The Megyn Kelly interview of Michelle and Jim Bob Duggar aired on Fox News tonight, and as expected, the reality stars and their comments proved to be as divisive as ever.
From the moment the world first learned that Josh Duggar had molested his sisters and one other young girl, his parents have been harshly criticized for the manner in which they handled the situation.
The Duggars say they attempted to cope with the crisis "in-house" before eventually sending Josh to a counseling center, but never considered reporting Josh to the police until after it became clear that his abusive behavior would continue.
It was only after Josh confessed to molesting his sisters on three separate occasions Michelle and Jim decided to "remove him from the home"
Despite acknowledging the heinous nature of Josh's crimes, Jim Bob repeatedly attempts to mitigate the severity of his son's misconduct throughout the interview with Kelly.
"This was not rape, this was touching someone over their clothes," Jim Bob says. "They didn't even know he had done it...I talked to somebody who worked at one of those juvenile youth sex offender facilities, and the success rate is not good."
As for the incidents during which the daughters were awake, Jim Bob says simply, "They didn't understand...None of the victims knew about this or understood what he had done."
As for why he chose not to report Josh in order to protect his daughters, the Duggar patriarch insists that he was under no legal obligation to do so.
"As parents you're not mandatory reporters," Jim Bob says. "The last jurisdiction of who he needed to make things right with, was the law."
Jim Bob did eventually take his son to an Arkansas State Police officer who was also a friend of the family.
The officer, who is now in prison on child pornography charges, apparently gave Josh "a stern lecture" that Michelle described as putting "the fear of God" into the 15-year-old.
Josh was not prosecuted, however, and the officer has since claimed that Jim Bob lied to about Josh's crimes in order to prevent an investigation.
At one point, Jim Bob claims that he does not consider his son to be a pedophile or a sex offender due to his age at the time of his misconduct
"The legal definition [of 'pedophile'] is 16 and up," Jim Bob says. "This was a child preying on a child."
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