Bill Ayers went toe-to-toe with Megyn Kelly last night in an exclusive two-part interview discussing his legacy of terrorism and the bombings attributed to his radical organization, “The Weather Underground.”
Ayers, a man who terrorized America by bombing the U.S. Capitol, the Pentagon, and the NYC Police Headquarters in the early 1970s, somehow wound up as a college professor who helped Barack Obama launch his political career.
In 1965, Ayers joined in protesting the Vietnam War with the left-wing Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), from which was spawned “The Weathermen,” an extremist group whose mission was to violently overthrow the U.S. government. The Weathermen were attributed to numerous bombings, including that of a New York judge’s home, a San Francisco police station, and most famously, the failed bombing of a military dance hall. Three members of The Weathermen were killed when their explosives detonated early. The organization then went into hiding, only to continue engaging in terrorism under a different name: “The Weather Underground.” Ayers resurfaced in 1980 when he learned that the most serious charges against him had been dropped due to government misconduct in the investigation. He then entered academia, becoming a Distinguished Professor of Education and University Scholar at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Ayers later befriended Barack Obama and hosted a fundraiser for his Illinois Senate race.
Quick to admit he took part in activities that inflicted property damage, Ayers vehemently denies any involvement in the events where injury or death occurred.
Ayers clearly did not run a simple Google search on “Megyn Kelly” before agreeing to appear on The Kelly File. He had no interest in going through the accusations against him but preferred to try and justify what he did. Ayers has spent over 40 years defending The Weather Underground and is an expert at denial. In true Megyn Kelly fashion, she grilled him on the facts and forced him to face these serious allegations.
Interview Highlights:
Ayers on his involvement in The Weather Underground bombings:
KELLY: So we have to talk about you and your domestic terrorist past. Let's start with this. How many bombings are you responsible for?
AYERS: The Weather Underground I think took credit for just slightly over 20 in a period when there were 20,000 bombings in the United States against the war.
KELLY: And how about you personally?
AYERS: Me personally, I've never talked about it, never will.
KELLY: Okay. You could have hurt some people.
AYERS: Absolutely.
KELLY: You acknowledge that.
AYERS: Absolutely.
KELLY: You claim you never did but you acknowledge the risks.
AYERS: Oh, there was a terrible risk and we actually did hurt three of our own people died in the townhouse in New York City in 1970, and that was an incalculable, horrible, devastating loss and yet what they apparently planning to do would have been more devastating.
On Bowe Bergdahl:
KELLY: You think Bowe Bergdahl is a war hero.
AYERS: I think Bowe Bergdahl, if he deserted, that was a heroic thing to do, absolutely, nobody knows if he did or he didn't. But I did blog about that because I think throughout history, we should build monuments to the unknown deserters, the people who look at the craziness they're asked to participate in and say, I'm not part of this.
Several times, Ayers deflected The Weather Underground's actions by claiming that what the government did was much worse:
AYERS: Have I've written about [the actions] myself. Absolutely. I don't think there's anything wrong with that. But I think it would be fair and balanced to also look at the violence that was and is going on perpetrated by the government, by the official agencies and organs of the government.
KELLY: Let me just tell you what I hear when I hear that. I hear you saying, you sound like with respect, Osama bin Laden.
Watch last night's interview in full here:
The second part of Megyn Kelly’s interview with Bill Ayers will air at 9 PM ET tonight in which he will further discuss his relationship with Barack Obama. Ayers will also debate Dinesh D’Souza in a July 4 special on the Fox News Channel.