The NBC correspondentâs rise at the network mirrored that of the presidential candidate she covered and occasionally battled with.
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excerpts:
âLook back there! âLittle Katy,â sheâs back there,ââ Ms. Tur remembered Donald J. Trump yelling at her at one of his rallies, as hundreds of heads turned in her direction. âSheâs such a liar, what a little liar she is!â
He could turn the crowd against her with such fury that at one point a Secret Service agent had to escort her to her car.
âSometimes I questioned whether I was blowing it out of proportion in my head,â she said on a recent late afternoon. âSometimes I questioned whether I wasnât making a big enough deal out of it.â
âWas it personal?â I asked.
âI assume it was personal,â she answered quickly. âI donât think he would mention someoneâs name repeatedly if it wasnât personal.â
âI donât know why he did it,â she said, shrugging. âBut I will say this: I know that had I exhibited any sign that I was intimidated or scared of him, he would have rolled over me.â
Over the 18 months of the campaign, she got a close-up view of his unpredictable style and bombastic personality. âI think I fundamentally understand the way Trump thinks,â she said. âThere were moments when he surprised me, but I was never shocked. I was not shocked when he won.â
Mr. Trumpâs sudden rise mirrors that of Ms. Turâs. Just two years ago she was a foreign correspondent for NBC, living in London. But she happened to be in New York when the future president announced his candidacy, on June 16, 2015.
âHow would you like to spend the summer in New York?â an NBC News executive asked her. âWe want you on Trumpâs campaign. It will be six weeks, tops. But hey, if he wins, youâll go to the White House.â
But what she wonât do is go to Washington.
âI did not want to go to Washington for a number of reasons,â she said, âone of which, the first and foremost of which being Iâve got a personal life now, and Iâm engaged. I want to be in New York with my fiancĂŠ. And Iâm a big believer in reporting from the outside. Iâve always been an outsider. I think being in the White House press corps, itâs difficult to do the sort of journalism that I would want to do.â
she showed mastery of issues recently when she was a guest on âCharlie Rose,â handling with ease his questions on the Trump presidency and foreign policy.
Her cutting wit, which she underscores with a sharply raised eyebrow, comes through occasionally. When the White House press secretary Sean Spicer, on the receiving end of a barrage of questions, blurted, âYou guys have an NBC thing,â Ms. Tur hissed back on-air: âYes, we do. Itâs called journalism.â