Former President Donald Trump has recently canceled several scheduled interviews with neutral media outlets, sparking questions about why these plans keep falling through. This week alone, planned interviews with NBC in Philadelphia and CNBC’s “Squawk Box” were abruptly canceled, following a similar decision to back out of a “60 Minutes” episode earlier in the month.
Exhaustion Cited for Canceled Interviews
One media outlet, The Shade Room, reported that Trump’s campaign cited “exhaustion” as the reason for the interview delay. The Shade Room, which appeals primarily to a young, Black audience, had been negotiating with Trump’s team for weeks after recently hosting an interview with Vice President Kamala Harris. When pressed for a confirmed interview date earlier this week, a Trump adviser explained that Trump was “exhausted and refusing some interviews” but added that this could change at any time. As a substitute, Trump-supporting rapper Waka Flocka Flame was offered instead.
Trump’s Team Denies Exhaustion Claims
Despite the explanation given to The Shade Room, Trump’s national press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, dismissed the notion of exhaustion as “unequivocally false.” Leavitt asserted that Trump has been actively engaging in media appearances, saying, “President Trump is running laps around Kamala Harris on the campaign trail and has done media interviews every day this week.” However, most of Trump’s recent interviews have been with sympathetic hosts or on friendly networks, prompting further speculation.
The Bloomberg Interview Incident
Trump did participate in one challenging interview this week with Bloomberg editor-in-chief John Micklethwait, but the former president later complained that he had been “hoodwinked” into the appearance, unaware of his interviewer’s identity until after he had committed to the event. Nonetheless, Leavitt emphasized that Trump does not shy away from difficult interviews, recalling his appearance at a CNN town hall during the Republican primary.
