TV anchors talk when Donald Trump calls your phone in roundtable
'It just shows how closely he watches these things'
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Following the success of its actor and director roundtables, The Hollywood Reporter has staged one with top broadcast news anchors.
Jake Tapper, Savannah Guthrie, George Stephanopoulous, Bret Baier and Gayle King discussed fake news, the importance of accurate reporting and, of course, President Trump.
The new POTUS loves to call out the press and specific members of it, which led to this interesting exchange (watch the roundtable in full below):
Donald Trump has been known to call reporters. Has he ever called any of you?
STEPHANOPOULOS: Oh yeah.
TAPPER: Yep. As candidate.
BAIER: Candidate.
STEPHANOPOULOS: I got one as president-elect. And again, it just shows how closely he watches these things. It was right before the inauguration. I was on with [ABC News White House correspondent] Jon Karl, it was when George H.W. Bush was in the hospital. This is a 90-second two-way on GMA, we pointed out that George H.W. Bush didn't vote for him. Bam. He calls up two hours later. He read Bush's letter [apologizing for missing the inauguration] to us over the phone and said, "I just wanted you to know this."
KING: And what was your response?
STEPHANOPOULOS: I kept him on the phone as long as I could, you know? (Laughter.)
BAIER: He used to call about polls at the beginning of the race when he was kind of low in the polls. He'd [say], "Where's this poll?" And, "You're putting out the wrong poll."
STEPHANOPOULOS: Polls and ratings. He would call after the Sunday show and say, "How did you do," or "Did I put you over the top?"
GUTHRIE: In 2011, when he was flirting with the run, Chuck [Todd, NBC's political director] and I used to have [an MSNBC] show, so we'd sometimes mention him, and he would call us and be kind of irritated if he didn't feel like we were taking it seriously. And I don't think it was Trump, but somebody from the Trump Organization forwarded us some Apprentice ratings as proof, I guess, of his political viability.
KING: He is very ferocious about his children. I got a call from [someone in] his office; "Mr. Trump wants to get in touch with you. What's the best address?" And he ended up sending me a picture and a note about an interview I'd done with Ivanka, just to say how much he enjoyed that.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments