NEW YORK — Megyn Kelly, the Fox News star who’s had a contentious relationship with President-elect Donald Trump, said Tuesday that she’s leaving the network for NBC News, where she will host a daytime talk show and a weekend newsmagazine, as well as contribute to breaking news coverage.
NBC News made the announcement Tuesday, ending months of speculation over whether she would re-up with Fox, where she has flourished while suffering bruised feelings in recent months, or start a new chapter in her career. Her contract with Fox expires this summer. Her last show on Fox will be Friday night.
Kelly’s departure deprives Fox News of its second-most-watched host, behind only Bill O’Reilly, and a hole at 9 p.m. in its prime-time lineup.
« While I will greatly miss my colleagues at Fox, I am delighted to be joining the NBC News family and taking on a new challenge, » Kelly said in a message on Twitter on Tuesday.
Rupert Murdoch, executive chairman of Fox, said that « we thank Megyn Kelly for her 12 years of contributions to Fox News. We hope she enjoys tremendous success in her career and wish her and her family all the best.  »
Kelly’s star power grew after she became a flashpoint in the presidential campaign after Trump objected to her questioning in the first Republican presidential debate a year and a half ago. He tweeted angry messages about her and boycotted another Fox debate after the network refused to replace her as one of the debate moderators.
She also became a central figure in the downfall of former Fox News chief Roger Ailes, telling in-house investigators of inappropriate conduct by Ailes that supported women who had made similar accusations.
Details about Kelly’s new jobs at NBC will be revealed in upcoming months, said Andrew Lack, chairman of the NBC Universal News Group.
« Megyn is an exceptional journalist and news anchor, who has had an extraordinary career » Lack said. « She’s demonstrated tremendous skill and poise, and we’re lucky to have her.  »
Kelly wasn’t immediately available for comment about what made her choose to leave Fox. But she said in an interview with The Associated Press in November that the factors she was weighing « mostly involve a 7-, 5- and 3-year-old, » her children. Her Fox show airs live at 9 p.m., giving her no time at home with her children in the evenings.
She stressed that point in closing remarks on her program Tuesday, which she addressed to the audience.
Kelly said she valued the « human connection » the show gave her with viewers, but said she needed more of that connection with her children.
She expressed gratitude to her next employer, NBC, and current one.
« I am deeply thankful to Fox News for the wonderful 12 years I have had here. I’ve grown up here, and been given every chance a young reporter could ever ask for, » Kelly said.
As a star in demand, Kelly was no doubt able to seek a schedule that would give her more time at home in the evening.
A former lawyer who was raised in upstate New York, Kelly turned to television and got a job in Fox’s Washington office. She was noticed by Ailes, and given a daytime show. Her poise and sharpness, and willingness to ask tough questions of all political sides, made her a star and led Ailes to give her a coveted prime-time slot on cable news’ most-watched network.
Her contentious relationship with Trump began when she asked the Republican businessman about statements he had made about women, infuriating him. He tweeted his disdain for her and although they made peace when Kelly interviewed Trump for a prime-time special last May, the relationship never became warm. Trump made Kelly’s prime-time colleague, Sean Hannity, his preferred stopping place for interviews during the campaign and didn’t come on her Fox News Channel show.
« I really had to choose — am I going to be an honest journalist … or am I going to suck up to Trump?  » she told the AP. « I chose the former, and it’s worked out fine for me.  »
It put Kelly in an awkward position with Fox News Channel viewers who favored Trump, however. At one point during a Hannity interview with Trump, a live audience at a Trump rally booed the mention of her name.
Kelly’s immediate silence after Gretchen Carlson’s lawsuit last summer alleging unwanted advances from Ailes, at a time other Fox News personalities were supporting their boss, was telling. She told investigators that Ailes had made sexually suggestive comments to her and tried to kiss her, then made an angry reference to her contract when she rebuffed him. Ailes has denied any untoward advances involving Kelly.
Her move was a big boost for broadcast network news divisions, which had struggled somewhat during the presidential campaign given the non-stop coverage provided by the cable news outlets.
NBC News had recently been experimenting with a new Sunday night newsmagazine, « Dateline NBC: On Assignment, » hosted by Lester Holt in a traditional format with a mix of news and feature stories, a template Kelly is expected to use. Weekday « Dateline » editions focus on criminal justice stories.
The move was a blow to Fox and its parent company, 21st Century Fox, whose leaders James and Lachlan Murdoch had made re-signing Kelly a priority and were believed in the industry to be offering her more money to stay. In her tweet on Tuesday, Kelly said she was deeply grateful to Fox News, its leaders and Fox’s viewers, « who have taught me so much about what really matters.  »
Kelly gave a signal of her future direction with last May’s interview special on the Fox broadcasting network. It wasn’t a critical or commercial success, however.
Fox News does make in-house talent development a priority, however, and recently installed Tucker Carlson as a 7 p.m. host following the abrupt departure of Greta Van Susteren last summer. With Kelly taking a break over the holidays, Fox used Sandra Smith, Shannon Bream, Martha MacCallum and Trish Regan as substitutes.
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AP television writers Frazier Moore in New York and Lynn Elber in Los Angeles contributed to this report.

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Jurors return to court Wednesday to begin considering whether Dylann Roof will receive the death penalty or life in prison for the 2015 massacre at a historic black church in South Carolina that left nine Bible study participants dead.
Last month, the same jury took less than two hours to find Roof guilty of all 33 federal counts against him, including hate crimes and obstruction of religion. After a three-week break over the holidays, jurors are now tasked with the ultimate fate of the 22-year-old who confessed his role in the shootings to FBI agents hours after his arrest.
Here’s what has happened in his trial and what to expect.
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LIFE OR DEATH
Prosecutors have said they might call as many as three dozen witnesses to make their case for why Roof, 22, should get the death penalty for the June 2015 slaughter at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston.
The defense put up no witnesses during the seven-day trial. The defense team repeatedly tried to work in evidence about Roof’s mental state, but U. S. District Judge Richard Gergel ruled that had nothing to do with Roof’s guilt or innocence.
Roof has been adamant on representing himself during the sentencing phase of trial, with his defense team staying on as legal advisers. The capital defense experts who represented Roof during the guilt phase have said they fear he won’t put up evidence that could potentially spare his life out of fear of embarrassing himself or his family.
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ROOF’S COMPETENCY
Roof’s whole trial was put on hold for several weeks so Judge Gergel could hold a first competency hearing. During that proceeding, which was closed to the public over media objections, Gergel heard two days of testimony, after which he determined Roof was mentally competent to face trial.
After he was found guilty, a day before the scheduled start of the sentencing phase, Gergel held another hearing on Roof’s mental status, saying serious enough issues had been raised in filings made under seal that the judge needed to address them in court.
In deeming him competent both to stand trial for sentencing and to represent himself, Gergel gave Roof an extra day to prepare his case. Jurors now will return to court Wednesday.
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WHY IS HE REPRESENTING HIMSELF?
Roof hasn’t ever said definitively why he wants to act as his own lawyer, but he’s left some clues along the way.
As early as last summer, Roof’s legal team filed a notice with the court that they planned to introduce evidence that their client suffers from a mental illness. Many subsequent motions have been filed under seal, purportedly to conceal sensitive information, but it’s likely further details on what lawyers planned to present are contained within.
It’s clear, from his own writings, Roof doesn’t believe in psychology. In a journal read in court during his trial, Roof called the specialty « a Jewish invention » that « does nothing but invent diseases and tell people they have problems when they don’t.  »
As the jury selection process began last year, Roof said he wanted to fire his legal team and represent himself, ultimately keeping his lawyers for the trial phase but ditching them when it came time for sentencing. During discussions in court about Roof’s representation, his lawyers have said they feared their client wouldn’t introduce evidence that could potentially spare his life out of concern it might embarrass himself or his family.
Roof, who asked a judge at a hearing last week if he could file a motion limiting what prosecutors can introduce, also has been adamant a transcript of his competency hearing could not be released to the public.
« I know this is not a legal argument, but the unsealing of the competency hearing defeats the purpose of me representing myself, » Roof said.
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RACIAL HATRED
Prosecutors say Roof wanted to start a race war. His two-hour confession to the FBI seemed key to jurors’ deliberation. One hour in, they asked to rehear the videotaped confession.
Roof also documented his hate in his journal, found in his car when he was arrested.
Roof believed segregation needed to return to keep white people from falling to the level of blacks. It had other bogus claims that whites were naturally the superior race and that blacks liked slavery.
Testimony in the case opened and closed with two of the massacre’s survivors.
Polly Sheppard said Roof told her he wanted to leave her alive to tell the world why he attacked a historic African-American church.
« I have to. I have to, » Sheppard recalled Roof telling her. « You’re raping our women and taking over the nation.  »
Her 911 call was the final evidence jurors heard.
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VICTIMS’ PERSPECTIVES
Some relatives of the nine shooting victims attracted copious amounts of attention for showing Roof mercy during his initial court appearance after his arrest, saying they’d pray for him. In the run-up to the federal death penalty trial, other victims’ family members have said they favored the death penalty for Roof, sentiments echoed by some in media interviews after the guilty verdict.
Others, including shooting survivor Felicia Sanders, have been more coy, saying their preferences would become known during the sentencing proceedings. Many family members are expected to testify and give what are known as victim impact statements to the court, and, if he wants to do so, Roof himself would be asking them questions on cross-examination.
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ANOTHER TRIAL THIS YEAR
Roof faces a second death-penalty trial early this year in state court, where he’s charged with nine counts of murder. A state judge is ordering 600 prospective jurors to report to the Charleston County Courthouse on Jan. 17 for initial screening. His order says the trial will begin on or after Jan. 30. It’s not clear when the federal case will wrap up. For now, Roof has attorneys representing him in the state case.

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NEW YORK (AP) – His inauguration less than three weeks away, President-elect Donald Trump is raising new doubts about the nation’s intelligence community, tweeting fresh criticism at the same people who will help inform his most sensitive decisions once he takes office.
Trump charged Tuesday on Twitter, without evidence, that the timing of an upcoming intelligence briefing on suspected Russian interference in the 2016 election had been delayed. “Perhaps more time needed to build a case. Very strange!” he wrote, using quote marks around the word “intelligence.”
Trump’s tweet, in line with repeated criticism of his nation’s intelligence leaders, caused confusion among intelligence officials, who said there was no delay in the briefing schedule.
The fresh clash came as Trump took further steps to fill his Cabinet and key White House positions, with his attention shifting toward the challenges of governing.
Trump’s plans for repealing President Barack Obama’s signature health care law are expected to be the focus as Vice President-elect Mike Pence and secretary of state choice Rex Tillerson meet with top Republicans on Capitol Hill on Wednesday.
Pence issued a direct challenge to Washington Republicans Tuesday: “The president-elect has a very clear message to Capitol Hill. And that is, it’s time to get to work.”
Trump signaled he would not bless all of the GOP’s priorities on Capitol Hill, openly questioning the timing of the House Republican push to gut an independent ethics board just as the new Congress gathered.
“Do they really have to make the weakening of the Independent Ethics Watchdog, as unfair as it may be, their number one act and priority”? Trump tweeted. The House GOP later dropped the effort.
The president-elect promised late Tuesday to hold his first formal news conference since his Nov. 8 election victory next week in New York. He has already waited longer than any other president-elect in the modern era to hold his first exchange with journalists. Most have held such events within days of their elections.
It was unclear if the news conference would be the venue for his delayed announcement on how he plans to avoid potential conflicts of interest involving his businesses after taking office. Transition officials said multiple topics could be covered, but would not specifically say whether they included Trump’s businesses. Trump was supposed to detail the arrangements at a mid-December news conference, but postponed the event.
Earlier Tuesday, Trump tapped as U. S. trade representative a former Reagan official who has condemned Republicans’ commitment to free trade. Trump indicated that Robert Lighthizer, who is expected to take a hard line against China, would represent “the United States as we fight for good trade deals that put the American worker first.”
His Cabinet nearly full, Trump also picked a handful of new White House aides.
Omarosa Manigault, a contestant from the first season of “The Apprentice,” is expected to focus on public engagement in the White House.
Trump also hired Rick Dearborn as a deputy chief of staff and Marc Short as White House legislative director. Both previously served in chief of staff positions on Capitol Hill. The new hires were confirmed by two people familiar with the decision, who insisted on anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the hiring process publicly.
Trump spent time interviewing prospects for the Department of Veterans Affairs as well, including Leo MacKay, a senior executive at a military contractor who previously served in the VA under President George W. Bush.
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Associated Press writers Julie Pace, Julie Bykowicz and Deb Riechmann in Washington contributed to this report.
Copyright © 2017 The Washington Times, LLC.
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