Bill O'Reilly Says He Used the Same Trick on Trump and Obama During Interviews
One of the most-watched personalities in the history of cable news has a trick he’s used to interview two presidents.
Former longtime Fox News prime-time host Bill O’Reilly spoke about his interview experiences with former Presidents Donald Trump and Barack Obama on Tuesday, according to The Wrap.
O’Reilly, 73, was speaking on the syndicated “Clay Travis & Buck Sexton” radio show.
Sexton asked O’Reilly about Fox’s Bret Baier’s interview of Trump earlier this month.
“Donald Trump is an extremely difficult man to chat with,” O’Reilly said of Baier’s interview.
“I’ve done more interviews with Donald Trump than any human alive.
“I did the first interview when he announced for president in 2016, the escalator thing, I did the Super Bowl interview with him, I know him inside and out.”
O’Reilly and Trump do have a longstanding relationship. And they staged a mutual “History Tour” in 2021, according to Newsweek.
O’Reilly went on to explain his use of a simple conversational trick in interviews of both Trump and Obama and said it worked every time.
“My secret was, I would tell him before the interview, if my hand goes up, if you see my finger go up, I want to jump in,” O’Reilly said, according to The Wrap.
“I don’t want to interrupt you and be rude, but when you see my finger, wrap it. And I said the same thing to Obama when I interviewed him three times.
“They could do five minutes on your socks, OK? They filibuster!”
O’Reilly went on to express doubts that President Joe Biden would follow through on his declared intention to run for re-election.
The longtime face of conservative cable news suggested that California Gov. Gavin Newsom might emerge as the alternative Democratic candidate for 2024.
In terms of Obama, O’Reilly interviewed him before Super Bowl XLVIII in 2014, scrutinizing his performance as it pertained to several scandals surrounding his presidency.
O’Reilly hosted The O’Reilly Factor from 1996 until 2017 — becoming the de facto face of America’s most-watched conservative media television network.
The longtime host was fired in 2017 amid a series of sexual harassment claims.
O’Reilly was replaced by Tucker Carlson — who was fired earlier this year after wearing out his welcome with Fox’s corporate management.
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