Who Is Katy Tur? NBC Journalist Discloses Unwanted Kiss From Trump

During his 2016 campaign, President Donald Trump had continuously denied allegations of sexual misconduct against him from more than a dozen women. On Tuesday, NBC journalist Katy Tur in her recently released book about covering Trump’s campaign mentioned an incident where she had been a victim of Trump’s alleged inappropriate behavior towards women.

In one chapter of her new memoir called “Unbelievable: My Front-Row Seat to the Craziest Campaign in American History,” released Tuesday, Tur wrote about traveling to New Hampshire to watch Trump be a part of an interview with MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski on “Morning Joe.” Before the segment, a surprising incident took place on Nov. 11, 2015.

Tur was backstage when the then Republican presidential nominee arrived at the set and, ignoring her personal “desire to avoid any interaction,” walked towards her.

Tur wrote in her book that Trump came “barreling” towards her and “suddenly he is so close I can smell what he had for breakfast. And then, before I know what’s happening, his hands are on my shoulders and his lips are on my cheek.”

“My eyes widen. My body freezes. My heart stops.”

“Trump lets go and saunters right onto the 'Morning Joe' set, seemingly very proud of himself,” she continued, according to People magazine.

“I’m mortified. F--k. I hope the cameras didn’t see that,” Tur wrote. “My bosses are never going to take me seriously. I didn’t have time to duck!”

As Tur was caught off guard and tried to figure out if the incident was caught on camera, she was shocked to hear the president say her name during the interview on "Morning Joe."

“Katy Tur, what happened? She was so great. I just saw her back there. I gave her a big kiss,” Trump told a surprised Scarborough and Brzezinski on air. “She was fantastic.”

Tur, who joined a local NBC affiliate in 2009, then rose to the national network and has appeared on all NBC News platforms, including the "Today Show," "NBC Nightly News" and "Meet the Press." Before joining the NBC family, Katy worked as a journalist for various networks such as KTLA in Los Angeles, News 12 Brooklyn, New York’s WPIX and FOX 5. All of this experience eventually led her to cover the Trump campaign in 2016.

On Tuesday morning, after the release of Tur's book, Trump tweeted saying, "Fascinating to watch people writing books and major articles about me and yet they know nothing about me & have zero access. #FAKE NEWS!"

Tur has remained a target for Trump throughout his campaign. He taunted her at rallies and on Twitter, calling her "naive," a "third-rate reporter" and a liar. She even acquired a signature Trump nickname, usually the ones that were reserved for the president's most bitter rivals: "Little Katy," according to Business Insider.

Tur completed her graduation from the University of California, Santa Barbara, with a B.A. in philosophy and she did not have a background in journalism or communications.

"I graduated with a B.A. in philosophy and it was by far the best major I could have taken in college," she told NBC News in June 2017. "A lot of people in this business take journalism as a major. Others take communications."

Tur had also said that her education helped her to frame questions quickly during interviews. "It allows me to ask questions, and that is what I do every day," Tur told NBC. "It allowed me to do anything that I wanted to do. I wasn’t pigeon-holed to a certain subject."