Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) said Wednesday that Fox News host Bill O’Reilly “needs to go to jail” following a report that O’Reilly and 21st Century Fox had paid $13 million as part of settlement agreements to coworkers and guests on O’Reilly’s show who had accused him of sexual harassment and other inappropriate behavior.
In an interview with MSNBC’s Chris Hayes, Waters mentioned an investigation of the structure of settlement payments at Fox News. It is reportedly being carried out by the U.S. attorney’s office in Manhattan.
“They’re taking a look at them because this really is a sexual harassment enterprise,” she said. “It shouldn’t be in America that you can sexually harass women and then buy your way out of it because you’re rich. If they continue to do this in the way that they have done, they need to go to jail.”
Representatives for Fox News did not immediately respond to TPM’s request for comment on Waters’ remarks.
Earlier, Waters had said that President Donald Trump’s defense of O’Reilly wasn’t surprising.
“It’s coming out of the mouth of a man who has said some horrible things about women,” she said. “Don’t forget he talked about grabbing women in their private parts, and because he was important he could get away with it. And so they are two of a kind.”
“You know, the President’s over there talking today about Susan Rice going to jail,” she added, referring to the President’s unfounded assertion that Rice had done something illegal by reportedly requesting the unmasking of his or his associates’ names in intelligence reports.
“They need to go to jail,” Waters insisted. “Bill O’Reilly needs to go to jail. And so I just want you to know that the President didn’t do himself any good standing up for Bill O’Reilly.”
Watch the interview below via MSNBC. Discussion of O’Reilly begins at 4:05:
