O’Reilly Allows Trump To Falsely Claim He Pays Men And Women The Same In His Campaign

The Boston Globe Reported That Trump Paid Women One-Third Less Than Men

Written by Media Matters Staff

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Fox News host Bill O’Reilly allowed Donald Trump to argue  that he pays male and female campaign staffers the same. O’Reilly questioned the presumptive Republican nominee after a June 4 Boston Globe report analyzed the April payroll for the Trump campaign, and found the candidate paid his female staffers one-third less than their male counterparts. The report noted that while 28 percent of Trump’s campaign staff are women, they make up only 2 out of the campaigns 15 highest paid employees. Trump repeatedly denied the report and claimed “when you end it all out, it's essentially the same.” From the June 6 edition of Fox News’ The O’Reilly Factor:    

BILL O’REILLY (HOST): Now on the women front, The Boston Globe yesterday writes that you pay men in your campaign a third more in salary than you pay women. And this goes back to my theme that this is what you're gonna be confronted with. Number one, is that true? Do you pay men a third more than women in your campaign?

DONALD TRUMP: The answer is no, and I just had it checked. Because I heard this was going to be a question. I don't know, I have a good source and somebody said that this could be a question. I just checked it, Bill, and the answer is no. And, in fact, if you look at the Clinton Foundation, they pay a lot more to men than they do women. And you look at other things that she has been involved in, and, frankly, surprisingly, she pays a lot more to men than she pays to women. And that's come out over the last three or four weeks.

O’REILLY: Let me get this on the record though. The Globe says according to Federal Election Commission records in April, the last month available, that this is true. That you pay women a third less than men in your campaign. Now there could be reasons for that.

TRUMP: My people just said no. I can only go, and there are reasons because there are different jobs. And that's what I heard. There are much different jobs. But generally speaking, and if you look at my company, and what I pay women versus men in many cases I pay women more money than I pay for men. Frankly now I will probably get a lawsuit from my men that work for me. But you know what, I pay women for the same job more money than men.

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TRUMP: In the case I have some women making a lot of money and they’re making more money than men in comparable positions. But I just checked with my people on the election stuff, and they tell me that that's wrong. There are different jobs and different categories and everything else. But, when you end it all out, it's essentially the same.