Conservative podcaster Megyn Kelly is facing backlash after describing victims of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein as “the barely legal type.” Kelly made the comments Wednesday on her SiriusXM talk show.
Kelly’s comments
“I do know somebody very, very close to this case who’s in a position to know virtually everything,” Kelly said. “This person has told me from the start … that Jeffrey Epstein, in this person’s view, was not a pedophile… that he was into the barely legal type. Like, he liked 15-year-old girls.”
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Kelly added: “I realize this is disgusting. I am not trying to make an excuse for this; I’m just providing you with facts. He wasn’t into, like, 8-year-olds, but he liked the very young teen types that could pass for even younger than they were, but would look legal to a passerby. That is what I believed.”
She continued by addressing Attorney General Pam Bondi’s announcement earlier this year that the Justice Department was reviewing thousands of videos of alleged child sexual abuse material on Epstein’s computer.
She said that was the first time she thought Epstein was “an actual pedophile.”
“For the first time, I thought, ‘Oh no, he was an actual pedophile. Only a pedophile gets off on young children abuse video,’” Kelly said. “I have to be honest, I don’t really trust Pam Bondi’s word on the Epstein matters anymore. I don’t know what is true about him. We have yet to see anybody come forward and say, ‘I was under 10, I was under 14 when I first came within his purview.’”
She went on to say there’s a difference between a 15-year-old and a 5-year-old — even though neither would be able to legally consent to sexual activity
Criticisms arise online
Following the episode, Kelly was widely criticized on social media. One user, whose X bio says she is an English teacher turned librarian, wrote, “I teach 15-year-olds. They are literal children.”
Another user wrote, “‘He wasn’t a pedophile, he just liked 15-year-olds’ is not the defense you think it is, Megyn.”
Renewed Epstein discussions
Kelly’s comments come amid heightened pressure in Washington to release all files from the government’s investigation of the late financier’s alleged sex trafficking activities. The House Oversight Committee dropped over 20,000 emails and texts from Epstein this week. In one, Epstein said President Donald Trump “knew about the girls.” In another, he said Trump spent several hours at his home with one of the underage victims.
On Truth Social, Trump called the emails false and the document dump a “hoax.” He wrote that Democrats will “do anything at all to deflect on how badly they’ve done on the shutdown.”
He warned Republicans not to “fall into that trap,” adding, “there should be no deflections to Epstein or anything else, and any Republicans involved should be focused only on opening up our country.”
The Epstein case is not going away, however. The House will soon vote on a measure calling for the full release of files regarding his activities.
Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., was forced to allow the vote after Rep. Adelita Grijalva, D-Ariz., was sworn in on Wednesday. She provided the 218th signature on a bipartisan petition bringing the measure to the House floor. A vote could take place as early as next week.
Johnson confirmed he’ll bring it to the floor earlier than expected. It’s a shift in strategy that sources tell CNN came after GOP leaders realized the vote couldn’t be stopped.
