14 DAY TRIAL // Two of the victims Josh Duggar molested when he was 14 and 15 have stepped forward to identify themselves in the Megyn Kelly interview for Fox News, airing some hours ago: they are Jill and Jessa Duggar, now known as Dillard and Seewald, respectively.
The 24 and 22-year-olds sat down with Kelly for the Kelly File special that will air this Friday, June 5, with a preview included in last night’s Duggar interview, the first one since the scandal broke a few weeks ago.
Jill and Jessa blame the media
As you can see from the video below, Jill and Jessa blame the media for uncovering the story, saying that they, the media, had no right to do this to them because they were victims.
“The system that was set up to protect kids, both those who make stupid mistakes or have problems like this in their life and the ones that are affected by those choices. It's greatly failed,” Jessa adds.
She also told Kelly (but it’s not included in the video below) that, despite the labels the media has been quick to pin on Josh, he is no pedophile or rapist or child molester. “I'm like, that is so overboard and a lie really. I mean, people get mad at me for saying that but I can say this because I was one of the victims.”
As victims, both sisters have forgiven Josh for what he did to them and are happy that he found God and He helped him come out of what the family had dubbed in a previous statement the darkest time in their life.
What right had the media to release the details?
It’s not just Jill and Jessa who blame the media for the scandal: their parents, Jim Bob and Michelle, also told Kelly that the outlet that broke the story had no right to do so. They’re referring to InTouch Magazine, which obtained the police records from the 2006 investigation into the child molestation accusations (4 years after the first incident), under the Freedom of Information Act.
They published all the records redacted, but while they were free to get their hands on them, they were not supposed to make them public, since minors were involved, the Duggars say.
Moreover, they argue, this was a private matter handled “in-house”: the Duggars say that their responsibility as parents was to help all their children and not to alert the authorities. Why should they be shamed publicly for something that happened so many years ago and for which they have long found a solution?
In the first preview for her Duggar interview, Kelly said that this wouldn’t be a cross-examination and that she’d offer the family the chance to have their side of the story out there. She did just that.
