By Dustin Rowles | News | October 30, 2024 |
I know this sounds absolutely wild and will almost certainly have zero impact on the election happening in just six days. No one cares about Donald Trump’s romantic life. No one cares that he had affairs while married. And I seriously doubt his supporters would bat an eye if rumors surfaced that he paid for an abortion. And yet, I hadn’t even heard this particular rumor until today, which is surprising, given how much we’ve all heard about Trump over the years.
Now, before you dismiss this as some outlandish conspiracy plucked from Reddit, hear me out. This actually came from J.K. Trotter’s post, which was highlighted by Oliver Darcy in his newsletter, Status. Darcy, who left CNN to launch his own version of Reliable Sources, is the reporter who broke the news about Olivia Nuzzi’s affair with Robert F. Kennedy Jr. J.K. Trotter, formerly the deputy editor of investigations at Insider, re-examined the rumor in question and provided a complete timeline. The rumor itself is evidently an open secret in media circles. It’s the first I’m hearing of it.
Trotter’s reporting—which I highly recommend reading in full—digs into a rumor from 2016: that Donald Trump had an affair with former NBC News and Today reporter Tamron Hall, resulting in a pregnancy and an alleged payment for an abortion. Here’s the opening:
The Rumor Went Like This: In late 2015, NBC journalists unearthed evidence that Hall and Trump were involved in an affair prior to his candidacy announcement. Some evidence suggested Hall became pregnant by Trump and later had an abortion. Rumors reportedly leaked out of 30 Rockefeller Plaza as NBC officials debated how to handle it.Eager to out-scoop NBC, reporters from other outlets pursued sources within the network. But details were either murky or contested, with many sources providing only third- or fourth-hand information. Given the sensitivity of the allegations, major outlets would require near-perfect sourcing to run a story. No news outlet published a single word about the rumor.
But there was, indeed, some truth to it.
From what I remember, Tamron Hall left NBC rather abruptly in 2017 when Megyn Kelly joined. I recall the backlash, as many felt Kelly had pushed her out. Trotter, however, suggests there might be more to it, implying Hall might have left to avoid any potential fallout. Trotter also references four voicemails between Hall and Trump (three published by Gawker back in the day), hinting at a closer relationship, one where she even used Trump’s Gucci discount for an expensive dress purchase.
Others have spoken on the rumored affair, including a radio host who claimed insider knowledge. Trotter, however, leans into an implication by negative association. His thinking? If Hall indeed left NBC over an alleged Trump affair, there would likely be an NDA involved. And, sure enough, despite Trump’s omnipresence in media and Hall’s own talk show platform, she has mentioned him only once in the eight years since, during a 2020 interview with Sheryl Sandberg on Facebook’s content moderation policies. Hall even wrote the foreword for April Ryan’s book, referencing a viral moment involving Ryan and Trump, yet somehow without uttering his name.
Is it notable? Yes. Does it matter? No. Will it change anything? Unlikely. But it’s fascinating. And as one media insider told Jessica Reed Kraus regarding Trotter’s timeline: “It’s just true that this rumor has quietly circulated among Trump insiders for years. It’s the kind of story that mainstream media wouldn’t touch without direct testimony or solid documentation. If both Trump and Hall wanted this under wraps and NBC was committed to protecting them, any major paper would need a whistleblower to go on the record, just like Trotter did.”