In a follow-up to its bombshell article alleging that Fox News host Bill O’Reilly assaulted his ex-wife, Gawker on Wednesday published what it said were partial court transcripts to back up its reporting.
Reporter J.K. Trotter wrote that the documents supported his Monday post, which was based on an anonymous source saying O’Reilly had been accused by his daughter of dragging his then-wife Maureen McPhilmy down a staircase.
The transcripts, according to Gawker, were from a cross-examination by McPhilmy’s lawyer of psychologist Larry Cohen at the Nassau County Supreme Court in New York during the custody battle over their children.
From Gawker:
The documents, which record testimony given last year, confirm that the ex-couple’s teenage daughter told a court-appointed forensic examiner that she witnessed O’Reilly “choking her mom” as he “dragged her down some stairs” by the neck.
Later on, the article provided more detail:
In the summer of 2014, the Nassau County Supreme Court justice overseeing the O’Reilly-McPhilmy custody dispute assigned a Manhattan psychologist named Larry Cohen to interview and assess each member of the family: Bill O’Reilly, Maureen McPhilmy, and their son and daughter. Cohen produced evaluations of their individual interviews and later testified in court about what he observed. The transcripts below draw from the cross-examination of Cohen at the Nassau County Supreme Court by McPhilmy’s attorney, Casey Greenfield (who has had her own struggles with an errant father). Also present in the court room were O’Reilly’s attorney, Bernard Clair, and the independent attorney assigned to represent both children, Barbara Kopman.
O’Reilly on Monday denied the allegations in Gawker’s initial report.
“All allegations against me in these circumstances are 100% false,” O’Reilly told Politico through his personal attorney.
“I am going to respect the court-mandated confidentiality put in place to protect my children and will not comment any further,” he said.
Gawker previously reported that a Nassau County Supreme Court justice granted McPhilmy custody of the couple’s two minor children.
