most Fascinating People celeb-fests. Kelly will interview celebrities from the world of politics, entertainment and other fields.

“You may have heard the news today, that Yours Truly took trip to Trump Tower on Fifth Avenue in New York City,” Kelly confirmed that night on her program. “There I had a meeting with Donald Trump. The meeting was at my request. And Mr. Trump was gracious enough to agree to it. We met for about an hour, just the two of us. And had a chance to clear the air. Mr. Trump and I discussed the possibility of an interview. And I hope we will have news to announce on that soon.”

Megyn Kelly Presents was scheduled for May 23, but got moved to May 17 to provide lead-in power to the premiere of Mark Burnett’s new dating series Coupled at 9 PM. In one of those incredible coincidences, Coupled hails from Mark Burnett, who also is EP on The Celebrity Apprentice, which used to star Donald Trump, who’s running for president while feuding with Fox News’ Kelly, who earlier this week went to see him at his Trump Tower residence in hopes of convincing him to be one of her interviewees for her special, which will be Burnett’s lead-in.