“THAT’S AN EXCLUSIVE”
by Sharon Rondeau
(Sep. 15, 2020) — In a scheduled 8:00 a.m. EDT telephone interview with “Fox & Friends” co-hosts Ainsley Earhardt, Steve Doocy and Brian Kilmeade on Tuesday, President Donald Trump said, to their surprise, that he will be granting similar interviews every Monday morning through the November 3 election.
“Well, that’s an exclusive,” Doocy declared after the president made that revelation.
Although frequently critical of Fox News, Trump praised the work of the three co-hosts on Tuesday.
Earhardt was more reserved but responded that the program had invited Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden on the show “many times.” Doocy said the Biden campaign had not responded.
To that, Trump remarked that during public appearances, Biden is given questions in advance as well as responses on a teleprompter. Trump contended, as have others, that Biden is unable to formulate responses on his own.
On Thursday, Fox News’s Bret Baier repeatedly asked Biden campaign spokesman TJ Ducklo if Biden uses a teleprompter to respond to questions to which he received no direct reply. Instead, Ducklo accused Baier of representing the Trump campaign by asking the question.
Last week, Trump suggested that “drugs” are involved when Biden speaks publicly.
Later, at 8:25 a.m., Trump circled back to Biden’s few public appearances, repeating his claim that “The man is shot” and unable to lead the United States. “Everyone knows it…” he said.
As for the upcoming debates, Trump said Biden was “grossly incompetent” during the Democratic primary debates, which prompted him to believe “something was strange.” “You can’t do that kind of stuff; you just can’t…” he said.
At 8:30, Doocy asked, “Do you think he’s taking some kind of drugs to pep him up?” to which Trump said, “I do.” At Doocy’s suggestion, Trump appeared to agree that “15 cups of coffee” could be responsible. “I think he should take a drug test,” Trump concluded the subject at 8:31.
As for radio host Joe Rogan’s offer on Monday to host a four-hour, no-audience debate between Trump and Biden, Trump described Biden as “mentally lost.” On Monday, Trump accepted the hypothetical scenario. “I would do it with Joe Rogan, but Sleepy Joe won’t,” he opined.
At 8:47 a.m., Trump repeated that he would be doing interviews with the Fox & Friends team “every Monday.” “If we can’t do it on Monday, we’ll do it on a Tuesday like we did today,” Trump said. Doocy responded that Fox News had not confirmed the arrangement and that “we’ll take it on a case-by-case basis” as the interview concluded.