Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump defended Roger Ailes on Sunday, calling the embattled former Fox News chief a “very, very good person.”
Ailes resigned as CEO on Thursday following a sexual harassment scandal that included dozens of women, including Fox News hosts Megyn Kelly and Gretchen Carlson, the latter of whom first broke her silence earlier this month.
In an interview that aired Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” Trump declined to comment when asked to confirm reports that Ailes was advising his presidential campaign.
“But he’s been a friend of mine for a long time,” Trump added. “And I can tell you that some of the women that are complaining, I know how much he’s helped them. And even recently. And when they write books that are fairly recently released, and they say wonderful things about him.”
“And now all of a sudden they’re saying these horrible things about him,” he continued. “It’s very sad. Because he’s a very good person. I’ve always found him to be just a very, very good person. And by the way, a very, very talented person. Look what he’s done. So I feel very badly.”
The Manhattan real estate mogul continued to stoke speculation, however, telling NBC’s Chuck Todd that “a lot of people are thinking” Ailes is “going to run my campaign.”
In a separate interview on ABC’s “This Week,” however, Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort denied the reports of Ailes’ role in the operation.
Editor’s note: Donald Trump regularly incites political violence and is a serial liar, rampant xenophobe, racist, misogynist and birther who has repeatedly pledged to ban all Muslims ― 1.6 billion members of an entire religion ― from entering the U.S.
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