Trump Was Fed Questions by Fox News Employee Ahead of High-Profile Town Hall: Report [View all]
Source: Mediaite.com
President-elect Donald Trump benefitted from a Fox News employee leaking the questions anchors Bret Baier and Martha MacCallum planned to ask him during a high-profile town hall last January, according to a new book from Politico’s Alex Isenstadt. In one excerpt from the book — Revenge: The Inside Story of Trump’s Return to Power — shared with CNN, Isenstadt reported on the January 2024 town hall. While the then-candidate’s team was “still peeved at Fox, whose coverage they continued to find antagonistic,” Trump himself “had a good relationship with Baier—they were golf buddies—and wanted to do a sit-down.”
From the book: "About thirty minutes before the town hall was due to start, a senior aide started getting text messages from a person on the inside at Fox. Holy s–t, the team thought. They were images of all the questions Trump would be asked and the planned follow-ups, down to the exact wording. Jackpot. This was like a student getting a peek at the test before the exam started."
But Trump was displeased. The leak revealed that Baier and MacCallum “planned to ask Trump if he would divest from his businesses if he won, and whether the party was taking a risk nominating him given his indictments,” “press Trump to ‘disavow political violence'” and ask about his focus on “retribution.” “Trump was pissed,” and felt “like attacks designed to put him on the defensive,” wrote Isenstadt. Yet “with the questions in hand,” his team was able to prepare for the aggressive lines of questioning.
Isenstadt attributed his reporting to “multiple people with direct knowledge.”
Read more: https://www.mediaite.com/news/trump-was-fed-questions-by-fox-news-employee-ahead-of-high-profile-town-hall-report/
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