Megyn Kelly Predicts Bad News for Donald Trump

Megyn Kelly has shared her belief that Donald Trump will be convicted in his "hush money" trial involving Stormy Daniels.

Trump is facing criminal charges in New York City from Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg's office surrounding allegations that he illegally falsified business records to conceal alleged hush money payments to Daniels, an adult film star, and keep her quiet about an affair she says she and Trump had in 2006. Trump has denied the affair ever happened and pleaded not guilty to the charges against him, accusing Bragg of targeting him for political purposes.

On Tuesday Kelly appeared on NewsNation where she told host Dan Abrams that she strongly believed Trump would be convicted "pretty easily."

Newsweek emailed spokespeople for Kelly and Trump for comment Wednesday outside of regular office hours.

The media personality and the former president have had a contentious relationship over the years but this seemed to be behind them in 2023 when Trump agreed to an interview with Kelly. However, while the former Fox News host has continued to defend Trump ever since, it hasn't been reciprocated.

During the show, Abrams said "It seems to me that it's going to be a tough defense," to which Kelly replied: "Oh, he's getting convicted. I don't really think there's a lot of mystery about that. He shouldn't, but he's going to get convicted. The jury's going to hate him. Manhattan went 92%, between 87 and 92% for Joe Biden. That's where this is going to be tried. These are not Trump lovers."

Abrams went on to ask Kelly whether she believed Trump had an affair with Daniels, to which she said: "No, I believe there was an interlude. I don't know, 'affair' may be too strong."

She continued: "Look, I think the jury's going to believe that he paid off a porn star before the election to make her go away and that he didn't write down in his books, 'Hush money to Stormy Daniels,' because no one in the history of hush money payments has ever written that in any book anywhere. It defeats the whole purpose of a hush money payment.

"So I grant you, yeah, they're probably going to convict him. They're going to convict him pretty easily, I think."

Kelly's theory mirrors Trump's and his team's beliefs that he can't get a fair trial in heavily Democratic New York City.

On Tuesday New York Associate Justice Cynthia Kern rejected Trump's plea to delay the trial while he fights a gag order imposed by Judge Juan Merchan, who is overseeing the trial, according to a report from Reuters.

Merchan imposed a gag order on Trump to prevent him from attacking witnesses, prosecutors and the judge's family.

Trump, the presumptive 2024 GOP presidential nominee, has accused Merchan of being biased because his daughter has worked for a Democratic consulting firm that worked on President Joe Biden's campaign in 2020. He has also asked the judge to recuse himself from the case.

Kern's decision only applies to the "interim stay of the proceedings." A full panel of judges will determine whether to delay the trial on April 15, the same day jury selection is scheduled to begin, reported a journalist for the New York Daily News.

During a hearing on Tuesday, Trump's legal team argued the gag order is an unconstitutional imposition against his freedom of speech as he campaigns for president. They had sought to have the trial delayed until a full panel of judges rule on the gag order, according to the Associated Press.

This isn't the first time the former president has attempted to delay his hush money trial, as a New York appeals court shot another effort down on Monday.

The judge, Lizbeth Gonzalez, heard arguments from Trump's lawyers and representatives from the Manhattan District Attorney's Office for and against pausing the trial and moving it to another jurisdiction, as requested by the former president. Trump's lawyer argued that Manhattan was heavily Democratic and a majority of its residents believe the former president is guilty, citing a survey.

Bragg's office countered this request, claiming that it was too late in the process for such a request, and argued that Trump generates his own publicity.

Judge Gonzalez issued a decision shortly after the hearing ended on Monday, writing: "Defendant's application for a stay of trial, pursuant to CPL § [section] 230.30, pending the determination of defendant's motion for change of venue, is denied."