Fox News host Bret Baier weighed in on what it was like to interview President Trump, noting that there’s “a lot to fact-check.”
Baier sat for an interview with NOTUS for a newsroom forum on Wednesday, just hours after Trump delivered a joint address to Congress.
He was asked what the most challenging part of interviewing Trump is. Baier interviewed the president just before the Super Bowl last month.
“The fact-checking real time, you have to debate what is worth dying on that hill and having that moment,” Baier said. “Because there’s a lot to fact-check, as you know, through something he says.”
“But in an effort to get news, I think you try to steer him to the questions you’re trying to go to, to the heart of the issue,” he added.
During his interview with Baier, Trump defended his plan to place tariffs on neighboring country Canada because three is a trade deficit between the two countries.
“Why are we paying $200 billion a year, essentially, in subsidy to Canada?” Trump said.
According to the Census Bureau, the trade deficit with Canada last year far less, at about $63 billion.
Economists noted that the deficit is not a subsidy. The money is going to buy goods and services with value, not heading to Canada out of American goodwill.
Trump has since said the tariffs were intended to curb the flow of migrants and fentanyl coming into the U.S.
During the Fox News interview, Trump also said the U.S. is “not that rich right now.”
“We are $36 trillion [in debt], that’s because we let all these nations take advantage of us,” Trump said.
According to information from the World Bank Group, the U.S. gross domestic product is the world’s biggest by far, at $27.7 trillion.
While Baier admitted it’s hard to get Trump to truthfully answer questions, he noted that he often speaks with the media, unlike former President Biden.
“He does answer more questions than any other president I’ve ever seen. I think he’s already answered some 1,400 questions from the press in some way, shape or form,” Baier said. “Comparison to the last president, contrast rather, night and day.”
“He eventually answers the question, you just have to give him some time to get there, and that’s a challenge in a TV interview,” he added.
