Bill O’Reilly says anti-Trump activists are looking to pay women money to come forward and accuse Trump of sexual misconduct — and that there’s a tape to prove it.
A rep for O’Reilly did not immediately respond to TheWrap’s request for more information about the tape, or how O’Reilly might have come to listen to it. (You can listen to O’Reilly discuss his accusation above.)
“There is a tape … an audio tape of an anti-Trump person offering $200,000 to a woman to accuse Donald Trump of untoward behavior,” O’Reilly told Glenn Beck during an episode of Beck’s podcast earlier this month. “My attorney, he listened to it. There are at least three crimes on the tape.”
Beck was intrigued and mentioned that O’Reilly had spoken of the matter to him in private.
“You’ve talked to me about this tape. You’ve talked to me about it privately as well with additional information. Is this tape going to be released?” he asked.
“I may have to go to the U.S. attorney myself. I don’t want to have to do that and inject myself into the story,” O’Reilly said, but he added that “as a citizen I may have to do this.”
O’Reilly also warned that sexual misconduct accusations would be part of a “tremendous assault” on Trump in an effort to destroy his presidency. He said the full attack would “probably come in January.”
Sexual misconduct accusations are a familiar subject for O’Reilly, who anchored Fox News’ highest-rated program until he was forced from his job over sexual misconduct accusations unearthed by the New York Times. O’Reilly has consistently denied the accusations and has said he paid settlements to avoid the nuisance of litigation and to spare his family from negative press coverage.