"Worse than a mug shot": Megyn Kelly slams Vanity Fair's Trump administration photoshoot, says it "evidences the hatred"

Conservative podcaster Megyn Kelly blasted Vanity Fair magazine for its recent photoshoot featuring the Trump administration. For the unversed, on Tuesday, Vanity Fair published a two-part article consisting of interviews with President Trump’s chief of staff, Susie Wiles, and other cabinet members. The interviews were conducted over the past year.

In addition to that, the magazine did a photoshoot of cabinet members for the profile. The facial close-up photos were uploaded by Vanity Fair on its Instagram page. The pictures went viral, with many blaming the magazine for deliberately taking unflattering shots. In Tuesday’s episode of her podcast, Megyn Kelly discussed the photoshoot with Ruthless podcast members.

Megyn Kelly said that the pictures were evidence of the magazine's hatred of Trump's administration.

"The photography alone evidences the hatred that this magazine has for all of the Trump administration... Look at Susie Wiles... It's worse than a mug shot. It's even on the mug shot; they give you a little bit of collarbone... It's not flattering. And she actually is a beautiful woman. You can easily get a good shot of Susie Wiles," Kelly remarked.

She also slammed the magazine for posting Karoline Leavitt's face close-up, in which needle marks on her lips were visible. Megyn Kelly noted that Vanity Fair willfully posted the picture to embarrass Leavitt. The podcaster went on to share her thoughts on JD Vance's picture. She said that the vice president is a "handsome man," but they made him look like a "serial killer."

"It's very dicey for a conservative to sit for a photo shoot with a magazine that hates them. You really are taking a risk. And I feel bad for the administration because I think they probably trusted Susie that we're going to cooperate with Vanity Fair. We're going to be happy with how this turns out. And there is no way anybody is happy with how this article turned out," Megyn Kelly stated.

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Megyn Kelly criticizes Trump's Chief of Staff Susie Wiles over her interview with Vanity Fair

In her interview with Vanity Fair, Susie Wiles made some remarks about Trump's cabinet members, which many found unbelievable. The magazine even shared a glimpse of what Wiles told its writer, Chris Whipple, in one of their posts' captions.

"Trump, she told Whipple, 'has an alcoholic’s personality.' Vance’s conversion from Never Trumper to MAGA acolyte has been 'sort of political.' The vice president has been 'a conspiracy theorist for a decade.' Russell Vought, architect of the notorious Project 2025 and head of the Office of Management and Budget, is 'a right-wing absolute zealot,'" the caption read.

Megyn Kelly commented that it looked like Susie Wiles was trying to "burn some bridges on the way out." Highlighting people's reaction to Trump's Chief of Staff's interview, Kelly said:

"People's jaws are slack online, wondering, does she hate everyone in the administration, or does she just not understand Vanity Fair?"

The podcaster shared that when she spoke to people in conservative circles, they told her that Wiles possibly said these things, believing the remarks were off the record.

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Susie Wiles also shared a post on X in which she referred to the magazine's article as a "disingenuously framed hit piece" on her. Wiles accused the publication of presenting her statements out of context.

Edited by Anuj Singh Kushwaha