NEW YORK – U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday defended TV anchor Bill O’Reilly after a report that the conservative commentator and his employer, 21st Century Fox, paid five women to settle claims he sexually harassed them.
“I think he’s a person I know well — he is a good person,” Trump said of O’Reilly in an interview with The New York Times.
The Times reported over the weekend that Fox and O’Reilly paid $13 million to five women who accused him of sexual harassment. O’Reilly, in a statement posted on his website on Saturday, said he had been unfairly targeted because of his prominence.
“I think he shouldn’t have settled; personally I think he shouldn’t have settled,” Trump told the Times on Wednesday. “Because you should have taken it all the way. I don’t think Bill did anything wrong.”
Fox News is a unit of 21st Century Fox.
Several companies have pulled ads from O’Reilly’s Fox News show “The O’Reilly Factor.”
RELATED PHOTOS
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Host Bill O'Reilly of "The O'Reilly Factor" on the Fox News Channel poses for photos in in 2015 on the set in New York. President Donald Trump defended O'Reilly Wednesday, claiming he didn't commit sexual harassment as has been widely reported. | AP
