The Kelly File: Duggar Interview 2015.06.03

[frenchtoast]

UPDATED ON JUNE 9, 2015

We’re updating the pinned guidelines as things have settled a little.

Discussion Guidelines
Don't be a jerk. That's really it but to be specific on some past pain points there are these guidelines (which have been serving us well so far) and we appeal to your better angels to continue to follow them:

• Don't be gross, there are real people involved. Be respectful of the victims and mindful of fact vs conjecture.
• Don't speculate about the specific identity of the victims.  Yes, we know most of them were his sisters and that's more than enough for us to know.
• Don't speculate about whether Josh was behind further abuse, whether he was abused, who else might have abused someone else, etc.
• Don't lecture, scold, or snark on your fellow posters

As posting has resumed normal levels, we will start resuming our normal mod activities which include contacting posters with posts that are either not following these guidelines or any that may be inflammatory or problematic.

Edited June 9, 2015 by frenchtoast
Updated the guidelines

[Mya Stone]

1. Parents aren't mandated reporters. So of course we can handle it. Because our son felt REALLY REALLY bad. He cried, yall. CRIED. Every single time he did it. He came to us and cried. TEARS. So he felt really bad. Like, bad enough to keep doing it. But at least he felt bad. Bad enough to stop doing it? Ehhh...#DuggarLogic
2. The girls were asleep. They totally didn't know they were violated until we told them. Then we explained to them that it was all their fault for being so enticing. While they were asleep. Of course. So I'm pretty sure it wasn't really their fault...since they were asleep. And unable to consciously make a choice to entice their brother with their feminity. I'm not making any sense. #DuggarLogic
3. Everyone received professional counseling from accredited counsellors. Just so you all know, I'm a professional accredited moderator, with over 5 years of experience. It's true because I said so. #DuggarLogic
4. Juvenile records should stay locked forever. He made a mistake as a child. A 14-15 year old child. Who could technically be tried as an adult for other crimes. But again...someone leaked it. They are out to get us. They...the other wing. You know. Slander. Buzzwords. Synergy. So we're going to sue. Or advocate for juvenile records to be LOCKED FOREVER. #DuggarLogic

[StatMom]

Jim Bob and Michelle are two of the most despicable people on the planet.

[mariah23]

Check out the backlash on Twitter. It'll make you feel better.

Edited to add: I meant the HUGE backlash and disgust people on Twitter were saying. Stick a fork in them, they are DONE. People will boycott TLC and whoever advertises during the show.

Edited June 4, 2015 by mariah23

[dillpickles]

The lesbian agenda did this! THOSE CRAZY LESBIANS

[CofCinci]

Michelle mentioned that the family received services from the Childrens Safety Center. Licensed clinical providers. At least they did one thing right.

http://www.childrenssafetycenter.org

To paraphrase JB: Oh, he wasn't a pedophile. He needed to be 16 for that. He was just a child preying on other children.

Seriously?!!!

[MyPeopleAreNordic]

Hey, those girls were asleep and didn't even know it had happened or were too young to understand that it happened. It's not like it was rape. It hardly counts as sexual abuse according to JimBob & Michelle.

Disgusting.

[b2H]

http://www.salon.com/2015/06/03/live_blogging_the_inevitably_insane_duggar_family_interview_with_megyn_kelly/

Find a live blog here.

[ZoloftBlob]

. Everyone received professional counseling from accredited counsellors. Just so you all know, I'm a professional accredited moderator, with over 5 years of experience. It's true because I said so.

 

I enjoyed this claim because this is something that they will need to factually back up.

[MyPeopleAreNordic]

Color me shocked that Megyn Kelly (kinda) brought up the robocalls to Michelle.

[poopchute]

Hard to decide what grossed me out the most about this but I think it was at the very beginning when Jim Bob was first telling that story about how the first two girls were sleeping and didn't even know what happened. And then when asked how he told them, he said, well they didn't even know, and then some other things happened, so then they were told. So, that makes it sound like it was never even discussed until he molested three other girls?!

Most infuriating is probably how they kept repeating how the girls barely even knew what happened to them. That is certainly not how it was described in the police report, which states that one of the girls went to Jim Bon before Josh ever did. They were really trying to make it sound like Josh barely brushed someone's breast over their clothes while they were sleeping and that's not really how it happened at all. What fucking pieces of shit.

[tabloidlover]

My eyes bout fell  outta my head.... pretty sure the police reports state that the victims reported it to Jim and JChelle first -- is it me?

[regardez]

Wow they blatantly lied. The police report definitely showed that the sisters were aware of what was going on and that one of the sisters went to the parents first. That interview was all about PR and protecting Josh. So many excuses. I hated the semantics about a pedophile. I hated Jim Bob excusing it because it was "only a few seconds". Wow! Also I want proof that they actually saw a licensed counselor...

 

Also if parents aren't mandated reporters why did some of the articles say if the statute of limitations wasn't up the Duggars could have faced 6 years in prison? 

Edited June 4, 2015 by regardez

[Aw my lahgs]

OMG, where to even start!!!

 

- Lying liars who lie.

- Jim Boob and Michelle paint THEMSELVES as the victims of this scandal.

- Purposing.

- Oompa loompa orange and admiring gazes.

- Poor little Josh.

[Spencer Hastings]

My goodness. I can't even right now. I thought I was going to punch my television the 7th time Jim Bob said "12 years ago". It still happened, moron.

Also very frustrating to see him almost dismiss the victims because they were asleep and by golly, they didn't know what happened or that it was wrong. What about the girl who jumped up and ran to tell you? Did she not know it was wrong?

They did so much to protect Josh and they didn't even want to acknowledge that these girls were true victims. They brushed them off so many times. Every single time Megyn tried to ask "What about your girls?" she was met with "Well JOSH got counseling." That's what makes me angriest. This was all about Josh and his glorious transformation and how they protected him but they can't even say what they did to protect the girls because they did nothing.

[mynextmistake]

I enjoyed this claim because this is something that they will need to factually back up.

I hope it is true. I would feel better knowing that the survivors had gotten help from actual professional counselors who could help them process their feelings without the weight of Gothard-induced shame.

[leighroda]

I just can't, they kept pushing the point " the victims didn't even know it was wrong until we told them" that made me livid, so it's ok since they don't remember!? So if someone abuses a 5 yr old (I'm not saying specifically in this case, I mean this in a general sense) we are supposed to turn the other way because they don't realize it's wrong!?

[Gemma Violet]

I figured this would be a softball interview, but softball doesn't even begin to describe this. That's an hour of my life I'll never get back.   

 

I would have loved to have seen Anderson Cooper or Diane Sawyer take a crack at this.  Talk about a whole different interview.

Edited June 4, 2015 by Gemma Violet

[lovesnark]

MEchelle didn't say transgender people were child molesters, y'all! She said they were pedophiles! And, Jim Boob says a pedophile has to be at least 16, so Joshie isn't as bad as those transgender folks that want to use the ladie's room. It's a conspiracy! Everyone wants to take them down. Excuse me while I hit the vomitorium...........

[MyPeopleAreNordic]

I enjoyed this claim because this is something that they will need to factually back up.

In the words of Whitney Houston (RIP), "I wanna see the receipts" that show Josh and all of the girls received counseling from a licensed, professional counselor.

[CofCinci]

I enjoyed this claim because this is something that they will need to factually back up.

Michelle mentioned the Childrens Safety Center.  http://www.childrenssafetycenter.org/

Licensed mental health professionals.

 

And they made Josh pay for his own therapy?  WTH???

[hathorlive]

Folks, it was the MOST DARKEST moment of their lives.  For the educated people, ours too.  The past ten years have been a long grammar nightmare, Jim Hick.

[Avaleigh]

I despise these people. I was basically hissing at my television. 

 

How many times did JB remind us that Josh cried? 

 

How many times did Michelle point out that the girls supposedly didn't feel as though they'd been victimized? 

 

They talked about the cop who tried to scare Josh straight saying that it seem like the cop had convinced Josh that he would ruin his life if he continued to go down this path. There was absolutely no follow up comment about how Josh was scared into not wanting to do it again because of how it would make his victims feel. 

[Janet Snakehole]

And now they are going to be crusaders for locking up juvenile records. Yup. That is the important part of all of this.

Anyone else feel a weird hot ball of rage in their stomach?

[spidermiss2426]

really Michelle!!  The worst thing for you is the so-called "agenda" against your family!!!  Ummm... no.  NOT the worst thing. 

 

 I wonder how much was actual truth and how much was not?  No way of telling.  EDIT: I feel most of this was complete lie, especially the beginning part.  My roommate always has to get up at 1 AM for work, so I had to watch the interview silent so I wouldn't wake him up.  Not an easy feat.  I think I should get an award.

Edited June 4, 2015 by spidermiss2426

[Aethera]

A surprisingly easy-to-read and compact play-by-play here: http://perezhilton.com/2015-06-03-jim-bob-duggar-michelle-duggar-megyn-kelly-interview-josh-duggar-molestation#.VW-ypt5FN_J

[CSunshine76]

JB and Michlle showed no concern for their daughters. All of the early questions were answered with, but Josh came to us, his heart was soft, he knew he made a mistake. So that makes it alright?? (And doesn't it contradict the police report that a sister caught him?)

Way to blame the press...an unprecedented attack on your family? This wan't ISIS or Al Qaeda...what about the attack your son made on your daughters? And the daughters have been more victimized by the press than the molestation (a word they never used)? What the hell people.

They made me want to vomit. Those poor victims, I hope they got real support elsewhere, they sure as hell didn't get it from their parents.

Edited June 4, 2015 by CSunshine76

[Fallacy]

Here are my notes:
Begins with MK suggesting that police report was obtained illegally. Interview begins with an immediate reminder that Josh confessed on his own in each case. The girls had no memory of the first two instances as they were sleeping. The first instances occurred right after Josh turned 14. He was “curious” about girls and touched them “over their clothes” they were sleeping. They talked to the two girls immediately, but neither girl remembered those instances. They decided to handle these first two cases “in house” by punishing Josh and watching him all the time. They did the “best they could under the circumstances. “ Then there were two more instances where Josh “touched their breasts over their clothes.” It wasn’t rape; it was fondling. They then discuss how they worked to protect their daughters while still working to save Josh. When the youngest daughter was touched, Josh was removed from the home that same day. Again, Josh confessed. Here, Michelle begins to cry and says that they tried so hard to raise them to know the difference between right and wrong. They talked with other families who had similar problems and learned from their stories that things could have been much worse. Josh had “fondled” the girls while they were sleep.

After Josh went to Little Rock for “Christian counseling,” they decided to take the next “important step” in his recovery, which was to go to the law. They went directly to the closest police station with no plans to report Josh to any particular officer. One that they happened to know was on duty and Josh confessed everything to that officer. They brought along a family friend as a witness. Duggars believe this officer lied when he said Josh only confessed to one incident. They say Josh confessed to all and that this officer is worried because he broke the law by not beginning an official investigation as a mandatory reporter.
Jim Bob claims that Josh and all the children went to “accredited professional counseling” and Josh paid for his own counseling. They also put many, many safeguards in place to separate the boys and girls and set strict boundaries (no girls on boys laps, no boy babysitters, etc). They did not feel Josh was a threat at that point. Josh had been born a “new creature” through God.
MK suggests again and again that report was obtained illegally and that juvenile records were sealed. At this point the interview turns to how the report should never have been released and that the police chief may have had a personal vendetta against Josh, that she refused to shake his hand once, that she mentioned having a few things to take care of before she retired. Michelle cries that her daughters have been re-victimized by the tabloids.
Why haven’t they been honest this whole time about this “secret.” They claim that they don’t go around telling strangers all about their private lives. They claim that they received a “clean bill of health” from family services and that they were assured that the record was sealed and that the girls’ trust in law enforcement has been shattered.
They claim that they did not live in fear that they would be found out because the records were sealed. Now that it has been they have prayed that people will see that if God can forgive Josh, God forgives everyone.
They are talking with lawyers about suing the city over the release of the report. They don’t know if the show will continue but they asked “why should the entire family be punished for the mistakes of the one?” They repeat again that the girls didn’t even know they had been victimized really until the report was released to the backpack. They say that they are fine either way and that they will continue their ministry and continue to love each other. The family is trying to “regroup” after this “unprecedented” attack against them.

[Pete Martell]

I'm sorry you all even had to watch that. I decided to just read about it here and even the posts are making me feel literally sick to my stomach.

 

The media and many "true believers" will be rolling out the red carpet to make Jim Bob and Michelle victims and anyone who doesn't support them villains, so I'm glad to come here and see truth.

[Missy Vixen]

Check out the backlash on Twitter. It'll make you feel better.

i was reading the stories of survivors on Twitter and let's just say I needed a lot of tissues.

 

If there is such a thing as Hell, there has to be an especially toasty corner of it for any adult (and I'm looking at you, Josh, Michelle and Jim Bob Duggar) that molests a child or covers it up to save their own sorry asses.

[StatMom]

Wow they blatantly lied. The police report definitely showed that the sisters were aware of what was going on and that one of the sisters went to the parents first. That interview was all about PR and protecting Josh. So many excuses. I hated the semantics about a pedophile. I hated Jim Bob excusing it because it was "only a few seconds". Wow! Also I want proof that they actually saw a licensed counselor...

It's the 5-second rule.

[tabloidlover]

My goodness. I can't even right now. I thought I was going to punch my television the 7th time Jim Bob said "12 years ago". It still happened, moron.

Also very frustrating to see him almost dismiss the victims because they were asleep and by golly, they didn't know what happened or that it was wrong. What about the girl who jumped up and ran to tell you? Did she not know it was wrong?

They did so much to protect Josh and they didn't even want to acknowledge that these girls were true victims. They brushed them off so many times. Every single time Megyn tried to ask "What about your girls?" she was met with "Well JOSH got counseling." That's what makes me angriest. This was all about Josh and his glorious transformation and how they protected him but they can't even say what they did to protect the girls because they did nothing.

Umm, hello??  They put "safeguards" in place to protect the girls.... Weren't you listening?   (facepalm)

[CofCinci]

And now they are going to be crusaders for locking up juvenile records. Yup. That is the important part of all of this.

Anyone else feel a weird hot ball of rage in their stomach?

Even Jessa is stumping for their new juvenile records platform.

Of course they're for the confidentiality of their precious son's records, but I'm sure they don't care about how juvenile records for inner city kids.

[Mya Stone]

Folks, it was the MOST DARKEST moment of their lives. For the educated people, ours too. The past ten years have been a long grammar nightmare, Jim Hick.

That immediately made the hair on my neck stand up. The rest? I need a shower. I also need to wipe my tv of the fact that I had this on. I don't want to be part of the ratings. :p

[dillpickles]

And to think Friday we'll get to hear Jessa and Jill talk about how they forgive josh and how the evil liberal media did this.

And, apparently they weren't victims of molestation, they're victims because the media caught wind of that. A+ parenting.

[irisheyes]

I was just disappointed that MK didn't walk in wearing a pencil skirt and a shirt with a plunging neckline. That's all. The rest of it was Duggar spin.

[CofCinci]

Umm, hello??  They put "safeguards" in place to protect the girls.... Weren't you listening?   (facepalm)

And the safeguards were sleep in your day clothes and you can't play hide and go seek with your brothers anymore.

[poopchute]

Oh yeah the safeguards!! How could I forget them. I wanted some more detail on that. What were the safeguards put into place?? I wish she would have asked for a specific example. I heard Michelle babble something about not playing hide and seek by themselves...was that it??

[Straycat80]

These two idiots acted more outraged that the juvenile files were leaked to the press instead of what was done to their daughters.

Edited June 4, 2015 by Straycat80

[JocelynCavanaugh]

2. The girls were asleep. They totally didn't know they were violated until we told them. Then we explained to them that it was all their fault for being so enticing. While they were asleep. Of course. So I'm pretty sure it wasn't really their fault...since they were asleep. And unable to consciously make a choice to entice their brother with their feminity. I'm not making any sense. #DuggarLogic

 

I watched the interview but I didn't hear them say anything remotely like this. 

[lovesnark]

Boob lied about the state trooper. When this all broke, the trooper was an old 'family friend'. Tonight, Boob said he didn't know the guy, that he was just the trooper at the station. Of course, that's after Megyn Kelly mentioned that the perv was doing 56 years for child porn.

[ZoloftBlob]

And to think Friday we'll get to hear Jessa and Jill talk about how they forgive josh and how the evil liberal media did this.

And, apparently they weren't victims of molestation, they're victims because the media caught wind of that. A+ parenting.

 

Well, this is obviously the girls being told to protect Josh. Funny how Michelle and Jimbob have no problem having two of the *victims* stump for their sweet boy Josh.

 

Also, I will point out that maybe Josh needs to put his hands down between his legs and find his sack and speak for himself. It's piss poor that his sisters are forced to defend him,

[Brooklynista]

Is sleeping like the dead a Duggar trait we've never heard about? Just how do they know the girls were asleep and not squeezing their eyes super tight praying for Josh to hurry up and leave?

[tabloidlover]

Oh yeah the safeguards!! How could I forget them. I wanted some more detail on that. What were the safeguards put into place?? I wish she would have asked for a specific example. I heard Michelle babble something about not playing hide and seek by themselves...was that it??

no male babysitters, no sitting on laps at all (unless it's daddy), must be visible at all times...  I zoned out at this point cuz my eyeballs were stuck in the back of my head...

[Spencer Hastings]

I really wanted Megyn to ask about hose safeguards. They basically just said "Well boys and girls can't be alone or play hide and seek." Sorry, Johannah and Joy, that's why you're losing your best friends.

I will sheepishly admit that I feel for those who had their information released. Those victims shouldn't have had this happen. They are the ones I feel sorriest for, ranging from the molestation to their sucky parents to being outed to the world.

Edited June 4, 2015 by Spencer Hastings

[MichaelaRae]

FLAMES. FLAMES ON THE SIDE OF MY FACE.

 

I seriously cannot form any coherent thought that doesn't involve a lot of swearing.

[xls]

How many times did they repeat that the girls were asleep or that hero Josh came and told them? LIARS.

[regardez]

Oh I forgot about the part where the Duggars know "a lot of families" where worse things have happened. So it's all good folks! Nothing to worry about here since it happens in other families. 

[mynextmistake]

Oh yeah the safeguards!! How could I forget them. I wanted some more detail on that. What were the safeguards put into place?? I wish she would have asked for a specific example. I heard Michelle babble something about not playing hide and seek by themselves...was that it??

What? How can you play hide and seek by yourself? Who would you be trying to find? I don't have cable, so I couldn't watch the interview, but it sounds like they didn't make a lot of sense.

[Potato511]

This is my first reaction before reading anything, or getting into details: So much worse than what I thought it would be. Complete and utter minimization of the abuse. MK a complete and total shill for the Duggars.

 

(plus, using the 2 young women for Friday's "get" = despicable)