Conservative CNN host S.E. Cupp stopped a discussion about President Donald Trump’s sitdown with Fox News’ Harris Faulkner on Thursday to make sure she, Brianna Keilar, and Dana Bash were all on the same page.
“Can we just say for the record, that was not an interview,” Cupp, who was a frequent Fox News guest until 2012, said.
“It was an infomercial, allowing the president to provide his evidence” in the Michael Cohen case. “To ask the president how he feels about his good approval numbers, I mean, I watched the whole interview, it wasn't journalism. That was an infomercial.”
ADVERTISEMENT
“So I’m not sure we learned much about the investigation or China or tariffs or anything else going on,” she continued. “Because all we heard was what Trump wanted to say and what Fox wanted us to hear.”
“So I don't put a lot of stock in what the questions asked and what his answers were,” Cupp said, “but clearly he was trying to rewrite and spin this story, which is very unbecoming and he knows whatever he is saying is in front of a friendly audience. He is not going to get real pushback on whether or not he made a payment to ‘this tabloid,’ AKA, one of his best friends.”
Keilar told Cupp, “I totally hear you on your assessment of this interview,” but added that despite the “friendly” treatment, Trump still “may have stepped in it” by going back and forth on whether he even made the payments to the two women with whom he allegedly had affairs. “He is getting all of his facts crossed.”
“He was in the comfort zone,” Bash added. “The questions aside, S.E.’s a thousand percent right on that. He was in a comfortable place so that he maybe said some things that weren’t right.”
The final question from Faulkner’s “exclusive” interview with the president was, “What do you love about being president?” Before he could finish answering that one, she threw in a straight-up compliment. "You have such energy for this,” the Fox host told him, adding, “Not every president would have worked 6 and 7 days out on a campaign trail.”
“I work hard,” Trump replied, to which Faulkner added, “Some don’t, but you do.”
