A pre-game interview with the President of the United States before the Super Bowl, a modern tradition that has become less reliable in recent years, is back on, at least for 2025.
Bret Baier will interview President Donald Trump on Sunday, February 9, in the hours ahead of Fox’s broadcast of Super Bowl LIX. The agreement marks a rebound of sorts for Fox, which was unable to come to terms with the Biden administration for a similar conversation in 2023 for Super Bowl LVII.
Fox News said a pre-taped interview between Baier and Trump would be shown in the 3 p.m. hour, and noted the conversation would take place at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, FL and focus on the changes the Trump administration has enacted since the Inauguration and the first 100 days of his presidency. More of the interview will surface during the Monday, February 10th edition of “Special Report with Bret Baier.” Baier has not interviewed Trump one on one since June of 2023.
Axios previously reported on the agreement struck to have Baier interview Trump at Super Bowl LIX.
Could this augur a more confrontational tone for Fox News? The assignment of Baier, who works for the news division of Fox News Channel, marks a turn of sorts for the Fox Corp.-backed outlet. In previous pre-game chats with President Obama and President Trump, opinion hosts were given the assignment. Bill O’Reilly interviewed Obama and Trump, while Hannity talked to Trump in 2020.
Both Baier and Shannon Bream, the moderator of “Fox News Sunday,” were seen as contenders for an interview with President Biden in 2023.
A bevy of TV journalists have described the Super Bowl interview as one of the toughest assignments in TV news. “I would say it’s the most important interview of my life,” O’Reilly told Variety in 2017 in the hours leading up to his interview with Trump before Fox’s broadcast of Super Bowl LI. NBC News’ Savannah Guthrie interviewed President Obama in 2015, and told Variety the process was “really tricky.“
But it has become less so during Trump’s time in office. The interviews are no longer live, but pre-taped, giving news organizations the chance to edit remarks by a Commander-in-Chief who is prone to making accusations without evidence and statements that veer into the realm of conspiracy theory.
