Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) Thinks the embattled Fox News anchor Bill O’Reilly should be arrested for sexual harassment.
“It shouldn’t be in America that you can sexually harass women and then buy your way out of it because you’re rich,” Waters said on MSNBC’s All in With Chris Hayes. “If they continue to do this in the way that they have done, they need to go to jail.”
Waters is referring to a New York Times report that alleged both O’Reilly and 21st Century Fox, the parent company of Fox News, paid a collective $13 million to five women who accused the anchor of unwanted sexual advances, including harassment. Since the report was published, at least 44 advertisers have pulled out from O’Reilly’s show on Fox, The O’Reilly Factor.
President Trump recently defended O’Reilly in an interview with the Times, wherein he said he didn’t think “Bill did anything wrong.” Trump said the anchor should not have settled the claims, but rather taken the fight to court.
Trump, who has been a frequent guest on O’Reilly’s show, has also been accused of making unwanted sexual advances toward woman in the past. He has denied these allegations.
“They are two of a kind,” Waters told Hayes of Trump and O’Reilly. “I’m not surprised he stood up and tried to defend Bill O’Reilly.” And when Waters pointed to Trump’s recent allegations that Obama aide Susan Rice committed a crime “unmasking” his associates (a claim Rice denied), she added that Trump is the one who “needs to go to jail.”
Waters and O’Reilly have their own controversial history: After saying he was distracted by Waters’ “James Brown wig” last month, the anchor issued an apology.
This article has been updated to clearly note the two instances Water suggests both Trump and O’Reilly need to go to jail.