MEGYN KELLY SHOW: Megyn Kelly discusses Van Jones speaking out about his final private exchange with Charlie Kirk, his original false smear of Kirk claiming he was being racist, Megyn’s own history with Van and why he’s a coward about what he says publicly vs. privately, and more.

MEGYN KELLY: We got to talk about Van Jones. He came out on Friday with a nice story about Charlie, and as I’m sure he predicted, it’s now getting even conservatives to say nice things about Van. Well, I’m not one of them. Not today. And I’m going to explain to you why. I’m just going to start back before the Charlie event. Let’s go back to when my light blew up at NBC News, you all know the story. So I was twisting in the wind. All these newspapers are calling me a racist because I said, Yeah, like the blackface Halloween costumes, they weren’t, like, considered cancellable back in the 70s and 80s when I grew up. When did that happen? When did that change? It’s literally what I said. That’s the thing that caused the big controversy, and I got quote canceled for it, and people literally were calling me a racist for asking that question. So Van Jones called me. He called me in the wake of that. We’d always been friendly. I was on Fox, he was on CNN, but we’ve been friendly. And he said, Megyn, I just want to say what’s happening to you is wrong. It’s deeply wrong, and I want to see if you’re okay. So sweet, right? Extra touching, because this is a black man in media, and so he gets it. And he and I had lunch we knew each other, like we’re friendly, if not true friends. And I was like, Van this is so sweet. I really appreciate it. And he said, Is there anything I can do for you? I said, Well, if you’d write an op ed or an opinion or say something publicly, that would definitely be helpful. He’s like, I’ll do it. I was like, wow. And I remember feeling actually relieved because I had very few defenders, if any. I had a couple on the right, but nobody on the left. And, like, a week went by and he hadn’t done it like I was dealing with a lot of the time. He wasn’t at the forefront of my mind, but I did realize it would be a helpful thing to have come out. And I followed back up with him, saying, just checking on whether that’s happening. And he said, So sorry, but I changed my mind. I can’t do it because I recently did a thing with Jared Kushner, and now I’m getting death threats, and the FBI says I really shouldn’t put myself back out there, because I’m getting these death threats now, and so I can’t say anything on your behalf. Okay, it’s whatever, I said, No problem. Totally get it. No worries. Goodbye. Wasn’t expecting anything from him in the first place. It was his offer. It was his to withdraw. That is one of the reasons why what he’s doing now around Charlie really stood out to me. So what did Van Jones do around the Charlie Kirk story? The Monday before Charlie was killed, which was the Wednesday, September 10, so this is the Monday September 8, Van Jones went on CNN and attacked Charlie Kirk. He attacked him because Charlie had suggested that there was a racial motive at least in part, in the slaying of Irina Zaratska on the light rail train in North Carolina. And the reason Charlie said that is because it had broken in the news that day that the murderer, who was black and Iryna was white. Said, I got that white girl. I got that white girl. It’s on tape, and either van hadn’t done his homework or ignored it if he did know about it, or stupidly wrote it off as meaningless. Either way, Van went on CNN that Monday night, two days before Charlie was killed, and attacked Charlie as a racist for concluding that race may have played a factor in this murder and here’s what Van said…That was factually erroneous, and it was a smear. It was defamatory of Charlie Kirk. He was wrong on every front, everything he said there was wrong. Literally every word out of his mouth was wrong. And a day and a half later, Charlie was killed. For the record while I was on the air covering the Charlie murder live on this program. I did say this is not Van Jones’ fault. I was sure to point that out, and I maintain that position now I do not believe Van Jones caused Charlie Kirk to get shot, but I do believe the collective leftist messaging around prominent right wing figures is endangering them. From Donald Trump to Stephen Miller to Charlie Kirk and beyond, that is my firm belief. I’m sorry, but there’s just too much evidence. I don’t think my leftist friends are having to live their lives surrounded by security. Like I am now, like Ben Shapiro has been, like Michael Knowles has to, like Matt Walsh has to, like Charlie had to. I don’t think they are. I don’t want that for them. I don’t want it for me or my friends on the right either. And constantly throwing around these terms fascist, racist, Nazi, is not okay. It’s not that you don’t have the right to say. It’s not that you should be arrested for it, not making an argument against the First Amendment. It’s that it’s irresponsible. You are pouring fuel into a cauldron of hate that has now gotten one of ours killed and our most prominent leader of the Republican Party shot in the ear as one of his supporters behind him died in the arms of his family. We’re not screwing around anymore. So it’s not okay to go out there without any evidence that Charlie is a racist. And in fact, when you don’t have your facts correct, Van, and to call him a racist on the national airwaves, it was totally irresponsible of you. It was wrong, and you have yet to undo it. So Van Jones, I believe – because I don’t think Van Jones is a bad man, I think he’s a coward – sees what happens to Charlie on Wednesday, and clearly starts to panic, because he’s been in a very open fight with Charlie Kirk. And I believe that Van Jones thought people would turn it on him and say, Screw you. You were saying terrible things, and he didn’t want that bad PR. And I believe at some level, because Van is not a bad man, he genuinely, of course, I accept that he felt genuinely sad that Charlie was killed, but not so sad he would go out and say I was totally wrong about everything I said about him. I wrongfully smeared him on CNN two nights before he died, he didn’t do that. Instead, he comes out with an op ed on the ninth of September, which was this past Friday, so a week and a half after Charlie’s death, and a week and a half after Vance’s comments calling him a racist, and he reveals to the world that surprise, surprise, Charlie Kirk was a good guy… I’m infuriated by that, so that now you see why I told you the earlier story. He couldn’t you know, behind the scenes, to me, I got your back. He did nothing wrong. You know, this is so deeply wrong. What’s happening to you? And I’m going to do something to stand up, and then, Oh, I can’t, because I’m getting death threats. I’m getting racist death threats, so I can’t, sorry. And now he calls Charlie a racist. A day and a half before Charlie is assassinated by somebody who said he’s too full of hate, some hate can’t be negotiated out. And he says, Oh, you know, I was the victim. See, I was getting death threats. That’s why I couldn’t, I was really getting death threats because of him and his supporters. This whole thing is bullshit. Let me give you a lesson, Van. You needed forget my circumstance. What you should have done with me is say nothing or don’t volunteer to do anything. Don’t try to lie about your alleged death threats. And what death threats, by the way, what are the death threats? Because literally, if you’re in media, you get these every day on your tweets. If you scrolled any controversial tweet I’ve ever sent out, you will see a few on there who threaten to rape and kill. I’m sorry. It’s part of being a public figure. So what death threats exactly? Then there are other death threats that come that rise to another level where you actually have to get security involved and chase down the person who’s threatening you and figure out whether they’ve got the means, whether they’ve got the location and so on. There’s a whole security ladder that you have to go through. What are you talking about? Because I don’t believe you. I don’t believe you had anything more than some negative Twitter mentions. This is like his tool that he goes to death threats. Death threats against me. I’m the victim. Death threats so I can’t do the op ed, sorry, but I want to look like a good guy. Death threats against, because, because of what Charlie said about me. No, you are the offender. You are the one who called him a racist, totally unjustified on CNN and didn’t have the guts to take it down, take it back and correct it when you knew it was untrue. You had made the mistake. And now you want credit for telling us that he invited you on his show, that he was a gentleman, that he actually did want dialogue, that he, unlike you, was not behaving fraudulently. But you also want us to know that his people are all racist, who are giving you racist death threats after you unjustifiably called Charlie a racist. I’m done! I’m done! I’m sorry, how do we deal with that? How do we do what he said, Oh, we got to go forward together!… You’re not the victim. Be bold. Say what you actually mean. When you screw it up, apologize and take it back like a man. And don’t fall back on alleged death threats, which is your go to to excuse your own terrible behavior. That’s what you’re doing. It’s infuriating.

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