President-elect Donald Trump seriously considered the name. Fox Business Network anchor Maria Bartiromo According to a new book, he was chosen as a running mate, but his aides withdrew it because they didn't have time to vet it.
Politico reporter Alex Eisenstadt writes in his new book, Revenge: The Inside Story of Trump's Return to the White House, that Trump is “serious about Bartiromo and met his girlfriend on a flight to Butler, Pennsylvania.'' “I was advocating for the cause,” he wrote.
“She was great with big Wall Street donors and she knew how to do television,” Trump told his team, Eisenstadt said. This is an excerpt from the book, Published by Grand Central Publishing Released on March 18th CNN reported.
Trump survived the first of two assassination attempts on July 13 while attending a campaign rally in Butler. Two days later, the president-elect announced that he would choose Sen. J.D. Vance (R-Ohio) as his vice president.
When contacted by the Post, Trump's transition team did not specifically address Bartiromo's allegations. Fox Business Network's daily “Mornings with Maria”It was among the candidates for second place.
“Vice President-elect Vance was the perfect choice to be President Trump's running mate,” Trump's press secretary Stephen Chan told the Post.
“There is no better and more powerful champion of America First, and he will continue to be a leader in this movement for years to come.”
The newspaper has reached out to Fox Business Network and Bartiromo for comment.
Eisenstadt said the Brooklyn-born Bartiromo frequently defended Trump on air and frequently conducted softball interviews with Trump over the years, including his first on-air sit-down since the 2020 election. Because he had been there, it was said to be “Trump's favorite.” , she warned his team about it Answer her questions in advance. ”
But when Trump continued to press the idea of adding Bartiromo to the list, he said, “I don't have time to vet Bartiromo the way I've spent months vetting other candidates.” I was disappointed.
Trump's chief of staff, Susie Wiles, “put an end to the conversation,” according to CNN.
In his book, Eisenstadt claimed that the Trump campaign was given the exact wording of the questions that Trump would be asked during a Fox News town hall last January.
The town hall was hosted by Bret Baier and Martha McCollum and was held in Des Moines, Iowa.
According to Eisenstadt's book, Trump's aides did not want the president-elect to appear at Town Hall because they “continue to feel hostile to Fox's coverage and the former president's prime-time appearance.” This is because he did not wish to do so. event. “
However, Trump agreed to hold the town hall because “I had a good relationship with Mr. Baier, we were golf buddies, and I wanted to sit down and talk.''
Thirty minutes before City Hall was scheduled to begin, a senior aide “began receiving text messages from individuals within Fox,” Isenstadt wrote.
“Oh my god,” the team thought. These were images depicting every question President Trump would be asked and the planned follow-up, down to the exact wording. Jackpot. This. “It was like students were peeking at the test before it started,” Eisenstadt wrote.
Mr. Baier and Mr. McCollum asked Trump tough questions not only about criminal charges, but also about whether he would “deny political violence” if re-elected.
Eisenstadt wrote that “Trump was furious” because he felt the question was “like an attack meant to put him on the defensive.”
But ahead of the TV broadcast, the team “prepared questions” and “crafted answers.”
“Although there is no evidence that this is happening and Alex Eisenstadt has conveniently refused to release images for fact-checking, we take these matters very seriously. “We will investigate any breaches we discover within our networks,” Fox said. A spokesperson for the news organization told the Post.
A source familiar with the network's inner workings told the Post, “If there was a breach, it did not come from Brett or Martha or the network's editorial leadership, and that all editorial materials have sophisticated and extensive digital・There is a footprint.” ”
Fox News and Fox Business are subsidiaries of Fox Corp., a sister company to News Corp., the parent company of The Post.
