 Earlier this year while she was still a member of ABC's "The View," Rosie O'Donnell suggested 9/11 must have been an inside job ( watch video ). In an exchange with co-host Elizabeth Hasselbeck, Rosie said, "I do believe that it's the first time in history that fire has ever melted steel. I do believe that it defies physics that World Trade Center tower 7... fell without explosives being involved... It is physically impossible. To say that we don't know that it imploded, that it was an implosion and a demolition, is beyond ignorant." Further, when Hasselbeck asked if she thought the Bush administration was involved, Rosie said she didn't know.
The Factor reported on these comments extensively at the time and invited O'Donnell to appear on our broadcast. She continually refused to appear on the show or to explain her remarks. Because it is the Factor's philosophy to hold public people accountable for irresponsible statements, staff producer Joe Muto and I were dispatched with a camera to seek answers directly from Rosie who was appearing at a bookstore for a book signing.
On the scene
Joe and I arrived at The Book Revue in Huntington, Long Island on Friday night where Rosie was signing her new book Celebrity Detox. We waited in line, books in hand, with hundreds of Rosie fans for two hours. When Rosie walked into the store, the crowd erupted. Her obviously devoted fans chanted her name, snapped pictures, screamed, "There she is!" and lifted their children in the air so they could see better.
As the line moved forward and we got closer to Rosie, we realized her entourage was allowing her fans to get very close. At previous signings I've been to for Howard Dean, Barack Obama and Jane Fonda, the folks with books were only allowed to go up one at a time, without cameras, and were not allowed to make contact. But here, her followers were hugging Rosie, getting their pictures taken with her, going up to her in groups of three or four, and chatting for minutes at a time. It was a free-for-all that worked to our advantage because we wanted the same access.
Meeting Rosie
When we were next in line, Joe turned his small handheld video camera on and pointed it at Rosie, who was sitting down, signing books and joking around. When I approached her and introduced myself, she didn't seem to believe that I worked for the Factor. At first, our conversation was cordial, and we went back and forth in a friendly way about getting her on the show, with Rosie insisting the invite needed to come directly from Bill.
But when I asked her if she regretted suggesting 9/11 was an inside job, the mood changed. Members of her entourage immediately rushed our camera and tried to shut us down. Hands went up in front of the lens. But we managed to continue taping ( watch video ).
Eventually she'd had enough, stood up and said "Goodbye," and several members of her entourage grabbed at the camera and tried to physically escort Joe out of the area. Joe and I walked out of the store with two personalized copies of "Celebrity Detox" and a very angry Rosie on video tape.
After all was said and done, Ms. O'Donnell still had not addressed the question at hand: Did she regret implying 9/11 was a conspiracy? Instead, she did not agree to come on The Factor and she refused to engage in a reasoned dialogue at the bookstore.
Rosie has only done one interview since she left "The View." This was with Martha Stewart, well known as a "soft" venue, for a Halloween show-no tough questions. As Bill said in his Talking Points Memo, "Rosie is still welcome on [my] show any time." Unfortunately, after our encounter, I get the feeling that this won't happen, even though the invitation remains open.
 Jesse Watters has been a producer for The OReilly Factor since 2003. Before joining Fox News, Watters worked on political campaigns and in finance. He received a B.A. in History from Trinity College (Hartford, CT) in 2001. Watters was born and raised in Philadelphia and moved to New York in 1995.
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