Fox Says It ‘Looks Forward’ to Pre-Super Bowl Interview With Biden After ‘Initial Confusion’ With WH

UPDATE : A Fox Corp. spokesperson said in an email statement to IJR, “After the White House reached out to FOX Soul Thursday evening, there was some initial confusion. FOX Soul looks forward to interviewing the…

Bradley CortrightFeb 10, 20233 min read

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“We are running out of days,” he added.

Some liberal commentators have taken issue with Fox News’ talent and suggested Biden should snub the network this year. Joy Behar, a co-host of ABC’s “The View,” called the anchors at Fox “liars.”

Meanwhile, the show’s Sunny Hostin quipped, “I have trouble believing that he should sit down even with a Shannon Bream or a Bret Baier because the bottom line is they work for a network that puts forth conspiracy theories, they election deniers.”

It is not clear what the issue was which led to the apparent scuttling of the interview. Although it seems clear Biden and his aides are not comfortable with the idea of him sitting down with Fox News, which probably did not help with discussions about a potential interview.

As CNN notes, “Biden has not granted Fox News a single interview during his presidency, despite the network repeatedly asking. That’s likely due to how the right-wing channel portrays him and his administration, with extremists such as Tucker Carlson regularly launching vicious attacks on him.”

The word “extremists” in reference to a commentator is, well, extreme and a little ridiculous. But CNN’s article pointed out the interview would have likely been conducted by “Bret Baier, who is a much more respected, traditional news anchor, albeit one that leans conservative.”

It is understandable the president would not want to sit down with a network hostile to him. However, it would have been an opportunity to advance his message to an audience that was probably a little different than the one tuning into the State of the Union.

There was also the chance he could have a poor performance and hand deliver the network plenty of fodder for questions about his mental state.

And it is not clear what caused the confusion. But for a president who has given relatively few formal interviews or press conferences over the course of his first term, it would be disappointing if Americans lost out on an opportunity to hear from him without a script or through a spokesperson.