American political reporter Ryan Grim broke the news of the allegations against Brett Kavanaugh ahead of his 2018 Supreme Court justice confirmation, and was among the first to report on Alexandria Ocasio’s initial rise- Cortez in Congress.
Still, he’s still known to some as the guy who got into a fight at the 2016 White House Correspondents’ Dinner with Jesse Watters, who made his debut Tuesday as host of Fox News’ coveted 8 p.m. disposition the dismissal of Tucker Carlson.
And Grim agrees with that, he said Thursday, reiterating in an interview with The Guardian that the jabs stemmed from his defense of a colleague whom Watters had previously targeted in an on-camera confrontation ambush
“He’s a classic bully,” Grim said when asked to reflect on the highly publicized brawl that erupted when, while recording cellphone video, he approached Watters to question his treatment of Amanda Terkel. “He’s a ‘flat and can’t stand it’ kind of bully.
“So I don’t mind at all.”
In at least some national media circles, Watters’ selection as Fox News’ heir to the prime-time broadcast window once led by Carlson offered an opportunity to revisit the altercation with Grim.
The prelude to the fight dates back to 2009, when Terkel, in her role as editor-in-chief of ThinkProgress.org, wrote a blog critical comments that then-Fox News star Bill O’Reilly had made about a young woman who was raped and murdered. O’Reilly had also just accepted an invitation to speak at a fundraiser for a support group for rape survivors.
O’Reilly soon responded by sending Watters, who was his producer and comedy partner, to conduct an ambush interview of Terkel while he was on vacation in Virginia. Terkel later claimed she felt harassed, describing as Watters followed her down the street shouting questions and asking why she had inflicted “pain and suffering” on rape victims and their families.
Terkel and Grim were working together at HuffPost the night of the 2016 White House dinner, which they and Watters attended. There, while filming on his cell phone, Grim asked Watters to apologize to Terkel for the episode in Virginia.
Watters said he would not apologize, but would greet her if she was brought to him.
“He said some nasty shit, though,” Watters said in Grim’s video. “I had to call her. I had to call her.
“I ambushed her because O’Reilly told me to catch her, because she said some really mean shit. I know you’re getting video of that. She denigrated some victims, so we had to call her out. That’s what we do”.
Grim replied mockingly, “That is chivalrous of you. So in your chivalry… [you] went out into the middle of Virginia and cornered her.”
At the time, Watters struck a tone of disbelief when he asked if Grim was “videotaping” him and told him to go away. Watters then picked up the phone and threw it, and suddenly “there were a lot of fists flying,” Grim recalled.
Onlookers separated the two tuxedo-clad men fairly quickly, but the fight made the news after witnesses provided accounts to various media outlets.
Grim recalled Watters reaching for his phone when he realized he had admitted on the record that he had “chased Terkel into deep Virginia at the behest of Bill O’Reilly.”
“I think that’s the kind of admission that’s fine to make in private, but he didn’t realize he’d accidentally made in public,” Grim said.
Grim added that one of the highlights of the fight’s aftermath saw Shepard Smith, then another Republican-friendly Fox News star anchor, arrive with an offer of an exclusive interview.
“I think this is a sign that there are, or have been, elements even within Fox that don’t approve of the direction he was taking,” Grim said.
Grim went on to say that he “likes it[s]” Watters as the face of Fox’s prime-time coverage, “because he’s a frat boy.”
“It’s a lot harder for that wing of the Republican party to hide behind a salt-of-the-earth view of itself when the face is, like, the main crown of the fraternity.”
Fox News and Watters have been reached for comment. Neither immediately responded to Grim’s comments.
Grim is now the Intercept’s Washington bureau chief.
Watters’ promotion to Fox came after the network reached a $787.5 million settlement with Dominion Voting Systems to end a defamation lawsuit over the spread of Donald Trump’s lies about voter fraud which led to the defeat of the former president in the 2020 elections.
Fox has said Carlson’s firing, which opened the door to Watters’ prime-time hosting gig, was unrelated to the deal. Carlson has not commented.
Meanwhile, O’Reilly was forced to resign from Fox in 2017 after a series of settlements involving him or the company stemming from harassment charges against him.
