September 19, 2017

Bill O'Reilly told NBC's The TODAY Show that he did nothing wrong, attacked his accuser and claimed Fox News just made a business decision to let him go.

Nothing to see here, just move along.

When host Matt Lauer asked O'Reilly what he exact reason was for his dismissal at Fox News, Bill started off with a whopper.

"There was no reason. They had a contractual clause that they could pay me a certain amount of money and not put me on the air. And they exercised that clause," Bill said.

When pressed further he blamed Media Matters and a sponsor boycott that supposedly frightened Fox News executives.

Lauer asked why Fox News would let their top guy go if the allegations were false.

"...doesn't it seem safe to assume that the people at Fox News were given a piece of information or given some evidence that simply made it impossible for you to stay on at Fox News?"

Bill said, "That's a false assumption. There were a lot of other business things at play at that time, still today, that 21st Century [Fox] was involved with. And it was a business decision that they made. But there isn't any smoking gun or anything..."

Lauer, "But you don't let your number one guy go unless you have information that you think makes him --

O'Reilly, "Sure you do. That's not true. There are billions of dollars at stake in business deals. And they made a business decision that they could possibly prosper more without me. It was as simple as that. It was a business decision."

Ahhhh, so forking over millions of dollars in past lawsuits had nothing to do with it.

Lauer continued, "The New York Times reported that up to five women had come forward over the years and complained about sexual harassment at your hands, and that Fox News actually made deals with those women, financial settlements amounting to about $13 million, for their silence. Is that accurate?"

"I don't know, because I'm not privy to what Fox News did. After Roger Ailes went down, there was a flood of lawsuits, a flood, with dozens of people named. And the company did what the company did, " Bill said.

Lauer pressed him on the five women that came forward against, but Bill O said his conscience was clear.

And then he promoted an article he wrote for Newsmax which attacks one of his accusers for filing a false police report.

"But she could have filed a false report in 2015 and still be telling the truth about you."

O'Reilly, "Look, anything's possible, all right, but it goes to credibility, doesn't it, all right? If you look at this in totality, this was a hit job, a political and financial hit job, engineered by --

Lauer, "Is this a vast left-wing conspiracy?"

O'Reilly, " No vast, and don't be sarcastic. Don't be sarcastic."

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