Fox News anchor Bret Baier revealed that fact-checking is the most challenging thing about interviewing President Donald Trump — and deciding which “hill to die on.”
NOTUS (News of the United States) — which bills itself as a nonpartisan nonprofit newsroom dedicated to “honest reporting” — held a journalism forum
on Wednesday morning, hours after Trump delivered a 99-minute address to
a joint session of Congress.
The program, entitled “Media and Democracy: Covering Trump 2.0,” consisted of a panel moderated by NOTUS White House reporter Jasmine Wright and consisting of Politico White House Bureau Chief Dasha Burns, CBS News Chief Washington Correspondent Major Garrett, ABC News anchor Jonathan Karl, and MSNBC host Ali Vitali.
The headline attraction was a Q&A with Baier moderated by Josh Dawsey of The Wall Street Journal, during which Dawsey quizzed him extensively about interviewing Trump and other presidents.
Asked the most “challenging” thing about Trump, Baier noted “there’s a lot to fact-check” with him:
JOSH DAWSEY: What do you what do you find is the most challenging part of interviewing him one on one and sort of how do you prepare for it?
BRET BAIER: Yeah. So the fact-checking real time, you have to debate what is– what is worth dying on that hill and having that moment.
Because there’s a lot to fact check, as you know, you know, through something, he says.
But in an effort to get news, I think you you try to steer him to the questions you’re trying to go to. The heart of the issue.
He does answer questions more than any other president I’ve ever seen. I think he’s already answered some 1400 questions from the press in some way, shape or form– comparison to the last president. Contrast, rather, is night and day.
He eventually answers the question. You just have to give them time sometimes to get there. And that’s a challenge. In a TV interview especially.
JOSH DAWSEY: Right. It’s different sort of in print. You know, if I have 30 minutes with him, I can sort of let him wander off and then bring him back and then whatever.
But when you’re on a limited time period and you’re live on camera, I’m guessing there’s different contours and how you think you have to handle that.
BRET BAIER: Right. And so I’ve interviewed obviously other presidents, President Obama of days before the the Obamacare vote in the House. And, you know, I just remember being in the blue Room asking questions. And the first answer was three minutes, and the second answer was three minutes and 30s. And they gave me 20 minutes overall. And there was a guy, a White House staffer with a phone that was ticking back from 20 minutes, like a time-bomb. And, you know, I’m looking at it going, wow, if I don’t step in here.
JOSH DAWSEY: (inaudible) president in the wrong way. You also sort of pardon my French look like an asshole. So–
Mediaite founding editor Colby Hall argued producers behind the popular musical Hamilton did President Donald Trump a “favor” and threw him a softball by canceling their Kennedy Center performances in protest.
“Our show simply cannot, in good conscience, participate and be a part of this new culture that is being imposed on the Kennedy Center,” Jeffrey Seller, the show’s producer, said
in a statement after the cancellations.
The move was in response to Trump taking control
of the Kennedy Center’s board of trustees after taking issue with shows being performed. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt previously said in a statement after Trump took control that the “Kennedy Center learned the hard way that if you go woke, you will go broke.”
Hall, a NewsNation contributor, argued on Thursday that the protest is “consistent with free speech and constitutional values.”
He said, “Personally, I don’t really have a problem with it. It’s a protest that’s consistent with free speech and constitutional values and conservative, long-standing conservative values. It’s a free market. And if you don’t want to be a part of something that has, you know, apparently been politicized in a way that it hasn’t been before, you know, you sort of just ought not to do it.”
Hall warned that this “publicity stunt” will in no way punish the intended target.
He argued:
“The people that are actually going to be punished by this is no one in the Trump administration and not Trump. It’s the musical theater fans in the D.C. area, which I think are largely left of center. So, you know, there may be sort of unintended consequences of punishing people that would normally be your fans, but, you know, it’s designed to get us talking about it and bring attention to it and here we are.”
Hall denied that art can be “apolitical” as critics and “Archie Bunker” Trump appear to want.
“I don’t think art is necessarily apolitical, right? I think, you know, if you look at most art, it’s often sort of come from the underground and, you know, people that are trying to speak truth to power or say something different or think differently,” Hall argued, adding:
And art typically starts as radical ideas that then later gets accepted, you know, many, many decades and generations later. So, you know, I don’t think that Hamilton is really that much of a sort of — I mean, it’s mainstream a hit because it, you know, there’s a reason why vanilla ice cream is very popular also, like it’s not that edgy. And so I think they made their point.
I’ll also say the idea that Trump inserted himself by taking over the Kennedy Center because he didn’t like the woke programming is, you know, it’s straight up Archie Bunker and [the] popular vote wanted that.
Not much will be made of the controversy, Hall concluded, but he also argued producers may have done Trump a “favor” as he thrives on “wedge” issues.
Hall concluded, “It’s the situation where our political leaders are sort of fighting one another like toddlers. Like he started it. No he did. And I think a lot of people are over it. You know, they have the right to say that they don’t want to do it anymore. And, you know, it’s the sort of wedge issue in conflict that the Trump administration delights in. So they kind of maybe did him a favor.”
Imprisoned crypto fraudster Sam Bankman-Fried dished to Tucker Carlson about his cellmate Sean ‘P. Diddy’ Combs, the rapper currently facing sex trafficking charges
– among many others.
Bankman-Fried spoke with Carlson remotely for The Tucker Carlson Show from Metropolitan Detention Center (MDC) in Brooklyn, New York. Bankman-Fried and Diddy
are currently together in the same unit. The New York Timesreported
the pair are living in a “dormitory style room with a group of other defendants.”
FTX founder Bankman-Fried was once hailed as the poster boy for crypto, but he was eventually sentenced
to 25 years behind bars last year for defrauding investors out of billions. Bankman-Fried was found guilty on multiple counts following FTX’s collapse in 2022. Bankman-Fried is appealing his conviction.
During Carlson’s chat with Bankman-Fried, he asked him about his unusual living situation with a rapper whose alleged sex crimes
have been constantly making headlines.
Bankman-Fried told Carlson that Diddy has been “kind” after Carlson asked whether the disgraced crypto wizard has “made friends” or is “hanging” with the rapper.
Read the exchange below:
TUCKER CARLSON: “So, like, have you made friends there? Are you hanging with Diddy? I think he’s in there with you.”
SAM BANKMAN-FRIED: “He is, he is. It’s, I don’t know, he’s been kind. I’ve made some friends. It’s a weird environment. It’s sort of a combination of a few other high profile cases and then a lot of ex-gangsters — or alleged ex-gangsters.”
CARLSON: “Yes. Definitely alleged. So what’s Diddy like?”
BANKMAN-FRIED: “You know, obviously I’ve only seen one piece of him, which is Diddy in prison and he’s been kind to people in the unit, he’s been kind to me. It’s also — it’s a position no one wants to be in. Obviously, he doesn’t, I don’t. As you said, it’s kind of a soul crushing place for the world in general. And what we see are just the people that are around us on the inside rather than who we are on the outside.”
CARLSON: “I’m sure. You’re two of the most famous prisoners in the world in the same unit. Like, what do you armed robbers think?”
BANKMAN-FRIED: “Well, it’s a really interesting question and of course some of them think, wow, this is a big opportunity to meet people they wouldn’t otherwise get to meet which is.”
CARLSON: [LAUGHS]
BANKMAN-FRIED: “It makes sense from their perspective, but boy that is not how I think about prison.”
CARLSON: “Sorry to laugh. No, that is not how you think about it.”
BANKMAN-FRIED: “Laughing’s all you can do sometimes. There’s no better alternative. They’re good at chess. That’s one thing I learned. Former armed robbers who don’t speak English and probably didn’t graduate middle school, a surprising number of them are farily good at chess. I’m not saying they’re grand masters, but I lose games to them all the time. I was not expecting that.”
President Donald Trump insists that the trade war he’s waging against the United States’ nearest two neighbors is largely about stemming the flow of drugs into his country and saving the lives of his countrymen.
“Vast amounts of fentanyl have poured into our country from, from Mexico and, as you know, also from China, where it goes to Mexico, and goes to Canada, and China also had an additional ten, so it’s ten plus ten,” explained Trump
at a Monday press conference in which he declared that there was “no room left” for negotiation. “And and it comes in from Canada and it comes in from Mexico. And that’s a very important thing to say.”
Well, maybe not then. The promised 25% tariffs on Mexican and Canadian exports into the U.S. did go into effect on Tuesday — look no further than the stock market’s freefall for evidence — but by Thursday, Trump had announced a partial change of heart
.
“After speaking with President Claudia Sheinbaum of Mexico, I have agreed that Mexico will not be required to pay Tariffs on anything that falls under the USMCA Agreement. This Agreement is until April 2nd,” wrote Trump on Truth Social. “I did this as an accommodation, and out of respect for, President Sheinbaum. Our relationship has been a very good one, and we are working hard, together, on the Border, both in terms of stopping Illegal Aliens from entering the United States and, likewise, stopping Fentanyl. Thank you to President Sheinbaum for your hard work and cooperation!”
And what of the Canadians, Mr. President?
“Believe it or not, despite the terrible job he’s done for Canada, I think that Justin Trudeau is using the Tariff problem, which he has largely caused, in order to run again for Prime Minister,” he theorized. “So much fun to watch!”
Fun fact
: Authorities seized 43 pounds of fentanyl at the U.S.’s northern border last year.
At the southern border, they seized over 21,148 pounds.
In other words: Over 491 times as much fentanyl was discovered coming from Mexico as was coming from Canada.
In still others: Just .2% of fentanyl seizures made at America’s borders were coming from Canada.
Are we sure this is about the fentanyl crisis?
Sheinbaum appears to have Trump’s number. While Trudeau doubtlessly sealed his fate by railing against
the president on Tuesday during a news conference in which he accused Trump of “appeasing Vladimir Putin: a lying murderous dictator” while launching a “very dumb” trade, Sheinbaum’s more patient, flattery-heavy approach is paying dividends.
Don’t hate the player, hate the game.
Trump is conducting foreign policy based on his own personal grudges, preferences, and whims — not the national interest.
How else to explain his decision to let Mexico off the hook while giving Canada no quarter?
Or, more consequentially still, his parroting of Russian propaganda and constant undermining of the Ukrainian cause?
Volodymyr Zelensky doesn’t suck up to Trump as skillfully as the aforementioned Putin; so it is he who must endure a steadystream
of slanderous invective, all of which could better describe the Russian dictator. One must feel for him, and to a far lesser extent, Trudeau. But it is the American people who stand to be the ultimate losers in this arrangement. During Trump’s first term, cooler, more civically-minded heads within his administration largely succeeded in steering his foreign policy in the right direction.
No such heads constrain him now, so his constituents will just have to hope his impulses align with their interests more often than not.
Seneca Project
co-founder and Never-Trumper Tara Setmayer told SiriusXM host Dean Obeidallah that the GOP House punishing Rep. Al Green (D-TX) for heckling President Donald Trump gave her “slavemaster ick vibes.”
Trump delivered a 99-minute address to a joint session of Congress Tuesday night — essentially a State of the Union address by a different name — that was chock full of memorable and newsworthy moments. One such moment was Green’s heckling of Trump and removal by the Sergeant at Arms, which has resulted in the GOP-led House voting to censure
Green.
On Thursday’s edition
of The Dean Obeidallah Show
, Obeidallah asked Setmayer for her thoughts on the speech, and she did not hold back:
I was like, you guys, you just have to do something different. And I keep telling people, you got to fight like Republicans. I’m not saying the policy, the tactics! You need to learn how to do this because it works.
And so that would have been something drastic. And have and have an alternative. Gather on the steps of the Capitol with the people, with with examples of federal workers and farmers and, you know, people and veterans like the peopl. You wouldn’t expect to be hurt by these things because those are supposed to be the people Trump supported. And he loves the veterans and the farmers. Right? You do? Well. Look at who you are. These are the people you’re hurting right now. You really don’t give a damn about this.
Elon Musk, your crony, is decapitating our government and hurting everyday people that you claim to support. So they should have had an alternative and take the the spectacle off of Trump. Don’t give him the opportunity to use you guys as props, which is what he did.
Now I know. And I was like, well, if they’re going to go, then you need to be in silence. No glad-handing, none of that. But if Al Green or someone else was going to protest and, you know, there’s– civil disobedience has a place. So. Okay, fine. If that’s where you’re going to use it. Then when he was removed by the sergeant at arms, which which I found to be very alarming, it bothered me.
I didn’t like to see a Black congressman being talked down to you by a southern speaker of the House telling him, you know, sit down. Gave me very like, you know, slavemaster ick vibes. But to had the sergeant at arms come and remove a member of Congress from a joint session? Are you kidding me?
Every Democrat should have gotten up and walked out in solidarity with him. That would have given them the opportunity to do something different in solidarity with their brethren there. Because how dare they?
They showed up. Right. It’s a constitutional duty, kind of that you got to go and do this. So I understand why they showed up.
But there should have been a plan that as soon as Donald Trump started to attack them or did something like that and create a spectacle, they were under no obligation to stay there and be props for his Trump rally.
U.S. Rep. Byron Donalds (R-FL) called out CNN for what he considered to be inconsistent coverage of inflation affecting the economy.
Donalds on Thursday joined CNN’s The Situation Room to talk about President Donald Trump’s decision to impose tariffs on Canada, Mexico and China. During that interview, the news broke that Trump decided to suspend most tariffs on Mexico until at least April 2. When host Pamela Brown Donalds asked about Trump’s “back-and-forth tariff indecision” and the how that uncertainty affects markets, Donalds shifted the focus to the border and the flow of fentanyl.
DONALDS: Well, look, I’m gonna repeat myself a little bit here. It is important that we stabilize not just our economic relationships around the globe, but also the fact that we gotta secure our border and we gotta stop the flow of fentanyl. Give Donald Trump the opportunity to actually negotiate with the Mexican president and with Canada, and with China. You gotta give him that opportunity because when prices were rising in the United States, I didn’t hear CNN talking about that much. As a matter of fact, you ignored most of it while it was hurting the American people–
BROWN: We did.
DONALDS: –So let the president negotiate on tariff policy–
BROWN: We did cover. We did cover that.
DONALDS: –That is what he’s doing and it’s gonna work out to the better. You didn’t cover it the way it needed to be covered. Let’s be perfectly honest.
BROWN: OK, well that’s a matter of opinion.
DONALDS: You let the last administration get away with it–
BROWN: That is your opinion, but we did.
DONALDS: –but the American people suffered as a result. Oh, no, it’s not my opinion. That’s a fact.
BROWN: OK, no, it’s not a fact. Congressman Byron Donalds, thank you for coming on to share your points of view. We appreciate your time, and best of luck in your run for governor of Florida. We’ll be right back.
The days of Elon Musk and the DOGE squad running roughshod through federal government agencies seem to be coming to an end. President Donald Trump met with his Cabinet Thursday and — with Musk in the room — announced a shift back to a “scalpel” strategy for government cuts rather than “hatchet.”
Trump and Musk’s efforts with DOGE have been highly controversial, as an emaildemanding
all federal workers justify their continued employment, massive layoffs
, and Musk’s conflicts of interest
have all raised eyebrows.
Multiple lawsuits
have already been filed challenging the creation of DOGE, its activities, access to sensitive government data and files, and Musk’s role
. The Supreme Court has already smacked down
a DOGE-led effort to cut off vast swaths of foreign aid funding, ruling that about $2 billion for contracted work that had already been completed could not be withheld. The ambiguity of Musk’s specific job title and how much power he has is another major legal issue; Trump’s comment in his speech to a joint session of Congress Tuesday that DOGE is “headed by Elon Musk
” has already been cited in several of the pending court cases as contradicting the denials by Trump administration attorneys.
Adding to the pressure on the White House is the outrage over layoffs that is coming from Republican members of Congress and other conservative voices, for example, concerning the many veterans employed by the federal government. Ever sensitive to poll numbers
, Musk’s cratering popularity
seems likely to have played a factor in Trump’s decision to sideline the Tesla and SpaceX CEO.
In a Truth Social post
Thursday afternoon Trump wrote that it was time to impose “cost cutting” by using a “scalpel” instead of a “hatchet” — perhaps a rebuke to Musk’s chainsaw-wielding antics
at CPAC last month. In the post, Trump wrote that he had just had “a very positive” meeting with his Cabinet secretaries and Musk and declared they were all on the same page:
The Golden Age of America has just begun! Over the past six weeks, our Administration has delivered on promises like no Administration before it, always putting America First! DOGE has been an incredible success, and now that we have my Cabinet in place, I have instructed the Secretaries and Leadership to work with DOGE on Cost Cutting measures and Staffing. As the Secretaries learn about, and understand, the people working for the various Departments, they can be very precise as to who will remain, and who will go. We say the “scalpel” rather than the “hatchet.” The combination of them, Elon, DOGE, and other great people will be able to do things at a historic level.
We just had a meeting with most of the Secretaries, Elon, and others, and it was a very positive one. It’s very important that we cut levels down to where they should be, but it’s also important to keep the best and most productive people. We’re going to have these meetings every two weeks until that aspect of this very necessary job is done. The relationships between everybody in that room are extraordinary. They all want to get to the exact same place, which is, simply, to MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!
Politico’s Dasha Burns and Kyle Cheney had more details
on that meeting, writing that Trump had “convened his Cabinet in person on Thursday to deliver a message: You’re in charge of your departments, not Elon Musk.”
From the Politico report:
According to two administration officials, Trump told top members of his administration that Musk was empowered to make recommendations to the departments but not to issue unilateral decisions on staffing and policy. Musk was also in the room.
…The president’s message represents the first significant move to narrow Musk’s mandate. According to Trump’s new guidance, DOGE and its staff should play an advisory role — but Cabinet secretaries should make final decisions on personnel, policy and the pacing of implementation.
Musk joined the conversation and indicated he was on board with Trump’s directive. According to one person familiar with the meeting, Musk acknowledged that DOGE had made some missteps — a message he shared earlier this week with members of Congress.
Trump stressed that he wants to keep good people in government and not eject capable federal workers en masse, according to one of the officials. It is unclear whether the new guidance will result in laid off workers getting rehired.
As of Thursday afternoon, Musk’s pinned tweet is still one from March 4 with a stylized image of him from CPAC, holding the chainsaw and with the label “The Dogefather” behind him.
Rep. Carlos Gimenez (R-FL) explained Wednesday why he’s content with letting Elon Musk continue to handle budget cuts instead of officials hired to do that exact thing.
On Wednesday evening, House Republicans met with Musk
to discuss the possibility of creating a “legislative package” to codify
the budget cuts and firings recommended by the so-called Department of Government Efficiency — of which Musk is the face but supposedly not its administrator. Such a move would effectively give Congress the final say on how cuts are made.
Gimenez, who was in the meeting, later appeared on The Source with Kaitlan Collins to talk about the meeting and his general feelings toward Musk’s action. When Collins asked about officials who were already put in place to do the job that Musk is doing, Gimenez said he liked Musk doing it instead.
COLLINS: Yes, but I think one question with that is Congress created offices of these government watchdogs that essentially were doing what Elon Musk was doing — looking through and making recommendations to Congress… Are you saying that these inspectors generals weren’t doing that?
GIMENEZ: I don’t think they were doing the job that Elon Musk is doing.
COLLINS: None of them?
GIMENEZ: I don’t think they were, and so they’re also–
COLLINS: Even the person who found the fraud in Social Security and Medicare, and was able to claw it back? You don’t think that that person was doing their job?
GIMENEZ: I don’t think a lot of them were doing the job that they should be; and so, look, Elon Musk–
COLLINS: What does that say about Congress? I mean, Congress picked these people to do these jobs and have oversight of these agencies and then to report back to Congress; so wouldn’t that be your role as an elected lawmaker — and not just yours, but your colleagues as well — to do that instead of having Elon Musk do it?
GIMENEZ: No, I like Elon Musk doing it because Elon Musk is outside of government and he’s going to look at things in a completely different light, things that maybe these these folks that were in government weren’t going to be looking the same way. Once you’re in government, you have a certain paradigm and you follow that paradigm. Elon Musk doesn’t have that paradigm. He’s looking at things from a completely different perspective.
He’s also fighting and writing code, figuring out the code of the federal government. A lot of these folks don’t have that kind of talent, and so I like what he is doing. Is it all gonna be, you know, rosy and everything’s gonna be great? No. Is he gonna stumble every once in a while? “Hey, I thought that could save money,” and maybe it doesn’t because you actually need that program? Yeah, but the exercise is a good exercise.
MSNBC political analyst Basil Smikle tied race into his argument against President Donald Trump’s sweeping cuts to the federal government.
On Wednesday’s Deadline: White House
, Smikle argued there are less “hostile” ways of finding things to cut in the federal government, like taking advantage of natural “attrition” and having folks willingly leave their posts. Trump has made major cuts to the federal workforce, relying on cuts recommended by Elon Musk’sDOGE
(Department of Government Efficiency).
Smikle claimed the major cuts coming out of Trump’s administration are an “attack on this government that used to be headed by a Black man” and “almost elected a Black woman,” referring to former President Barack Obama and former Vice President Kamala Harris.
Smikle argued:
It’s an attack on this government. What I mean by that is it’s an attack on this government that used to be headed by a Black man. It’s an attack on this government that almost elected a Black woman to the highest office in the land.
It’s an attack on a government that has been more welcoming and more supportive of people who have come to this country in search for a better life. So it’s, yes, it’s an attack on government, but it’s also a hostile takeover. That’s what people feel. This is hostility directed toward a very large swath of the country. And that’s going to sweep up everybody. It is indiscriminate.
The political analyst
then referenced an NBC panel
consisting of recently-fired federal workers, all of whom were reacting to Trump’s address to Congress. Smikle, a professor at Columbia University, argued Trump and his administration are cutting off opportunity for young people. He added:
So one of the folks in your focus group talked about pipeline. If I’m working with students right now, what am I supposed to tell them about the jobs that they can get, whether they’re going into public policy or whether they’re going into nonprofit space? And I shouldn’t probably say that out loud because it’s against my interest, but I have to have these real conversations with students about what their future is going to look like.
So it’s not just about what’s happening to people in this country today. He is destroying an entire pipeline of workers interested public service, also of people who will benefit of the service that he is cutting completely out of our ecosystem.
Conservative media pundit Jason Whitlock sparked a firestorm of criticism over an apparent shift in his opinion about accused sex trafficker Andrew Tate — just days apart.
“Andrew Tate isn’t some conservative influencer promoting the patriarchy in the manosphere,” Whitlock, host of Fearless With Jason Whitlock on Blaze Media, said in a clip posted to his X account on March 4. “He’s a pimp.”
But on Wednesday night — just a day later — Whitlock posted that Tate, an influencer and podcaster accused of sex crimes in two countries, was “necessary.”
“Andrew Tate is going to continue to be necessary to win this information war,” Whitlock said. “It’s our mindset as Christian evangelicals that just want to protect what we hold dear that will allow Western Civilization to get destroyed. We have to be willing to have the conversations that Tate is having.”
Andrew Tate is going to continue to be necessary to win this information war. It’s our mindset as Christian evangelicals that just want to protect what we hold dear that will allow Western Civilization to get destroyed. We have to be willing to have the conversations that Tate is… pic.twitter.com/ZzvjAdXl84
It’s even funnier if you actually listen to the clips. He goes from saying Tate is “a pimp trying to avoid the consequences of being a pimp” by pretending to be attacked for his views to claiming that Tate is being attacked just because of his views questioning the narrative on…
Whitlock was back on X on Thursday, defending his take, but reiterating his disdain for Tate.
“You won’t find me anywhere arguing Christians need to embrace Andrew Tate. Yesterday, I offered an analysis on why some conservatives choose to defend Andrew Tate. I called him a force for evil and a pimp. I argued that his appeal among some conservatives is his defense of ‘white’ culture and nationalism.”
Andrew Tate is going to continue to be necessary to win this information war. It’s our mindset as Christian evangelicals that just want to protect what we hold dear that will allow Western Civilization to get destroyed. We have to be willing to have the conversations that Tate is… pic.twitter.com/ZzvjAdXl84
“I may have to tolerate Andrew Tate because of my failings,” Whitlock said in another video posted Thursday. “Instead of being a sexual degenerate in my 20s, 30s and part of my 40s — if I had done my job — Andrew Tate wouldn’t be necessary.”
Tate and his brother Tristan were arrested in Romania in 2022, when they were slapped with rape and human trafficking charges. They are also facing a lawsuit
from four women in the U.K. who claim the brothers raped and abused them.
Authorities in Florida have opened up an investigation
into Tate, who arrived in the state last month after two years of house arrest in Romania. Andrew Tate’s arrival in the U.S. came after the Trump administration reportedly lobbied for his release
.
