Bartiromo Bombs In Fox ‘Interview’ With Trump

The cozy relationship between the White House and Fox not-News was center stage over the weekend when Donald Trump sat down for a conversation with Maria Bartiromo, who was more cheerleader than correspondent.  Maybe she’s trying out for a job at the White House? Seriously, it’s like there was a script.

Brian Stelter of CNN’s Reliable Sources ripped the exchange, calling it a “chat,” not an “interview.”

This is from his newsletter:

It aired on Fox News Sunday morning. Almost every time Trump said something shocking or unsubstantiated, Maria Bartiromo let it slide. Sometimes she didn’t just fail to follow up, she encouraged it.

Here’s an example: Trump said “you get rid of ICE, you’re going to have a country that you’re going to be afraid to walk out of your house.” What?! No followup. A little later, he claimed ICE liberates towns from MS-13: “They actually liberate towns.” Did Bartiromo ask “Which towns? Nope… She moved on to North Korea: “How was the summit? Can you give us any anecdotes?”

Sometimes SHE sounded like the president:

BARTIROMO: “Well you made a bold decision on Iran. I mean this was incredible.”
TRUMP: “And Iran, look what’s happening in Iran.”
BARTIROMO: “And look what’s happening now. The strikes and the protests, the people want economic freedom.”
TRUMP: “Iran’s a different place, Iran’s a different place.”
In this exchange, Bartiromo sounds more like a counselor than an interviewer:

TRUMP: “Now, there’s no collusion with me. There’s no Russia with me.  There’s no nothing.”
BARTIROMO: “I know.”
TRUMP: “It’s a – honestly, it’s a disgrace. But I purposely said I’m not getting involved. Let it just go. You know, they found nothing. Nobody has found anything –”
BARTIROMO: “I know.”
I know?  We know.  You sold out.