Megyn Kelly: Trump and First Amendment 'not a beautiful match'

Fox News host Megyn Kelly criticized Donald TrumpDonald TrumpJulie Andrews: Trump's proposed budget cuts to the arts ‘mind-boggling’ Judge denies request to apply previous travel ban block to Trump's revised order State Dept: Israel will not see foreign aid cuts under Trump budget plan MORE’s use of Twitter and warned of the potential "de-legitimization” of the media under the president-elect in a Wednesday interview with NPR’s "Fresh Air."

Kelly, who was the target of many social media attacks during the campaign, said Trump might not be aware “that every tweet he unleashes against you ... creates such a crescendo of anger and, in my case again, threatening behavior.” 

The reporter cited "thousands of tweets" directed at her as an example — threats to "beat the hell out of me, to rape me, honestly the ugliest things you can imagine." 

On Monday night at an event in Washington, the journalist blamed members of Trump's team for encouraging some of the hate online. 

But the host of “The Kelly File” said she was determined not to let Trump’s behavior and the resulting threats impact her coverage. 

“We were not going to change our coverage of him just because my life was being threatened,” she said in Wednesday's interview. “It was a challenge because I didn’t want to hit him too hard as retribution for what was happening and I didn’t want to go too soft on him out of fear.” 

Kelly said that if Trump continues to tweet as president, he needs "to be aware of the power he has when he releases these tweets.” 

She also called Trump’s relationship with the First Amendment “not a beautiful match” and said she’s worried for the press under a president Trump. 

“The people, as much as it’s fun to hate us, they do need us. They need good, strong, skeptical journalists to be covering whoever it is — whether it’s Barack ObamaBarack ObamaDem senator: Trump has lost credibility over wiretap claims Obama reportedly spending a month in French Polynesia Overnight Cybersecurity: Trump standing by wiretapping claim | Cyber gets boost in Trump budget | Bad bots on the rise | McDonald's Twitter hack MORE or President Donald Trump,” Kelly said.

“We’re in a dangerous phase right now, where too many millions of Americans aren’t listening at all to what the press tells them."