Bill O’Reilly claimed vindication Friday after a report from The Hill that attorney Lisa Bloom had solicited wealthy donors and tabloid media to pay women who agreed to come forward to accuse Donald Trump of sexual misconduct.
“The lawyer who attacked me with phony charges, Lisa Bloom, now exposed for arranging payments to women,” said Bill O’Reilly. “I told you guys from the very beginning that many allegations were false and politically driven. There is big money behind trying to destroy Mr. Trump, me and others.”
The lawyer who attacked me with phony charges, Lisa Bloom, now exposed for arranging payments to women. Please read this devastating article on @thehill – https://t.co/FZaqdQiCXO
— Bill O'Reilly (@BillOReilly) December 15, 2017
I told you guys from the very beginning that many allegations were false and politically driven. There is big money behind trying to destroy Mr. Trump, me and others.
— Bill O'Reilly (@BillOReilly) December 15, 2017
Indeed, as TheWrap previously reported, O’Reilly spoke of a mysterious audio tape earlier this month — one that he said documents someone trying to do just that.
“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. “My attorney, he listened to it. There are at least three crimes on the tape.”
O’Reilly was fired by Fox earlier this year after a New York Times report revealed that Fox News had over the years paid out tens of millions of dollars to settle several sexual harassment claims against him.
Lisa Bloom has been a constant thorn in O’Reilly’s side representing women who have accused the former “O’Reilly Factor” star of sexual misconduct.
According to The Hill, Bloom also tried to secure a commission for herself in the process. One woman, who ultimately declined to come forward, was offered up to $750,000. In all Bloom served as counsel for four women who accused Trump of sexual misconduct.
In a statement to The Hill, Bloom admitted she solicited money, but said it was justified in order to help the women and defray her own costs of representing them pro bono.
“Our standard pro bono agreement for legal services provides that if a media entity offers to compensate a client for sharing his or her story we receive a percentage of those fees,” she said.
“As a private law firm we have significant payroll, rent, taxes, insurance and other expenses every week, so an arrangement where we might receive some compensation to defray our costs seems reasonable to us and is agreed to by our clients.”
In a separate statement provided to TheWrap, Bloom said “in pro bono cases (where we work for fee or at sharply reduced fees), we add a line in our client agreements that if the client gets paid for media interviews our law firm gets one-third. This seems fair to us and our clients. We also say in the agreement itself that it’s extremely unlikely. So it’s in our standard contracts, but rarely invoked.”
“Most people do not get paid for interviews,” the statement continues. “But some shows will offer a few thousand dollars to license photos, or for an appearance fee. When my client is a single mother, unemployed, in dire need of therapy, on the verge of bankruptcy or all of the above, she may choose to do an interview with the outlet that will compensate her. A few thousand dollars hardly levels the playing field against a billionaire like Donald Trump, but it helps a little, and I leave that decision to my client, after she’s been fully vetted for veracity.”
You can read her full statement to The Hill here.